Originally Posted by
buddyp
nice work - you got it exactly right. There should never be a need to touch the H&L limit screws unless you change some other part of the drivetrain out. As long as all you touch is the cables the tension adjustment is all you need.
Right; after all, screws don't stretch.
This is a great example of what a few people here have said -- bike repair is not rocket science and if you look (and listen!) and pay attention to what is going on you CAN figure it out.
I had my doubts about it, because this is my first road bike, and my first bike with brifters. I had gotten a handle on the Suntour friction shifters on my old Huffy ATB from almost twenty-five years ago (my first multi-speed), and was also able to figure out the shifters on my later bikes.
As far as breaking the chain goes, unless you put your weight on it thats not very likely to happen, no matter how bad you goof it up
That's what I was worried about -- I had been riding on it that way. I was careful to not pedal hard if I heard any noises, but sometimes I wondered if wind or traffic noise was blocking the chain noises...