jamesjems

The Place: Rural "Bush" Alaska
Time: O-Dark-Thirty (5:00 AM)
Temp: This morning : 25 F

The problem: neither front nor rear derailleur would engage despite my shifting thumb.

Why? Is there anything I can do to correct this? It's gonna get colder yet....


James

Eggplant Jeff

Probably frozen I would guess. WD-40 both regularly before/after riding? That might keep water from getting into 'em and freezing in place. What temperature is your bike stored at? The winter cycling forum might be a good place to ask for advice too.

CBBaron

Convert to single speed or fixed. Eliminates all that complicated shifting mechanisms.
Second option if you really must have gears is a hub gear, much less likely to have shift problems.

Your shifting problem should be repairable but we'll probably need a little more information. Is everything dry or covered in slush/ice? Is your shifter not moving or is it moving but not moving the derailer? Possible problems include frozen cables, frozen derailer, broken cable, frozen cable housing. If everything is dry then its probably something broken. Otherwise it might be something that is frozen. If its frozen bring it inside or warm it up with a hair dryer, dry out the part and put some lube on the moving parts including the cable housing. Should keep you working but I still think the best solution is fixed gear
Craig

PaulH

I'd suggest replacing all shifter and brake casings and cables once every year. Once moisture gets in them, they get very sticky when cold.

Paul

Bekologist

Do what PaulH recommends, then lube your bike up and keep it outside in a shed or covered porch for the rest of the winter. The melt-freeze cycle is hard on bikes - Storing your bike outside keeps it from refreezing EVERY TIME you leave the house when your 70 degree bike acts as a heat sink that lets ice and snow melt into your bike before it freezes up once again.


Bringing it in everyday is hard on a bike in snow country.

bostontrevor

My money's on the frozen cables. Pay attention to cable routing to see if there's a way that water might get in and collect at some particular bend and reroute the cables so that the water will always be able to flow out. Secondly, use something like WD40 or Triflow inside your cables to keep water from entering.

Bekologist

oh, and practice dislodging slush nuggets from your drivetrain and brakes/frame while you ride. Learn how to lightly kick your rear derailluer with your heel when you're at stops. Keeps it from freezing up like Jerry Lewis at a beauty pageant.

rickertk

I've had something similar happen with a bike which was stored indoors until just before the ride, which was at 20F, in very dry conditions (no snow on the ground). Only one shifter, the rear, failed. The cable was clear, and the shifter would readily drop to smaller cogs, but when I wanted to shift to a bigger, that lever just moved with no resistance. I was able to improvise that ride by doing all shifts on the front, and the shifter returned to normal function within about 20 minutes of bringing the bike inside. This was with Deore LX trigger shifters.

Keith

RicardoJM

I had a similar issue. The shifter would not engage at low temperatures. After trying several different things (many of which others suggested in this thread), I came to the conclusion that at low temperatures the shifter would fail. I replaced the shifter. It now works just fine at all temperatures.