xnevergiveinx

i'm having trouble with my downtube nova folding bike since i swapped out the rear freewheel gear. i bought an 11-28T freewheel from itselectric.ca.

took off the stock freewheel, put in the new freewheel. it works great, with the exception from shifting down from gear 7 to gear 6. it seems as though i cannot get the tension dialed in correctly on the shifter cable. i have spent a couple of hours adjusting the cable tension with the twister on the end of the derailleur, also adjusting how much cable is pulled under the nut. i really didn't do much with the hi and low screws because it shifts fine into the highest and lowest gears

every other gear is fine with shifting. also, i can shift from 5 to 6 to 7 just fine. but going from 7 to 6 results in the chain staying on 7 and clicking like crazy. so, now i just shift from 7 to 5 and back to 6, if i need to be in 6.

one thing i noticed about the freewheel from itselectric, the cog teeth are not slightly angled. the stock freewheel that came with the downtube had the teeth of several cogs turned slightly to aid with shifting. obviously the freewheel cog teeth on the itselectric gear are hardened, so i cannot bend them at all.

also, i noticed that it looks like the itselectric freewheel has a retainer ring that holds the cogs in place. if i could get that off, i think i could reduce the spacer that goes between gear 6 and 7, it would likely allow the shift to complete successfully

ideas?

cyclist2000

on some of my bikes I have cut the housing at the derailuer into 2 pieces and placed an inline barrel adjuster between the two pieces of housing. This will increase the ability to adjust the cable tension. This especially works well with old campy derailluers that don't have an adjuster. When I do this I make sure that the housing is longish there and the separation is a couple of inches from the cable stop on the chain stay where the housing is straight.

powers2b

Seems obvious but are the limit screws properly adjusted?
Is it possible the RDR got bent slightly?

Enjoy

cny-bikeman

Limit screws should have no effect on your problem of course - they only affect gears 1 and 7. Cable tension also has no effect as you are pulling on the cable, not letting it shift against the springs. If the derailleur/freewheel combo worked before and does not work now, and nothing changed then the problem has to be the freewheel.

Before going there, though make sure that the derailleur is aligned properly. Put it on the 7th cog and the large chainwheel - pulley cage should be parallel to the chainwheels in both planes - that is not leaning left or right or pointed to the left or right of the chainwheels. Shift to the inner chainwheel and check again, pulling back on the derailleur so as to rotate the pulleys. If they don't stay vertical the derailleur has become twisted and won't shift right in some gears.

If all looks ok then there's something wrong with that second cog. Without knowing what freewheel you are using (could not find one on the site noted) I don't know what is wrong - perhaps it takes a spacer, perhaps is an asymetric cog that mounted backwards, possibly a bad casting??

powers2b

You are correct, diregard my prev post.
I glazed over the OP and threw a few ideas out.

Enjoy