Got my 1st new bike delivered. Got it all assembled but having trouble adjusting the front deraileur on my 21 speed.

The front chainwheel has three chainrings. I can manage to get the bike to shift from the smallest ring to the middle, but not all the way to the largest. Or I can get it to be on the largest, but cant get it to shift down to the smaller two rings....I can set it either one way or the other but I cant seem to get it so the derailer can move the gap required to move the chain to any/all three rings....

When I have it set so it can shift from the smallest to the middle ring, it seems the deraileur has reached it's furthest most outer limit - When I set it so it can reach the largest ring, when I go to shift to the other rings the cable loosens but nothing happens......

Tried all sorts of combiantions of the H and L screws.......just could not get it.

The front shifter is a Revo Friction Shifter if that makes any difference. The Deraileur is Shimanno.

Also.....NEWBIE rider here........and taking to a bike shop is not an option at the moment......

Going to read thru directions again, watch some you tube videos, and try again tmro with fresh eyes and attitude......but any tips appreciated.

I must be doing something wrong

Here's the basic procedure (in case you missed something):

- Clamp the derailleur to the seat tube in a position that will allow the cage to just clear the tips of the chainring teeth (maybe 2 or 3 mm gap) when it's in the outermost position. You do this without the cable even being connected; just manually pull it into position. Also, make sure the cage is parallel to the chainring.

- Put the chain on the smallest chainring and the largest rear cog, and then adjust the L stop screw so the derailleur cage is centered around the chain.

- Next, put the chain on the largest chainring and the smallest rear cog. (You still don't need the derailleur cable to be hooked up.) Adjust the H stop screw so that the cage will be centered around the chain in this position. You have to pull the derailleur out and hold it against the stop screw while making this adjustment, as its spring will try to return it to the inner position.

- Once the stops are both set, you can hook up the cable. Put the chain back on the small chainring and large cog. Set the shifter to its lowest gear position (the position that lets out the most cable). Make sure the cable is routed correctly through its guide(s) and the housing is secure it its bracket or "housing stop." Route the cable through the clamp on the derailleur and then pull all the slack out of it while you tighten the clamp.

Run through the gears and check for smooth shifting. If your shifters are matched to the derailleurs, you have the correct width of chain, and your cables are in good shape, it should work. You might have to make some small adjustments to the stop screws at this point, just to fine tune it. If there is really no way to make the derailleur move far enough to shift onto the smallest and largest chainrings, maybe you have the wrong shifter or derailleur for a triple crank?

Good luck! Go slowly and don't let it get you flustered. If you're not getting the results you want, walk away for a few minutes and then return to it when your head is clear.

I'd start at the beginning.

Back off the H and L limit screws so they allow the most cage movement possible. Remove or derail the chain so it is out of the picture. Mount the FD on the bike with the cage parallel with the chainrings and the height set so that the cage clears the large chainring by a few mm. Attach the cable removing as much slack as you can. Forget the shifter for now, just pull the cable by hand between the stops on the downtube causing the cage to swing side-to-side.

Does the cage physically move far enough such that it is over the small chainring at one limit and over the large chainring at the other?

- Mark

Thanks markjenn & Broctoon;

Does the cage physically move far enough such that it is over the small chainring at one limit and over the large chainring at the other?

At one point I thought I had it set so this was the case, but then I messed with it, and have yet to be able to get back to that point.

Going to print this out, and try again tmro. Going to start from ground zero like you guys say.....one thing I may have been doing wrong was ignoring where the rear chain was sitting.......as I attempted to make the front adjustment.

Txs !

Do not leave excessive chain clearance when in the small chainring/large cog combination, 1 or 2mm is sufficient. Then do not touch the low limit screw. If you leave too much clearance on the low end you may run out of derailleur travel when trying to shift to the big ring.

If you've been screwing around with it unsuccessfully for awhile, you probably need to start over from scratch.

Find the Park tool website for installing a front derailleur. Completely disconnect your shift cable from the derailleur and pretend that you are installing it for the very first time. The first step has to do with the position of the derailleur on the seat tube. Check that out very carefully. When I've been confronted with balky front derailleurs, a high percentage of the time the position of the derailleur was the cause. Be sure to do all of the steps in order because one adjustment will often affect subsequent adjustments.

Good luck!

.......so I printed out the comments below, and also Park Tool notes on the subject, and just spent a few more hours messing with this to no avail.

Is it possible the bike was shipped with a Derailleur meant for only two sprockets ? No matter what I do, I can't get the Derailleur to EXTEND OUT far enough to push the chain onto the biggest of the three sprockets. It "almost" gets there, but just seems not built to extend that far out.

I took both limit screws off, just to see what the range on the Derailleur is w/out them. Even w/out the screws I cant push the Derailleur out far enough to where I think it would push the chain to that largest sprocket. No matter what adjustments I make to the Limit Screws, I can't push the Derailleur out far enough to where it would push the chain to the biggest sprocket.

I messed around w/the height of the Derailleur as well, but don't believe that is the issue.

I have till Nov 27th to return the entire bike if I need to, but that would suck. (perhaps they will just replace the Derailleur ??? I will be checking)

What's weird is I could swear I had it adjusted correctly at one point when I 1st got the bike, but after making a small adjustment after initial driveway ride I have not been able to come close to getting it to shift smoothly thru all three front sprockets.

I am torn at this point if this is user error, or bad Derailleur.

Shouldn't be THAT difficult for reasonably competent person.........right ???

I am presuming that I should be able to shift the Derailleur to where the Chain would be centered over all three Sprockets. If that's how it is supposed to work, then something is off....

Getting anxious to ride

I would have to say no. It moves over the Small and Middle quite easily, but only barely gets to the Large, and not enough to where it would push the chain to that sprocket. No matter what I do w/the L screws, I cant seem to get it to extend far enough out.

After reading this, I am now thinking my bike was shipped with a Double Derailleur rather than a Triple.

All About Front Derailers

Modern derailers are optimized for either double or triple chainwheels . The shape of the shifting cage is tailored for the application intended.

A "double" front derailer has an inner cage plate that extends down only slightly farther than the outer plate.
A "triple" front derailer has an extended inner plate that goes down considerably lower than the outer plate. The extended plate greatly improves shifting from the small to the middle chainring, because it acts closer to the middle ring.
"Double" front derailers will work with triples, but if the middle ring is much smaller than the big ring, they will be balky shifting up from the small to the middle chainring. They do, however, work well with "half-step-plus-granny " setups, where the middle ring is only 3-5 teeth smaller than the outer ring.



Based on these photos, mine is clearly a Double.

How about a picture for us?

OP needs to rule out a shifter problem.

Loosen the front derailleur cable so that there is slack and tighten the pinch bolt. Then put a rag around the cable and pull it by hand while pedaling. A work stand makes this 9857% easier.

Another solution is to take the bike to a shop. They might even confirm that it is or isn't the correct derailleur without charging.


-Tim-

I will try that but question: I disconnected the cable, and have tried pulling/pushing the Derailleur by hand so it would extend over the Outer/Large Sprocket, and it doesn't seem to get there. Would putting rag around cable & pulling by hand make any difference ? I am thinking not but open to ideas. (It's a friction shifter fwiw)

Bike shop not an option less they work for free

I don't see anything wrong.

Imagine a Derailleur that won't shift outwards far enough

I will post a photo tmro....(Bikes in Garage, it's raining, and I am sipping a Bourbon at the moment



My Derailleur is clearly the one on the left, despite bike being a 21 speed, w/ 3 chainwheels in the front fwiw

I don't have any advice that's different than has been mentioned already but just to make you feel better the front derailleur IS much harder to adjust than the rear...

Pulling the cable by hand should eliminate the shifter as the problem. If the H limit screw is not limiting and pulling the cable as much as you can by hand will not move the cage outboard far enough to be well over the large chainring, then almost by definition, there is some parts mismatch between the FD (or its mount) and the crankset. The baffling thing here is that most FDs have quite a bit of extra movement, so even a FD designed to only shift a double typically has enough headroom to shift a triple.

Pictures would help.

- Mark

Is a visit to a shop really out of the question? Do you have any local friends who are cycling enthusiasts, who might help?

I would take it back to the shop you bought it from, and have them adjust it.

Make sure the cable is free to pull the mechanism, especially when you say the spring in the derailleur won't pull the shift lever back when coming back from the outermost position where the tension is the greatest.

I just had that problem last weekend, and when I looked, my cable goes down the bottom of the frame and comes up around the bottom bracket. I had let the kickstand shift and it was jamming the cable.

Also, I found it hard to push my derailleur out to the farthest position with fingers. I used a screw driver as a lever to move it out, and then I held that position with some scrap wood around the lever.

1. A NEWBIE rider should not be assembling a bike. In addition to derailleur adjustment there are many operational and safety related items that you may overlook. Even a dept. store assembly would be preferable, as you can go back for warranty adjustment or even return the bike if not operating properly.
2. Saving money with a bike in a box is questionable when you lose the advantage of all the assistance you can get from a bike shop.
3. Assuming a bike shop bike or assistance is out of the question monetarily I would strongly suggest that you see if there's a bike co-op or knowledgeable friend available. No way to tell about resources near you from your location - "Mass and Maine"??
4. Your description of the problem is inconsistent at best, which makes troubleshooting very difficult. At no point have you confirmed that the derailleur is mounted in the correct position, or that you have followed every step of the setup process.
5. Just noticed the note that your derailleur appears to be a double. Certainly that would cause multiple problems, but need to see a pic.

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Finally got a few photos posted. (see previous post) Sorry for the delay, and thanks for the help so far. I did try the advice of releasing all the tension in the cable, then using a rag to hold onto the cable, and pulling to see if the Derailleur range changed in any way. It did not.

I am fairly certain this came with a double vs. a triple derailleur, but according to what I've read, it should still work so I have continued to tinker with it.

Thru trial & error with the limits, and even removing and adjusting the Derailleur itself, I had the FD set to the point where it did shift the front chain to/from all three cogs BUT only if I helped it by shifting the RD to help it along. For example - with the FD set to have chain on the inner/smallest cog, and the rear chain on the inner/largest cog......I can shift to the middle cog......but not the largest/outer cog......until......I shift the rear gears more towards the outer cog......somewhere around the middle of the 7 cogs, it then allows the chain to shift to the largest/outercog on the front. (so I guess that is some progress

And vise versa..........when I can shift the front back to the middle cog, but can't get it down to the smallest cog, unless I then move the rear chain back towards the inner cog.

I am going to make some small adjustments to the rear derailleur limits and see if that helps. Also, have still not lubed the chain which I will be doing next time out to garage fwiw.

While I purchased online, I have the ability to return this entire bike to local store on/before Nov 27th, so wanted to continue to work with it to see if I can get it going before then.....if It in fact looks like I just need a triple derailleur I will call them and see if they will do a free exchange.....would hate to have to return entire bike just because of one component.

Thanks again for the help !

1) I flatly reject the notion that a NEWBIE should not attempt to assemble a bike. - I have a decent aptitude for fixing stuff, have a garage w/unlimited tools, and enjoy learning. Bikes may have a few "sensitive" components here & there but are far from what I would call COMPLICATED MACHINES. Between forums, youtube, and google I find a person can learn a lot if patient, willing to do trial & error, and will ask for help when needed. (I thought that was the purpose of some forums) - The only real difficulty in working with a bike is not that it's a complicated machine, but rather a lack of knowledge about how certain components work, which can be learned.

2 & 3) Moot points when your ONLY option is the bike in a box (not worth wasting any more key strokes on the fact that I cant spend any money on this.......) I spend 1/2 my time in remote Northern Maine where there are more dirt roads than paved, and more moose than people I know of no local bike co/ops in my area of Massachuestts (central mass)

4) While I can confirm I did follow every step of the set up process, as described in the manufactures instruction manual, I can't "confirm" the derailleur was/is mounted in the correct position, other than to say it appeared to be, based on what I have read.

5) I came to the conclusion (as seen in previous post) that it appears to have come w/a double derailleur despite having three cogs. It seems to me this is "probably" the issue, but I am willing to concede user error or lack of knowledge if anyone can clarify for me.

-and once again.......going to a LBS, Buying a more expensive bike, etc....etc.....etc....is NOT an option for me. My only option is do it myself or just forget about riding - and I really don't mind the learning process one gains from doing it on their own. I have already learned about Derailleurs & freewheeling mechanisms for heck sake !!

OK, I'll modify my statement. A newbie who fulfills all of the above criteria, with a limited budget and little or no access to the resources I mentioned would be within reason to assemble their own bike

......so I just made one more small adjustment to the Lower Limit Screw, this time moving it slightly inward, while ensuring the range of The FD could still reach far enough to the outer cog. I did this, because after last adjustment I could get to the middle & upper cog, but not back to the smallest cog.

I can now shift up & down to/from all three front cogs with my Friction Shifter, from a single rear cog.

Because I messed w/the RD however, I can not get to the inner/largest cog, but I suspect this is because of adjustments I made to the barrel. Going to try to tinker with the RD to fine tune it and see what happens. Hopefully the RD only requires small adjustments - and the FD remains fully functional.

Hopefully we are almost done here

I am now starting to wonder if the real problem was not something to do with the shift cable after all.......do they require a "break in period" at all. Or perhaps having not applied any grease to it could be an issue ? (or even a combo of bad limit settings with improperly set (or faulty) cable ?

All of a sudden a full turn of the Shift Grip really seems to be moving/allowing the FD the full range it needs to move to/from all three front cogs - although to get chain on large/outer cog, I need to give it a little muscle to get the shift to keep moving the FD

Anyways....progress....

Also.....fwiw.....I noticed the FD came with no BOLT on the inner plate. It does not seem to effect/limit movement in anyway as I shift up/down thru the full range.....You can see it missing in one of the photos I posted (if you look closely).