One track mind.
 

Sorry about my bad terminology on bicycle anatomy.

Ok so i have a Trek "ion cx" cyclocross fitted with Sram apex gears and the bicycle is a 2012 model.
I changed the old derailleurs maybe a year or two ago because they were pretty beat up and "loose".
Getting sick and tired of not fully understanding how to tweak and tune these things. In my defense,
i haven`t had any "roadbikes" (28") as such before 2012. This is the bike i use on an everyday basis.

Right now i am struggling with finetuning my rear derailleur(s). I mostly have gotten the hang of the two screws
saying "low" & "high" i can`t even remember exactly what they are saying. Right now i have them around mid position. Not too far out and not too far in, but maybe a bit further in. When looking in there, it seems the tips
of these screws are sticking out into mid air, but i know they limit the travel of the moving parts for finetuning,
but is that all they do, and is it the tips alone or is there more to it than the screw tips?

As my headline is going on about, when i try to shift from the biggest cog into any of the smaller (heavier) cogs on my 10 speed Shimano cassette, nothing happens. It has been like this for a long time because i don`t know how the heck to fix it and quite frankly i am so tired of this. It`s not really stuck stuck, just that it won`t shift when i tell it to. It takes like a minute to react and i have to shift the front derailleur gears up and down to see if that helps but right now i`m at the point where i use my right foot to manipulate the damn thing. This is btw a great way of creating even more slack in your derailleur mechanism and not really recommended if you want it to last. The wire just becomes really slack. I am pretty sure the problem is the derailleur itself and not the gear shifter on my handlebar.

That single rearwards facing screw where you adjust the forward/rear position of the derailleur is all the way in and then some. Seems this is where it needs to be to have the chain lay down smoothly/get on track on the cassette. How this influences the shifting of my gears i do not know, but i suspect this may be part of the problem.
The gears with the way they are set up now work next to brilliant, but whenever i move to the lightest gear (biggest cog) that`s when the magic happens. Bad magic that is. I have a big paved yard to testride my bicycle when tweaking the gears etc. Some times the wire slips out of the groove it is supposed to rest inside if you are at all familiar with the apex design. This can make a guy paranoid when adjusting hsi gears as it can not be seen as it is situated on the underside of the derp derp derp derailleur. Jesus christ is this some type of fine french word or something? I`m serioulsy having a hard time typing it into my keyboard each and every time i try, lol.:crash:

I was thinking it may be the spring inside the derailleur that has developed too much slack, but i am not experienced enough to tell. I cleaned the derailleur after a long winter and as most of us know when you clean your moving parts there is a significant chance you will have to readjust the gears because they move more freely now when all the dirt is gone. This is what happened to me. Took me a while to realize this, but at least now i know.

Ok, i think i covered it by now. Mr. smiley is just for good measure..

:foo:

Alright, thanks for that informative link. Might have to see that clip two dozen times or so before it sinks in. Caught me off guard when the guy mentions "double tap" technology (2:55) so now i`m lost. What am i missing? I do not comprehend the double tap system. I click once for every time i want to shift. Anything other than that is black magic to me. I`ve tried to "play around" with the gears lots of times and i`ve spilled my fair share of elbow grease but i`m not getting any closer. It seems like the chain does not fit snugly over the biggest cog, but does so on the smaller cogs. The derailleur seems to get stuck when i shift into the biggest cog and the derailleur wire developes way too much slack when it`s trying to shift into the lower cogs and is not following the "will of the tension" in the wire anymore. I remember when i was at the shop and bought a new cassette, i really didn`t know what "combo" to get as i`m not very familiar with the teeth (T) combinations. Seems like the biggest cog is much larger than the next biggest one. I`ll post back tomorrow with some more info on that. Shees, what`s a stupid guy to do ???

New cassette? Is it possible that you bought a cassette with a largest cog that exceeds the capacity of your derailleur? Does it work as long as you stay in the smaller 9 cogs?

My cassette has these formats from the top and four down: 36T, 32T, 28T, 24T, My chaindisc is a twospeed 50/34T type.

Hello. Well usually it has worked on the smaller 9 cogs, but lately it shows signs of not wanting to cooperate on the 2nd biggest cog as well. Today was a mess, don`t know what to think. Let me know if the links work. First timer on the jpeg thingy see ;-)

The One drive says the pictures no longer exist; or are private.

Exactly what model RD do you have? Are you sure that it is rated for 36T?

Do you have SRAM shifters? If not, the RD will never work properly.

What condition are your cables and housings in?

Did you put a new chain on when the cassette was replaced? How was the length of the chain determined?

What was the original cassette on the bike?

Go to SRAM's website, and download the instructions for your derailleurs - they are good, if you do EXACTLY what they tell you too; the derailleurs will work well if everything else is to specification.

OMG, you`re simply asking too much of me here, lol. Yeah sorry to say i haven`t acclimatized myself within the realms of uploading pics and present
them on chat forums. I`m still pretty much idling at the cut & paste level, but seems that approach don`t fly in here :( It appears me & computers do
not share a good natured prosperous chemistry.

Heck, i didn`t even know there existed a thing such as rating. That right there is more than likely the problem i am faced with. I don`t know what type
RD i have, but it`s a genuine derailleur for sure :) Ok wait let me check.

......LOADING......

The top secret XFD#110 rated number on my troublesome APEX Rear Derailleur reads as follows:

02T - 6459 - 777 - 46


Again i have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA if this RD is rated within the realms of my current cassette :lol:

Yes i still ride with the original SRAM APEX gear shifters that came with the bike when it was purchased new.

Condition of the cables and housings are good. I am not used to replacing any of my housings, but the wires
i will replace every other year. Please don`t tell me wire will stretch and develop fatigue or something.

The gear shifters are certainly worn but i don`t see these contributing to the problems i am experiencing.

Yes, i replaced the chain at the same time as the cassette. I know how things will go to southern if i don`t.

The length of the chain was determined by me :) MEEEE I TELL YA !!! :thumb:

When installing my current chain, i used the "bypass two link" procedure like the guy in this video does (7:30)


Shees, i don`t know the combo of the original cassette. I have since replaced both chaindiscs and cassettes
several times and tried different sizes/number of teeth (T) but what goes with what i have not developed a sense for.

Thanks for your input.

Alright folks, a pretty flat learning curve i`m sorry to say. Takes a very long time for every eureka moment to materialize for me.

Things learned on this topic:

There is such a thing as a short cage RD
There is such a thing as a mid cage RD
There is such a thing as a long cage RD, but i am not sure if SRAM has one in their APEX range. Only seeing short & mid on their website.


I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.
I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.
I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.
I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.
I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.
I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.
I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.
I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.
I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.
I will never again install a mid cage RD together with a high count cassette.


According to the SRAM site my RD is not compatible with my current (36T) cassette. Mine seems to be rated up to 32T making it a mid cage.
One small note i will make. The only real identification i am using is judging by the looks of these. That intricate product code on the rear of
my RD (02T-6459-777-46) is not quoted in the description as far as i can tell. I believe this is the specific RD model i have fitted as we speak.

https://www.sram.com/sram/road/produ...rgx2c244bim7i0


So, having at least in theory solved my big problem...BIG question i ask myself right now. Where do i go from now ???

Get a smaller tooth (max 32T) cassette?
Get a long cage RD that will cover my current cassette (there is one that is called "APEX 1" that goes all the way up to 42T.

Thanks folks, you`ve been very helpful so far :thumb:

Let me rephrase myself real quick. What am i supposed to do now ?

This guy rocks.