bike wrench

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A place to ask bicycle repair questions, and for bike shop monkeys to share advanced non commercial wrenching resources (no YouTube self promotion). This is only for repair related topics.

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How do you get your shifters to sync properly? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 days ago by scutiger@lemmy.world to c/bikewrench@lemmy.world

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I've been biking my whole life, but I've never had a bike that shifted properly. Like I've literally bought a bike, and right from the shop, the shifter's clicks don't line up with the gears properly. And then it's a game of going up two clicks and then back down one to get the chain lined up properly.

So how do I get it just right? The bike I have has Shimano twist shifters all the clicks numbered, but the numbers don't line up with the actual gears.

The closest I've gotten it is where it works perfectly when the bike is on the lift, but as soon as there's weight on it, it goes out of sync again.

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[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Part of the problem is bike quality.

If the bike has flex in the frame, that will continually alter the length of a cable.

I've never been able to keep a generic bike well tuned, but the higher-end bikes I can adjust and that adjustment will hold (both for shifters and spoke tensioning).

So frame flex, wheel flex influence the shift consistency.

The derailleurs also play a part - lower end models also aren't as precise. Some I've been able to make shift perfectly in one direction, but the other direction would be lazy because the pivot points have a tiny amount of play that makes positioning less precise.

[–] lightrush@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago

Here's visual aid on the difference between high-end derailleurs and low-end ones. One can get pretty decent shifting out of the cheap one but not the 99.9% reliable shifting that stays reliable for years without adjustment that you get from a better made drivetrain.

With that said, some parts have more effect than others. With any level of Shimano, running decent quality (Shimano, Jagwire) uninterrupted housing from the shifter to the derailleur eliminates problems on the frame. That along with an aligned derailleur hanger would produce pretty good shifting.