mr,grumpy 

I just received delivery of a beach cruiser bike with a seven speed Microshift derailleur. I had it up on the stand and quickly noticed that it would not shift into the smallest cog and would over shift past the large cog.All the other gears shifted perfectly. Everything looks in line and unbent but I'm no expert. Fiddling with the limit screws seemed to have no effect. Add to the situation that the front wheel of the bike (packaged on the left side of the bike) was horribly warped when it was delivered. I have not tried the bike under load, just on the stand. Any thoughts or recommendations would be welcome.

Eric F 

This sounds like an adjustment issue - limit screws and cable tension - but there could be other factors involved as well. If the bike was poorly packaged, things might have gotten damaged in shipping, and the issues might be bigger than just adjustments. It might not be possible to diagnose that via a forum discussion.

If diagnosing and resolving this is beyond your knowledge and skill level, a
trip to your LBS might be the best way to get things working properly.

I’m assuming this was an online purchase. Contacting the seller about the issues might also be a good idea.

maddog34

buy a better bike, from a local bike shop, next time.

NOW, taking into account that the Front Wheel Got Bent during shipping, there is a High probability that the DERAILLEUR got bent up too... If it ISN'T straight up and down in relation to the Gears and Wheel., it IS BENT and no amount of cable adjusting Will Fix it until that derailleur is made to be in VERTICAL and Front-to-Back alignment with the gears.... that will Require advanced bike repair skills you may not possess.


as to just not shifting, and if the derailleur is aligned to the gears correctly..........

the rear shift cable is most likely too tight... you''ll need to shift the shifter into 7(I'm assuming it's a 7 speed) and pedal it to get the Chain into the smallest gear it will move to..., then Loosen the cable clamp nut on the derailleur... Next, you need to Set the H Limit Screw to align the upper roller on the Der. with the Smallest Cog, while also making the chain onto that smallest gear (by Pedal turning or hand-moving it)... Now, Set the Cable adjuster/s to have them about 1.5 to 2 turns out from their "all the way in" position/s... some bikes have them at the Shifter on the bars,. AND on the Derailleur where the Cable Housing meets the Derailleur.....next, you Re-install the Shift Cable IN THE SAME PLACE IT WAS before loosening it, with the SAME RELATIONSHIP To the Derailleur cable clamp nut/bolt.. the nut is usually a 9mm size nut... you Do Have metric wrenches, right?...tighten the clamp nut While Pulling on the cable fairly hard, but not moving the Derailleur.. Now comes the fun part... TEST the shifting WHILE TURNING THE CRANKS.. Best done in a work stand or while the Bike is UPSIDE DOWN... click the twist shifter ONE Click.. does the Chain shift onto the 6 gear? cool! if not, it might Not shift or Over-Shift... Adjust one of the Cable Tension adjusters out a bit if it didn';t shift cleanly to gear 6.. and l turn the adjuster IN a couple clicks if it Over-shifted to gear 5... test it again, Starting each Test from Gear 7 position... fine tune to eliminate "noisy chain" sounds.. and it SHOULD now shift thru All the Gears with minimal noises or hesitations... re-adjust in one or two clicks, not a bunch all at once.

and now, you'll need to adjust the L limit screw... since you have said that you have moved it too, right? It prevents the chain from OVER-SHIFTING into the Spokes or Plastic spoke shield, AKA: Dork Guard..your bike came equipped with a Dork Guard, guaranteed... Those H and L screws should NEVER need to be moved from their stock, From-the-Factory Set Positions, Ever.. if you THINK they need moved, something else has been Bent out of position, or the Cable moved... FIND OUT what is bent or if the Cable moved.. DO NOT Mess with those limit screws.... Once they're set correctly, Don't move them ever again,. ok?

and NEVER open a Damaged Crate.. Make the Seller send a call tag and return it at their or the shipping company's cost.

mr,grumpy 

I did and they were more than willing to exchange the bike but all I really needed was the new front wheel. Since I got that I am looking into the shifting situation. My particular bike is the 7 speed version of what is normal a single speed bike, so even as it sits I have 4 more gears than normal.

When shifted to the highest gear, the cage sits directly under the second cog.

dedhed

But are the brake levers tight and do the cables rub the frame?

bboy314

Try detaching shift cable from derailleur, reset limit screws, reattach cable and adjust. Your derailleur hanger may need to be aligned too, often on a 7 speed cruiser it’s the crude steel “claw” type. These usually come with pretty low end components so I wouldn’t expect to get the shifting feeling perfect.

mr,grumpy 

Nope. Somehow at a third of the price it was totally fine. Weird. Almost like he company was interested in making a good product. It was SHIPPED by the samsonite gorilla but, you know, trade offs..

Bill Kapaun

IF it was adjusted correctly, I'd suspect the RDER/hangar may have gotten bent in during shipping.
The L screw, if properly set, should prevent the chain from going off into the spokes.

AndreyT

In other words, your RD cable is set for "too short". The indexing is [mis]adjusted to be biased by exactly one gear in "short" (large cog) direction. Mosty likely, whoever adjusted it accidentally twisted something in the wrong direction and then, after noticing the problem further "corrected" it in the wrong direction. They saw that middle gears work fine, so they just called it done (didn't bother to check the extreme gears and thus didn't notice the bias).

This is nothing to write home about. Just readjust the RD and be done with it. Easy.

Of course, if you see that it can physically overshift the large cog (i.e. drop the chain), it indicates that the limiting screw also needs adjustment.

Camilo

Your rear derailleur needs to be re-adjusted from step one. The derailleur hanger might need alignment too.

Take off the chain and rear derailleur cable. Find an online guide for installing and adjusting a rear derailleur. Best, of course, if it's a Microshift , but rear derailleur adjustment is pretty generic. Find that resource and follow it.

The general steps are without chain and cable"
Adjust the high and low limit screws
Connect the cable while derailleur is in the outmost (smallest sprocket) position
Install chain
adjust indexing

B Screw, chain length and derailleur hanger alignment are also invovled - see the above sort of resource for a complete how-to.

If none of this makes sense to you, you need to just go to a shop and have them fix it for you. There's only so much online forums can explain.

wheelreason

Doubtful that the bike was assembled with the gears adjusted as you describe, like ithers have suggested, it may have been bent during shipping, so first step is to check hanger and derailleur, if that checks sat, then adjust the gears. Detach cable and adjust both limit screws, then reattach cable and adjust. I find putting the chain in the second smallest cog and removing all slack with shifter in the highest gear gets you right there. More importantly check to make sure the brake lever is tight, and cables aren't rubbing...

rm -rf

I think it's more likely that the shifting was adjusted incorrectly instead of a bend derailleur hanger that bent exactly one shift away. Usually it's grinding the chain on the next cog and shifting poorly.

But step 1, eyeball the derailleur arm while standing quite far back. Does it look vertical (correct) or bent inward (bad). Outward bends are unusual.
If it's bent, a bike shop has the alignment tool, and it's easy for them to bend it back to the correct vertical alignment.

I like Park Tool repair guides for detailed, step-by-step instructions that don't assume any prior experience.

The rear derailleur alignment page is very detailed and methodical.

See also the Derailleur Hanger Alignment page.

wheelreason

If we were talking 11 speed, yes, but with a 7 speed and all it's slop, it may very well appear to be shifting correctly, but anything is possible.

veganbikes

So it doesn't shift perfectly it sounds like a small lie and we don't want to do that...LOL.

Honestly I would find a local shop and have them align the hanger properly and check it over, I have a feeling there are probably more issues. Generally a cheap online cruiser is going to probably be not well put together at the factory and if it is just shipping straight to your house having a professional look it over and build and tune it would be helpful

Camilo

The front wheel was bent and the rear doesn't shift right. Like others have suggested, sounds like the bike was damaged in shipment. You thought you only needed a new wheel so you didn't take them up on their offer to send you a new bike. I think you should have. Everything you're describing could be attributed to damage.

oldbobcat

https://www.parktool.com/en-us/blog/...eur-adjustment

smd4

There are none so deaf as those that refuse to listen. Mr,Grumpy isn’t here for solutions; he’s here to complain.

Lombard

If the bike really does shift perfectly but just one cog off, then it sounds like the cable is too tight. Try turning the barrel adjuster clockwise. If you get to a point where you can't turn any further and your shifting is still off, you will need to loosen your cable by unscrewing the cable clamp.

mr,grumpy 

Thank you. I tried those things. No luck.

After DAYS of tinkering, its all good, EXCEPT for the low gear. When I try to shift it into the biggest cog it seems to "catch on" something, the gears going, the derailure gets sucked backwards and the the chain jumps... somewhere. Could be back to the second largest cog, could be the Big Ring, could be the dork disk. Can't tell. Could go any way. I'm pretty sure that it's the B screw but I've tightened it and loosened it so many times that the head is starting to strip out.

mr,grumpy 

No, I'm here to see if any one can suggest something that I didn't think of or some nuance that I missed in something that I DID try. Currently I have 5 more gears than the standard version of this bike comes with. Nothing to complain about there!

mr,grumpy 

Probably but that ship has sailed. It just seemed so wasteful. Even if it need a new mech it's a $9 part, $12 for an upgraded one. The shipping would have cost more than that.

Camilo

Did you follow any instructions? They all tell you how to adjust the B screw properly. It might be time to just have someone take care of it and get it moving

Kontact

Sounds like this is beyond your current skill level. How willing are you to screw up your new bike while attempting to learn how to fix something that should have been delivered working properly?

mr,grumpy 

Yes I have but the examples are unclear. the spacing is 5-6 mm but the the guy in the video does it the jockey wheel moves straight up and down. When I do it it's more of an arc. I think the problem might be more of combination of the B screw and the lower limit screw not working in concert. The whole process before the b screw point was done following the Microsoft instructional video step by step and it's all fine. Yes, at this point I do plan on just "taking it in" when I have the chance.

Kontact

They don't work in concert. B screw controls vertical, limit screws are limits and the barrel adjuster controls where the shifter moves the derailleur. They don't interact.