mara777

Recently bought a used bike. It was shifting horribly, chain rubbing very bad and noisy, rear derailleur clicking/popping, chain rubbing on itself (in the rear derailleur) while on smallest cog...

Spent many hours this week learning and working on adjustments... Was going to give up after the first day because I was having such a hard time. Stressed myself out trying to find a LBS (there are none within 45 minutes of me so I don't know where to go).... Spent more time learning and finally figured everything out! I feel so proud of myself!!

But kind of embarrassing... The last thing I needed to figure out was indexing. I couldn't do it because I needed to turn the barrel adjuster clockwise, but it was already turned as far as it could go...

Couldn't find anything helpful online (trying to google if my cable was too tight). Was ready to unclamp and loosen the cable...

Finally, this morning, I took a look and realized the bike has TWO barrel adjusters 😳😅. None of the videos or articles mentioned anything about two barrel adjusters (maybe assume we already know that???). I had been only using the one near the rear derailleur, but I vaguely remember earlier this week playing around with the one near the handlebars. I had that one turned counterclockwise all the way. Indexing was quick and easy after I adjusted it 🤣🤣🤣🤣

KerryIrons

I often quote Yogi Berra: You can observe a lot by watching. The first thing anyone should ever do when learning to work on bikes is to carefully look at what is actually happening and how it functions. Tunnel vision is the enemy of being a good mechanic. Take this lesson and extrapolate it to the rest of the bike whenever you work on it.

wheelreason

Another YT certified technician is born...

Iride01 

Two adjusters on the same cable just give you that much more available adjustment.

I'm just guessing that the one on the rear DR was almost maxed out one way or the other and the other just happened to have the needed amount of adjustment left.

You don't really add tension to the cable. The spring on the DR controls that tension and there is no adjustment of that particular spring. What you are really doing is more akin to shortening or lengthening the cable to where it attaches at the pinch bolt on the DR. Though you also could just have repositioned the cable in the pinch bolt and probably made the adjustment with just the one barrel adjuster on the DR itself.

Chuck M 

IMHO there is a well deserved sense of accomplishment that comes from figuring something out on your own. Congratulations

The most important thing is that you figured it out without asking first here so you didn’t have to read through 16 pages of arguments to the point that you didn’t want to even try.

RB1-luvr

woot! fixing a bike is very satisfying. Way to go.

BobsPoprad

Well, I've been tinkering with my bikes for years and I still just turn one way...and if it doesn't fix it, just go the other.

I know it has something to do with lengthening or shortening the distance that the cable runs...I think.

icemilkcoffee 

Perfect! In my experience, desperation is the best motivator. When you have noone else to rely on, you're going to figure it out yourself.

dedhed

Personally I'd loosen the cable and reset the barrel adjuster so it does have some adjustment for the future.

rsbob 

Derailleurs can be a royal PITA to adjust for the newbie. Congratulations for having the tenacity to stick with it, figure it out and make it work. Well done!

Camilo

Agree. Disconnect the cable, put both barrel adjusters in a middle position and reattach the cable. FWIW, I find I use the barrrel adjuster at the derailleur almost exclusively. The one on the downtube - on my bikes - is much more difficult to turn and the cable just doesn't seem to respond as smoothly as at the derailleur itself. Also, when I adjust the cable, it just seems more convenient: I pedal the bike with the right hand, adjust the cable at the derailleur with the left. I'm always looking/listening to the RD when Im doing this so it just makes sense to me.

Iride01 

That's very true. And for me being a tinkerer that didn't like to read instructions for much of my younger life, it took me quite a long time to figure out the mysteries of the DR. So I was turning things without really understanding what they did. Many times I was turning the limit screws, which basically don't affect the actual shifting.

In fact out of the 50 plus years I'd say that only the last dozen did I ever have it all figured out. Partly because I finally read the instructions.

freeranger

Glad you've gained knowledge and experience on doing the adjustments! Saves trips to the LBS and if (when) the cable stretches, you can get it back to good shifting again! I know of a few who never did get der. adjustment down. Not too awful after you've done it a few times.

VegasTriker

You might take a trip over to the park tool website where there are links to many tutorials on how to maintain your bike: https://www.parktool.com/en-us/
It sure beats trial and error. The list for derailleurs: https://www.parktool.com/en-us/blog/...&area%5B%5D=52
It is one of several sites. The other one that gets a lot of attention is the Sheldon Brown website: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/

alcjphil

One of the first things yo do if asking questions about how to adjust something is to actually provide specific information about the bicycle and its components. In this case, the OP didn't do that, but still managed to sort things out without help. I fail to see the point of this thread

ofajen

Good on you for trying and persisting until you got it sorted out! It’s satisfying to be able to take care of your bike. 👍

Otto

indyfabz

I like the satisfaction of picking up the bike from a LBS all fixed up and ready to go.

DaveSSS 

One tool you'll soon need is a RD hanger alignment tool. You can waste a lot time trying to get correct indexing when the real problem is a bent hanger. Parktool.com is the best place to look for advice and good videos.

Photokid1970

This is encouraging! My slowest gear is slipping on the rear of my Trek DS 8.3, and it seems that a minor adjustment is all that is needed. I've been working up the courage to try it, and it seems like it will be fairly easy to do after watching the referenced Park Tool videos. The advice about watching what happens is good... in theory I know what it is supposed to do, but I haven't yet done it myself. I'll take all of this advice and give it a shot.

mara777

it's fine now. I had one of the adjusters turned all the way in one direction, so there was nothing I could do with the other adjuster to properly adjust indexing. now they are both somewhere in the middle so i could do fine adjustments using either one in the future

mara777

Was just trying to make conversation/share my excitement over figuring something out that was very frustrating.

I had no idea there was more than one adjuster for the same cable, and I guess most sources (even for "beginners") just assume you already know that?

smd4

I'd close both barrel adjusters, or at least close them, then maybe back off a turn. There's usually little need to loosen cables; most likely you will need to tighten them using the adjusters.

rsbob 

Changed wheel sets this week, and each had a rear gear cluster but with different ratios. When I switched back to the originals the alignment to each cog was off just a bit and I couldn’t shift to the largest cog. Weird. Tried using the barrel adjuster and got the alignment in place but still couldn’t get up to the largest cog. After a lot of fiddling I had to pull the cable more taught and resecure it and now it gets were its supposed to go. I find it odd that with virtually identical wheels but with different gearing that the cable would have become stretched. The thing is the cluster I switched temporarily to had two less teeth. Twilight Zone.

cyccommute 

In my mechanics classes on derailers, I purposely detune the limit screws on the bikes we use for teaching. I then hand my students a screw driver and tell them to have at the limit screws because this is the last time you will need to adjust the limit screws. If I had my druthers, I’d grind off the damned things after initial installation and adjustment. Nothing good ever…ever…comes from messing with the limit screws.

The “aha” moment that came to me long (long, long, long) ago was when I realized that the vast majority of derailer problems are due to cable stretch. Once you realize that, you become a derailer whisperer and even a wizard to most people.

rsbob 

Thank you for posting these links. The Park video was the most detailed and thorough one I have viewed. It helped me with a recent issue which was a real head scratcher - and almost resorted to heading to the LBS for help, but the video came to the rescue. Much appreciated.