Friday, June 23, 2017

Tuning the front derailleur could be frustrating

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
June 23, 2017



On my birthday bike ride, I was only able to use the small chain ring;   the front derailleur wont shift to the large chain ring.   Yesterday, I had the opportunity to tune it for it to work on large chain ring.  The lack of large chain ring slowed me down on flats and going downhill.

I spent almost 30 minutes  trying to get the fd work right.  Armed with a 5 mm allen wrench screw driver and pliers, I tried my luck.   First thing I did was to get the slack off the cable,  Then trying to get the shifter a little bit out by turning the low screw clockwise until I got the chain go to the large chain ring.  However the chain was jumping off the ring.   So I had to turn the lower (high screw) about 4 x so that the limiter will prevent the chain from over reaching.  After wards, I tried the shifter and it would not shift again.  I had to turn the lower screw cc about 3 turns to get it right.  

I think did trial and error of the adjustment about 4x;  I nearly gave up to bring the bike to the mechanic. The patience paid off and was rewarded with a functioning front derailleur.

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