CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

Bike making worrying noises

(17 posts)
  • Started 8 years ago by calluna
  • Latest reply from Stickman
  • This topic is not resolved

Tags:


  1. calluna
    Member

    New (well, 'returning') cyclist, new bike. Over the past couple of weeks I've started having some issues with gear changes. About half the time when I shift up gears on the left-hand shifter (from the lowest chainring to the middle), it grinds and clunks and feels like the chain doesn't quite catch. Sometimes it sorts itself out after a few seconds, sometimes it clunks away making worrying gnashing sounds for longer.

    It went back to the shop for its 6-week Cyclescheme checkup at the weekend. I mentioned the issue, mechanic adjusted the gears, but it's still grinding and clunking now.

    So, first question: it shouldn't be doing this, right? I mean, this isn't just something that bikes do these days?

    And second question: if it does indeed need Looking At, is there a more productive way of describing the issue/fault/whatever to the bike shop than "it's doing this THING with the gears" this time around?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    Possibly didn't adjust gears enough.

    Cycle the bike into top gear (small cog at the back).

    Get off bike.

    Click lever from top to one lower.

    Turn cranks (with foot or hand, whichever is easier.)

    Chain should quietly move to next cog.

    If not turn gnurled know where cable goes into rear changer.

    If that doesn't work turn again.

    If that doesn't seem to make the right sort of difference, take back to shop - or a different one...

    Posted 8 years ago #

  3. chdot
    Admin

    Re-read your post.

    May be that cable already adjusted too much, in which case turn other way!

    Posted 8 years ago #

  4. calluna
    Member

    Thanks - that sounds more fixable than I was fearing! I'll have a go and see if I can sort it.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  5. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Check to see if the derailleur arm is paralell with the chainrings - it may have slipped around somewhat? Check the chainrings by giving them a quick spin and looking for any obvious deformations; bike may have taken a knock?

    Check that the low limit screw on the front mech hasn't been backed out too far (will normally have an almost invisible "L" inscribed next to it), when you're in small chainring and large cog at back the derailleur arm should be just not rubbing the chain and no more. When you tighten in the screw you will see it begins to push the arm across and outwards. Set it so that when there's no tension in the front mech cable the arm is sitting in the correct place.

    N.B. the limit screws only stop the derailleur going too far in either direction, they have no function in controlling shifting and many people (myself included) have wasted hours of their life tweaking them endlessly trying to improve shifting. That said, if the derailleur arm can move too far inwards due to incorrect limit screw setting and the mechanic has re-trimmed the adjustment from there, there might just not be enough tension in the cable to make the jump smoothly from inner onto the middle ring.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  6. chdot
    Admin

    Oh

    Re-read again!

    You're talking about the chainset at the front!!!

    Still sounds like an adjustment issue, but with the slight possibility that the front changer isn't in the right place.

    It should clear the largest chainring by a couple of mm.

    I'm assuming the left hand lever is indexed - has distinct clicks - if so adjustment is crucial.

    If not, lever has to be moved far enough to change gear and then might need moving back slightly.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  7. Nelly
    Member

    I had similar with a Spesh roadbike a few years ago.

    The shop I bought it from was pretty useless, but my LBS worked it out in 5 minutes and sorted it - it was (as chdot suggests) an adjustment with the limit screws on the derailleur.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  8. threefromleith
    Member

    My first bike when I got back into cycling in 2006 was the same - horrible grinding from the front derailleur and difficulty changing gears from the off. (Not to mention the loose saddle which slid forward and tilted down off the rails within an hour of leaving the shop).

    Back then I had no idea what to do about the gears so I waited until the free 6-week service and asked them to take a look. Needless to say I got the bike back without them having done anything about it - so took it elsewhere. Turned out that the derailleur wasn't on straight and was angled and catching on the chainrings.

    Within 6 months I had been on an all-day bike maintenance course and thereafter felt much more confident about fettling, servicing and repairing the bike myself! It's something I'd recommend to @calluna - it's saved me a fortune over the years :-)

    Posted 8 years ago #

  9. Claire
    Member

    Calluna! Hello! :) As an interim "hack", if you switch up to the biggest ring and then back down to the middle it should make the chain catch without grinding, as it's coming down rather than up. As a lazy person I do this with my stupid tourer with its stupid oval chainrings.

    But yes, local bike shop will sort you out. They are very good! Just tell them that and they'll know what to look for. I've said much more unintelligible things in the past.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  10. calluna
    Member

    Hi Claire! Glad to report that I'm still loving cycling and my snazzy periwinkle blue bike, grindy gears (and accidentally-ending-up-in-Leith incidents) aside :)

    Called up Hart's Cyclery and I'll drop it in there tomorrow. Hoping they can sort it.

    Definitely interested in bike maintenance classes, though - will keep an eye out for those.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  11. Claire
    Member

    Calluna I have some fix your own bike sessions to be sorted out, free for Belles on Bikes Edinburgh members and there will be a lovely female mechanic there to aid us with our mechanical woes. Best of all? It will be round the corner from your work! As well as the maps I am still due to give you (sorry!!), I will send details of this once dates are confirmed!

    Hart's will sort you out no problem :)

    Posted 8 years ago #

  12. dougal
    Member

    I also feel like I need to go on a course for a lot of this stuff. Though I'm sure they don't have a course for Going Outside To Clean And Fix The Bike Even When It's Cold and Windy.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  13. Claire
    Member

    @dougal I just did a two-evening course with the Cycle Service and it was brilliant. Gears and brake cables, replacing spokes, truing wheels, adjusting gears and brakes, breaking and fixing chains... So good to learn all this stuff!!

    Posted 8 years ago #

  14. threefromleith
    Member

    @dougal I do all my maintenance indoors in the comfort of my own living room. I put up the workstand , get the bike up on it and off I go.

    It's one of the benefits of being divorced and owning your own home - no-one to freak out when you do such things. (And before anyone asks, I was divorced before I started cycling, so it wasn't the cause!)

    Posted 8 years ago #

  15. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @Three important question - do you put down a dust sheet first? Or are you lord of your own manor, oil stained carpets and floorboards and all!

    Posted 8 years ago #

  16. threefromleith
    Member

    @kaputnik I lay out some newspaper beneath the bike to catch the muck, oily clods and other mucky stuff that drops off if the bike's not clean.

    Of course, if I'm using grease, oil or laying out drivetrain components around me as I'm working, I'll use newspaper too.

    (To be honest, the carpet's already stained by years of visitors spilling red wine, cats throwing up on it whilst I'm at work, child rubbing pots of Sudocreme into it when she was wee etc etc - so I'm not overly concerned about it getting any muckier. It'll have to go at some point - and I suspect I'll be more reticent about bike maintenance when there's a spanky new carpet to ruin)

    Posted 8 years ago #

  17. Stickman
    Member

    I'll need to do a refresher course on maintenance. A lady with a *very* squeaky bike stopped me to ask for help on the path this morning. Her front brake was completely seized up. I manage to make it better but one block was still rubbing. Not having v-brakes on my bike I couldn't quite remember how to adjust them properly.

    The lady said she worked in Waverley Court, so if anybody there hears a very squeaky Ridgeback then please offer to help out!

    Posted 8 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.


Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin