bifo

i have an old 10-speed with the old style shimano 600 friction shifters. i've managed to get the shifting to work when upshifting on all gears, but i'm having problems downshifting from the 2nd to smallest (#2) to the smallest cog (#1) on the cassette. the chain remains on #2 when the shift lever it pushed all the way up. i can only get the derailleur to shift to #1 if i shift from any other gear than #2. i've tried adusting the derailluer using the adjusting screws but that didn't help.

what else could be wrong, or is this normal behavior for friction shifters?

** edit **

i apologize for any mis-use of bike terminology.

Bill Kapaun

Going to a smaller cog is up shifting.

Sounds like your cables need to be cleaned & lubed.
Going to a smaller cog means the der spring tension is doing the shift. If the cable is sticky, the spring can't overcome that. When you are shifting more than 1 cog, you are allowing the der to build a bit of momentum to carry the mech through to the last cog.

HillRider

The most likely places for problems with downtube shifters are the cable quide under the bottom bracket shell, the short cable housing section between the chainstay anchor and the rd itself and the rear derailleur's pivots and springs.

Check each of these for cleanliness and for frayed or snagged cable strands. Be sure the rd is clean and the pivot points lightly lubed.

operator

Disconnect the cable and verify that the problem is either the cable + housing or if it's because the derailleur spring is hosed. If it's the latter, you can't do much except lube and physicaly push it up and down the cluster to work it in. If it still doesn't work well, get a new rd.

Do all of the above posters insturctions as well.

bifo

thanks everyone.

i went over the cables and pivot point w/ some tri-flow.

it seems that the biggest problem is the rear derailleur hanger joint. this does not move freely, even after some lube and a re-torque. movement in the area is quite rough and doest not swing freely. is there anyway to fix this?

* edit *

I disassembled, cleaned & lubed the hanger bolt housing and spring which helped the shifting slightly but the problem still persists. i may need to realigned my hanger.

dabac

Often the der hanger bolt can be removed. For Shimano it tends to be a circlip on the frame side of the bolt. pry that one out with a screwdriver, (mind where it goes!) and you can get the der hanger bolt out for a good clean and lube.
Do note that putting it back can be bit tricky, there's a spring in there that has to be kept tensioned as the circlip is put back.

With that said there has also been some der designs that didn't have any mobility at all around the der hanger bolt, so question is how big part of your problem it could actually contribute with....