Gears Not Changing Correctly
 

My bike is a 1 x 7 speed. Every time I go up (or down) a gear, say from 4 to 5, it will click and not work properly until I click the gear shifter in the opposite direction I just went.

It sounds like it went from 4 to 5th gear but it clicks like its stuck. I then click DOWN and it goes to 5th gear and works properly.

I'm not sure if I am explaining it correctly, its a very odd problem.

Another example:

Going down from 4th to 3rd, the gear switches to 3rd but it clicks, I then click UP a gear, and it stays on 3rd with no clicking noise.

Basically every time I switch gears up or down I have to click again in the opposite direction for the gear to stay on with no clicking.

At face value I suspect the cable is too long (or has too little "tension"). But it's hard to be definite with so little info. Are you able to feel the change in pedaling efforts after the shift was tried? If so than the chain did shift to a different cog, but the guide pulley might not be well located (centered) below the cog (as in the der moved too far). Can you see the chain move from cog to cog during shift attempts? To better understand what is going on we need this kind of feedback. You are our eyes and hands WRT your bike. Can you position the bike so you can pedal it by hand and watch what happens when you try shifting (bike in stand, suspended form the ceiling with ropes, upside down bikes work for this too but the upside down aspect will confuse many)? .

BTW your tag line makes it seem that you don't ride at all. Or that you are angry at drivers, or that you don't understand stats and safety and just want to buck what most others have found to work. Care to share your thinking on this? Andy