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Old 08-17-11, 01:22 AM
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dabac
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Originally Posted by JahRo225
I thought I'd mess around and see how the derailleur worked on my new bike, but I found out it's pretty cheap... now I see that my derailleur is cheap ... It's a Shimano TX35..
While heavy and crude-looking, there's nothing inherently wrong with a TX35. Unless damaged or seriously worn, it should work just fine. Maybe not great, but you'd have a long way to go before you can blame the derailer for holding you back.

Originally Posted by JahRo225
.. should I maybe try and upgrade?
As bike parts are much more expensive when bought piecemeal, upgradeitis can be a real costly affliction. Pretty much the only way to make make any kind of sense money-wise is to replace-with-nicer when a part is broken/worn out, but only then.

If you decide you want a new derailer for the fun of it, well that's another ballgame entirely.

Originally Posted by JahRo225
.. How much would this cost?..
well, if you insist, anything from 30 USD to 250 USD for the part alone, depending on how much engineering overkill you'd want to apply.

Originally Posted by JahRo225
..I see that my derailleur is..slightly angled.
I'm afraid this doesn't tell us much. If it sitting at an angle to the rest of the bike when viewed from behind, then it needs fixing or possibly replacing. Can be a bent hanger, can be a bent derailer.

It it's sitting at an angle when viewed from the side - well, it's supposed to do that. And the angle will depend on what gear you're in.

Pay heed to the old saying: "if it ain't broken, don't fix it".

Originally Posted by JahRo225
. I tried looking online for help...
You can't have looked very hard then:
Park Tool on derailer adjustment
Park Tool on hanger alignment
Sheldon Brown on derailers

Originally Posted by JahRo225
. my derailleur is .. slightly angled... Everyone says there's a high and low screw....
I think you're mixin g things up here. The high and low screws limit how far the derailer will move sideways, but aren't really used to adjust any "angle" I can think of.

There's a B-tension screw that can adjust the derailer front/rear angle and cage position a bit, if needed. It's usually not a particularly critical adjustment though.

Here: you can find the Shimano document for your derailer. Item 1 are the high/low screws. Unless you can't reach all the sprockets, or if the chain comes off the sprockets entirely, no need to touch these. And unless the derailer is resting against the correct one, you won't see any change as you turn the screws.
Item 4 is the B-tension (front/rear position) screw.

Originally Posted by JahRo225
. I plan on bringing it back into my LBS tomorrow to see what they can do. Can anyone give me some advice or tips?
Read up on the links.

Plot your approach according to what you want. Are you just curious about how your bike works, or is it something in its performance that you're not happy with?
If the bike isn't behaving properly, are you sure it's the bike that's at fault, or is it maybe the rider who could do with some pointers on riding/shifting technique?
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