Hey everyone:

I need some help with getting the shifting on my bike dialed in after replacing the rear derailleur and rear shift cable.

I commute with my bike daily year around and put a lot of miles on it. This past weekend, I serviced my bike to get it ready for spring/summer. I cleaned/re-greased the hubs and replaced most of the drivetrain including the rear derailleur and rear shifter cable. I have never replaced these things before. My bike has a Shimano Tourney 7-speed rear gear and 3-speed front gear. Even though I was successful in installing these components and have the bike back together, I'm having a hard time with getting everything adjusted and shifting correctly.

I tightened the shifter cable first since that made the most sense to me. For the shifter cable, I moved the rear shifter to 7th gear, pulled the cable taut with my fingers, and tightened the cable anchor down on the derailleur. After doing this, I could only go as low as 2nd gear. I could get the shifter into 1st, but it took a lot more force and the derailleur still didn't move the gear into 1st (stays in 2nd gear).

I then tried to adjust the rear derailleur as per the Park Tool video on youtube. However, this didn't improve the shifting either. At this point, I threw my hands up into the air and walked away in frustration.

What am I doing wrong here? I don't think the rear derailleur hanger is the issue because I replaced that last year and still looks straight.

Thanks!