It looks to me like the cable has routed incorrectly around the side of the guide instead of through the channel, rather than being slack. No wonder it’s still not shifting well.

That’s an optical illusion. The cable should be under the bridge (green arrow below) which it is. But the cable should be closer to the guide even when under no tension than it is.

Having zoomed right in, you’re absolutely right. It’s just loose

Remove the derailleur cable and try to shift, if it moves freely then reinstall the cable without wrapping it over the top. Go from the bottom and make it a down pull instead of a top pull. When in #1, the cable should not be tight, there should be a little looseness. Try rerouting the cable first, I’ve found this to be an issue on many bikes; you’re essentially making it an up pull vs down pull. That should work.

wrong. that der is a dual pull, and what you suggest will NOT Work... not even a tiny bit.

It may not work but remove the cable and then try to shift, you’ll find out if it’s corrosion. If the limit screws are not set correctly, it may move a little, but looking at the pictures they are already turned out quite a bit. He can screw the low in and move the derailleur to 2nd gear and not have 1. Reconnect the cable and then you might get 2 and 3. Whoever said it will NOT work, have you tried it?

from your earlier post... "... then reinstall the cable without wrapping it over the top. Go from the bottom and make it a down pull instead of a top pull." try your suggestion yourself, on that exact style of derailleur... report back, with pics of your fail.

you then post again to describe some oddball "fix" that isn't needed.... by eliminating access to low gear...

you really need to at least TRY to know what you're talking about.
wow.

You can insult my intelligence and I’ll respect that, it if they look at YOUR screen name in reverse that’s ok with the administrators. I’m not throwing an insult, but, maddog34 is 43goddam???? I guess that’s fine. I’ll just read posts and not respond. Again, my apologies.

Are you the special precious sort that would care about a misspelled and reversed naughty word? I'm pretty sure that maddog would spell it correctly the right way around if he felt like it.

Just fyi "dam" is a structure to hold back water, the barely naughty word you are referring to is "damn" as in the famous Adm. David Farragut line "Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead" said during the battle of Mobile. If Mad Dog wasn't a common enough phrase I might barely buy your idea there but since mad dog is not uncommon and 34 is just a number and 43 has no real significance generally I don't think your thing really holds much of a candle.

34 is the number i chose when Racing ATVs, Cross Country M/C, and Karts, unless we were assigned numbers for an event.
Walter Payton inspired me to choose that number.. He kept the Chicago Bears moving forward, no matter what.
the Maddog nickname was earned, and goes back to my days riding with The Kossacks (patched over by the Gypsy Jokers long ago).

the original reply was either removed, or replaced with that post.
it was not nice at all, and violated the BF TOU multiple times.

it seems alex8627 has got his bike working.. that's a good thing... i hope he's found that mid ring adjustment is controlled by the initial cable setting, and nothing else... that's always a guess at best, eh? I find a bit of initial cable looseness when the shifter is in "1" is the typical outcome to get :"2" to work well with limited or no cage rub... like "1", FD position "3" is once again governed by it's limit screw.

Ahhh makes sense. Did not take you for a 1%er unless you are.reffering to the Slavic Christian warriors but the GJ reference kind of quashes that. I missed the original post but people do get bent out of shape sometimes.

not a '1%er".. just a motorcycle rider with lots of friends.
they tried prospecting me.. i said no.

Good man! That life can be rather rough. I have known a few that aren't quite outlaw but still have gotten into some debauchery ; )