lexmark

i had a close call with my brand new rim... i shifted to the top.. or bottom gear (im not sure) and the arm started grazing the spokes, if i had shifted over one more gear it would have pulled a few spokes out


All I can see on the shimano shifter is two little screws right before the spring.. but they do nothing when i turn them.. i think



what can i do to push my gear shifter inwards, away from my wheel?

jsharr

https://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=64

That link should help some.

lexmark

hmm... it helped a bit but it seems like my derailer is tilted inwards... its not perfectly straight with the sproket so the derailer starts to touch the spokes before i can get to the higher gears.


I also noticed im missing the tension screw that goes between the derailer and bike frame, will adjusting this screw align my derailer to the sproket ?

jsharr

sounds like you might have a bent deraileur hanger. If so, it either needs to be straightened/aligned, or replaced if it is replaceable. You might need to take this one to the bike shop.

Did you replace the rear wheel do to a wreck, etc? If so, I bent your deraileur got bent at that time.

lexmark

ya... i got stolen and the jerk that took it just droped the bike/derailer right on the cement... that was probably the reason but do you think i could align it myself by just bending it the other way?

jsharr

Never having done so, I would not like to answer incorrectly. If the frame is steel, probably, if aluminum, i have heard that this is harder. If it is replaceable, just get a new one. Your bike shop will or should have the tools and expertise necessary to do this correctly. Do it wrong and you run the chance of a deraileur in the spokes as you shift at speed/under load. You could end up hurt.

urbanknight

Derailleur hangers are touchy, so I would never try to straighten it myself without an alignment tool.

Retro Grouch 

How many cogs do you have on the back?

If the answer is 6 or 7, I'd eyeball it back into line. You want the derailleur arm to point straight down when the bike's vertical.

If you have 8, 9 or 10 cogs on the back, they're progressively more picky about the alignment being spot-on. I'd take it to a shop for a proper alignment with a gauge.

I wouldn't worry about tweaking back the small amount it sounds like yours is out of alignment aluminum or not.

Mr. Underbridge

Actually, my guess is it's the derailer cage, not the hanger. Normally, the hanger is what gets bent in a crash because the cage is harder to whack, being sort of geometrically protected by the wheel. In this case, we have a bike that got in a sort of wreck without the wheel, with the thing probably dropped straight on the cage. Cage is probably weaker than the hanger.

Probably take a bike shop to determine which it is and fix accordingly. If the bike is worth anything at all, grab and bend is probably not going to produce decent results.

Cheshyre

^ i've heard that hanger was meant to bend to protect the der.

agreed though, just take it to an LBS. if your derailleur goes into the spokes, you're risking permanent, catastrophic frame damage, as in, your wheel tears your derailleur off, along with your dropout.

mike

HA! Here is the perfect example of why spoke protectors maybe aren't such a bad idea after all.

(Lexmark - I think you have your technical answers from the other posters - happy trails)

Pepper Grinder

Stick a rear derailer in the thief's spokes. or his teeth. It's only fair.

HillRider

Spoke protectors will keep the upper rd pulley from hitting the spokes but if the derailleur cage itself is bent, the lower pulley may be the one hitting the spokes and the protector doesn't cover that far.

mike

Kinda true, but remember the spokes fall away from the derailure as they head from the hub to the rim. The derailure has to really be bent bad to go that far over. I find that the spoke protector keeps the derailure itself away from the wheel and the derailure hanger, thus, is even farther away.

Anyway, I see your point. Well noted.

dabac

Not harder, but more risky. Those aluminum alloys you're likely to find in a dropout/der hanger are more sensitive to being bent and rebent than your average steel. The actual bending won't change much but the odds of ending up with parts falling off is higher.

dabac

That wouldn't make much sense unless it's a replaceable der hanger. But I've seen sacrifical der hanger screws with their cores drilled out to make them snap off before damaging either der or hanger.