Bicycle Mechanics - Bar-End Shifter - troubles shifting in indexing mode

Hi, I have Shimano Ultegra Bar-End shifters with a Tiagra rear derailleur and a 9-speed cassette. The cassette is 11-32 (the crankset is 50x34, if that matters). Shifting works just fine in friction mode, of course, but indexing is very finnicky. In particular, between the 3rd and 4th cassette (14 teeth to 16 teeth) and sometimes the 4th to 5th (16 to 18) it won't fully shift... just goes in-between gears and skips. Any ideas and/or suggestions for getting indexing to work for this set-up? I'm fine running friction if I need to, but would love to get indexing working.

9 speed shifters? hanger alignment?

Sounds like the cable tension needs adjusting at the rear deraileur.

Al1943, I have tried adjusting the cable.... I have gotten the indexing perfect except for that one jump (3rd to 4th). And that one jump remains weird after much adjustment, but all the other jumps dial in quickly...

reptilezs, Yes it is a 9-speed shifter. I will look into the alignment of the rear derailleur, too. Not sure how to diagnose that, but I'll check it out...

The hanger alignment is checked using a special tool. Take the bike to you LBS and have them check. An alignment will cost about $15.00, or at least that is what we charge.

If you have another cassette, see if the problem persists after changing that. I recently got a SRAM 11-32 that has a problem with the next to largest sprocket. BTW, I generally have good luck with SRAM chains and cassettes. As for checking the derailleur hanger, you can remove the derailleur and thread in the axle of a complete wheel. Check for alignment against your installed rear wheel. You can use the wheel to leverage the hanger, if needed. Not as good as the tool, but useful.

J.R.: It the cassette assembled correctly? The CS-M770 11-32 cassette (if that is what you have) has the smallest 4 cogs loose, with a spacer between the 3rd and 4th and between the smallest and the lock ring. If a spacer is missing or mis-located that would definitely screw up your indexing. Or, and I am not sure if it can be done, maybe one sprocket is assembled upside-down in the stack, making the shifting ramps misaligned.

I've had this happen with bar-end shifters. It's symptomatic of the index/friction switch not staying in the "index" position. This will happen if the center screw is not tight enough. Cure: get a big screwdriver and tighten it as much as you can. I've never damaged mine, even with T-handle screwdrivers.

FWIW: I've seen more failure reports with 9-speed bar-ends than the previous 7- and 8-speed units. That's possibly because 8-speed was on its way out when the Internet was invented. :)

shelby,
good idea, but the only cassette have is a a different range, 11-26. I doubt I'll diagnose it this way, but thanks for the tip.

dsbrantjr,
Interesting thought. I will have my LBS keep this in mind when they check it out.

jeff w,
i will double-check this first! If this is it, then I owe you one, cuz this will be a super-easy fix. I'll let you know if this is it.

I managed to align the derailleur hanger on my wife's hybrid recently without the special tool. I bolted a 1,2,3 block to the hanger in place of the derailleur, clamped a 24" level to that and measured from the level to the wheel at the valve stem (rotated the wheel and measured to the same point at both ends of the level to eliminate any truing error in the wheel). Then rotated the level 90 degrees and repeated the whole proceedure. After all of that it still seemed to need a bit of adjustment so I ended up just prying the hanger out a small amount with a large screwdriver and that took care of it. Using the proper tool would probably have eliminated the need for that final "blind tweak", but I did not have to wait for the only LBS in town to get around to it or for the tool to be shipped. The whole idea is to get the derailleur hanger parallel to the cogs, how a person measures that is of little matter (it is usually measured to the wheel which is hopefully parallel to the gear cogs).

Check to make sure the cable is routed correctly at the pinch bolt on the rear derailleur.

Check to make sure the cable is routed correctly at the pinch bolt on the rear derailleur.

This was it, thanks Al1943! Wow, that was easy.