no motor?

In the 5 or so years I've been riding my Hardrock Classic, I've upgraded and replaced enough worn parts to allow me to spend the summer commuting and running errands instead of doing the bicycle maintenance I spent time on the past few summers. I upgraded the grip shifters to trigger shifters early on, replaced a couple of chains and cassettes etc..., with the last cassette replacement about a year ago when I replaced the chain too. I've been using a teflon dry lube for most of the summer, and had been using White Lightning before that, cleaning the chain 2 -3 times a month with the White Lightning and about once a month with the dry lube. Shifts had been fast, clean and quiet until I got to one of the most dangerous parts of my commute Thursday when I went past the grammar school while parents were dropping off their kids.I was concentrating on the woman in the bemoth SUV behind me instead of shifting gears when I heard/felt that old familiar combination of the chain rattling before moving out to the next cog. I thought I'd missed a shift, but shifting for the rest of the trip to work was noisy, late and erratic (just like it did with the twist grips and worn chains/cassettes). I cleaned and lubed the the chain, the RD cable and the cable guide under the bottom bracket as recommended by Sheldon Brown that night, and saw the chain had stretched to 12 1/16". Shifting was better, but not as it was before, and replacing the chain didn't change much. It still shifts poorly and wont go into 1st without pressing on the downshift lever while pedaling, and the gear indicator is out of synch with the cassette. Readjusting the cable tension would be the next thing to do, but I'm still puzzled as to what could cause such a huge change in performance in such a short time. My riding hadn't changed before the change in performance, and I hadn't run in to anything etc.... what else should I look for?

FBinNY 

Sudden changes in performance imply a sudden cause. If the problem were caused by chain stretch or the like it would have come on gradually, not black and white as in your case.

The number one suspect in a case like yours would be a bent hanger from a fall, but I don't think that's what it is because they only bend in, and therefore shifting to lower gears would be easier not harder. I suspect that your cable might be dying or might have slipped in the anchor bolt. You can check the cable just above the anchor for signs of slippage, and rule that out easily enough.

As cable inner wires age they begin to fray up in the lever where they wind around the cam. As a few strands break, the wire lengthens causing the kinds of problems you're seeing. It can be adjusted out with the cable adjuster, but take it as a sign that the wire is going, and replace both cable and housing at your first convenience. If you wait too long, the next step is for the wire to fail completely leaving you to ride home in high gear.

BTW right cables always fail first because that lever is used more, but it usually makes sense to replace both at the same time, along with the housings whose inner liners wear out, even if they look OK from the outside.

no motor?

Thanks, I didn't think the chain stretch was causing all of the problems, but needed to be fixed before I lost another cassette.

DannoXYZ 

There's your problem. Each click of the shifter pulls a different amount of cable due to the angular sweep of the RD. Most likely what happened was your shifter-cable housing wasn't fully seated into the ferrule or RD. Over time with riding, bumps and shifting, the housing pushed in all the way and seated itself. But that lost you some cable-tension and your shifts are all messed up.

Try making increasing the cable-tension with the adjuster until the gears line up with the shifter indicator. If not, unbolt the RD cable from the RD and re-install in the proper position.

no motor?

Right on the money. There were a few strands still connected, but most had broken. So many that it was hard to push the end out. Thanks again for the info.