Awhile back, I went to clean my chain and cassette and found that the cassette chain rings had dug into the aluminum freehub of my Swiss hub. It is somewhat common. Why it is not stainless, I do not know. Anyway, I replaced the freehub and the bike wasn't shifting too well. I checked the hanger alignment and it was good.

The chain had a couple of years on it as did the cassette so I picked up a new cassette, chain, guide and tension pulleys.. It ended up that the chain was pretty worn and the cassette had quite a few miles on it.

It had been a few years since I'd restrung it, so I replaced all of the housings and shift cables. Pretty cheap maintenance really. When checking hanger alignment, I found a hairline crack in it and it broke apart fairly easily. So a new hanger was ordered.

Today, I installed the new hanger and aligned it. Installed the wheel with new cassette which is mounted properly and installed the chain. It shifts like crap, especially on the lower end. Mind you the hanger alignment is spot on. The low end screw is adjusted to give it plenty of bottom end (near the small sprocket) and there is slack in the shifter cable but it doesn't want to always drop to the lowest chainring. I have adjusted the rear tension screw in and out with no effect.

I am now thinking that the derailleur might just have too much friction or a weak return spring. Like I said, the cable and housings are all new from the shifters to the back and the back loop isn't too tight.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

ETA.. standard compact crankset with 11-28 10 speed cassette.