Bike Gear Issue, help please!!

AdamEW · 24 Jun 2011 at 21:47

Hi, I had a sneaky go on my brothers bike today and in my glee I was playing with the gears and shifted to '3' on the left hand shifter.. but it just made a horrible noise when i pedaled (imagine one of those old lawnmowers that you push around to power) I looked and realised that his bike only seems to have 2 gears at the front! oops! (the outside one just is a thick piece of metal).

Thing is the shift down button just does nothing, cant seem to get it to return to '2'!

The gears shifters say 'sram' on them and the front gears where the pedals are have 'raceface' on the cogs themselves..

Id could really do with fixing this before he gets back from glastonbury I fear what he might do to me when he returns!!

Thanks for your help!

Supercow · 24 Jun 2011 at 22:08

Serves you right touching another man's bike.

suffer!

ichabod crane · 24 Jun 2011 at 22:12

My tool of choice (other than Supercow that is)

Jonny ///M · 24 Jun 2011 at 22:19

Scrap that just read it has two rings. good luck

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/front-derailleur-adjustments

SDK^ · 24 Jun 2011 at 22:25

Drop it into Halfords - they'll repair it for you

weescott · 24 Jun 2011 at 22:34

AdamEW said:
I fear what he might do to me when he returns!!

nothing wrong with brotherly love.

I would just leave it as is. It was probably like that to start with. If it wasn't then if he is a proper biker he will fix it himself without a second thought. If not then use Ichabod Jane's tool on your brother!

Deleted User 234324 · 26 Jun 2011 at 15:46

Sounds like he's converted his bike to a bash guard + 2 X 9 or 10 setup but not adjusted the lower and upper limits for the front derailleur correctly.

His own fault for doing a poor job

touch · 27 Jun 2011 at 12:48

MadMossy said:
His own fault for doing a poor job

Maybe not. I had a kona stinky that came with 2 rings and a bash guard from the factory. It had a 3 speed shifter but it hit the bash guard before it clicked into 3rd gear so it was almost impossible to do unless you push the lever very hard.

OP: check that the front shifter is not jammed against the bash guard causing it to stick in that gear.