Hi,

Last fall I bought a seven speed bike. The shift mechanism for the rear dérailleur is on the handle bar near the hand grip and you rotate it like a motorcycle throttle to change gears. It clicks into place when you change gears - which means you have to have the dérailleur adjusted exactly right otherwise the dérailleur might be in between gears when the shift control is clicked in place.

The last time I had a bike was thirty years ago. It was a ten speed and the shift levers didn't click into place, they moved continuously, you just adjusted them until the chain was on the gear you wanted.

I am wondering if the "click" into gear is something new on a lot of bikes today or is it just for cruisers, and comfort bikes and such like.

The reason I am asking about this is it seems hard to me to get the adjustment exactly right. Sometimes I shift and the gear doesn't change, then I shift again and it moves up two gears. I am wondering if it is really worth the effort to get the thing adjusted exactly right or should I just get a different shift lever that doesn't click into place? The chain doesn't derail past the low or high gear so the width of the derailleur movement must be right and I don't see how it could not be aligned with the intermediate gears. Does anyone know any tips that could help adjust this?

Or, can anyone recommend a decent but not too expensive shift lever that allows continuous adjustment rather than fixed positions that would work with a 7 speed rear dérailleur ?


Thanks