No Luck with Bicycles, Same Problems Keep occuring
 

What's up? I keep buying bicycles, the first one was a Jamis xtrail something i got from sportschek last year, and it seemed to work decent. I use them for my Milk run (I'm supposed to be using a car) so i'm pushing the bikes pretty hard. But anyways the pedals always just stop and won't go forward when biking, i have to shift it down onto the 2nd ring in order to keep driving. One time the whole assembly the pedal attaches too fell off (I'm assuming the sportschek repair people messed something up, idk). Anyways i returned that bicycle and figured i'd go to the bike shop and get something more reliable, so this year i got a "Norco Charger 9.2 2013 Version" and the same thing happend, i didnt even make it as far into my run as the Jamis, the pedal won't go forward in the highest gear.. I took it to the bike shop to fix it, and he told me a bunch of stuff i never understood and when i asked how to prevent it, he said stay out of the highest gear and the lowest gear.. does that mean the bike won't handle the speeds i want to do, or are these bikes garbage? Please help, i really want a reliable bike i can use for work, and i haven't made it 1/10th into my milk runs with a bicycle staying in working condition.

From what he said i gathered these little bits of info: Something was bent or misaligned, they straightend it, stay out of the highest and lowest gear, these bikes are great and i'd have the same problem with any other.

I'm guessing that the bike shop was telling you not to cross chain. There is no reason to use the largest chain ring up front with the largest cog in back and no reason to use the smallest up front with the smallest in back.

I think that is what he was saying, can someone explain it to me more in very simple terms. Very very simple

...

That's pretty self explanitory... Don't use the big front and the big rear gears at the same time and don't use the small front gears and the small rear gears at the same time. It plays hell on the chain and derailleurs.

Will i still be able to travel as fast? it's snowing outside so i cannot try it.

We can't tell easily from here what the problem was/is and don't know what he was trying to say, so it may be best to go back and ask for a full but simple explanation of how to use your gears. It's something better explained in person - and best explained by an experienced person riding next to you. That being said here are a few points.

1. The large/large and small/small combinations should be avoided because they stress and prematurely wear the chain if used often, as well as being noisier.
2. Your bike has two or three ranges of gears, one for each chainwheel, but they overlap, so the extreme combinations are not really necessary. Another combination can be found that will feel about the same (and get you going the same speed).
3. It is best both for the bike and you to try to spin your legs around faster than once per second (preferably 70+ rpm) and to avoid real heavy pressure on the pedals. You will actually go faster that way.
4. When you shift you should have light pressure on the pedals.

Here are some pages that may help:
http://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/gen...-riding/41829/
http://www.intownbicycles.com/how-to...bicycles-gears
http://bicycling.about.com/od/howtor...to_shift_3.htm

Thanks, i understand now.

You're very welcome - have fun! One final note, as your problem seems to have in part been related to a bent part. Be very carfeful to avoid the bike falling on it's right side, as the rear derailleur (or it's mounting point) is susceptible to being bent if it hits the pavement

This guys has no idea how to use the gears and shifting. Good luck.

You also need to avoid shifting the front chainring at the last minute when you are exerting alot of pressure on the pedals (it is always best to let off on the pedal pressure on the pedals when shifting); as cny-bikeman said Since your riding MTBs you probably have 3 front chainrings; look at these as riding modes. The small chainring is for climbing hills, the middle chainring is for around town and the large chainring is for going fast on the flats or downhill. The nature of the forces on chain chain allow you to change the rear gears (cogs) even without letting off pedal pressure (unless the pressure is extreme), without unnecessary wear or damage. However shifting the front chainrings under pedal pressure can wreck havoc on your crankset; it can delay or resist the shift, bend chainrings and/or break the chainring teeth, cause what is called chain bridging, where the chain is locked mid shift, attached to both chainrings, and/or brake your chain (my guess is this the front shifting is where your bike problems lie). In the future you should anticipate when you will need to shift the front chainrings. If you are riding along in the second gear and there is a hill coming up, shift into the small ring and then shift into some higher gears in the back, so when you get to the hill, you will already be in the right front chainring (or riding mode) and will be able to down shift the rear into an easier gear. The same for shifting from a small chainring to the middle (or middle to large). In stead of up-shfitng the rear cogs, until you run out of gears and have to shift from an extreme chainline while you are spinning madly, shift into the next biggest chainring right when you need a higher gear so you be in the right chainring (or riding mode) for a flatter ride.

Is OP's problem possibly caused by chainsuck?

That was undoubtedly true initially. Let's take him at his word unless we hear from him again.

This thread gave me a headache... you guys have a lot of patience. good going.

eric
fresno, ca.

Pfff... you have not seen nothing yet hahahaha

and the joke about delivering my effing milk was pretty good, too.

Yup, the latter parts were hilarious, for us who know the basics. cny-bikeman helped with those links but i'm wondering if one of those top-down line line diagrams we've seen in the past would have been helpful showing the extremes with a red X through it, and alongside, the correct usage. some people are more visually attuned, particualrly males from what i've read. i haven't cruised the FAQs as much as i should have. but if it's not included somewhere, a basic explanation would be helpful i imagine.

eric
fresno, ca.

I'm 2% sure that half and half is the same as whole...

Thanks to everyone who helped

Evan, I didn't see this possibility mentioned in the above posts; you say that "the pedals always just stop and won't go forward" -- it sounds to me like it might be possible that your chain is too short to reach all the way around the big front chainring and the big rear cog. As noted above, it is generally considered bad practice to use such a "crosschain" gear combination.

I have the same thing on my bike; I moved all the components (including chain, gears etc) from one bike to a larger frame, and now if I try to shift into the large-large combination it doesn't quite make it, and everything is totally frozen until I release the rear quick-release so the wheel can slide forward and provide slack to shift the chain away from the big/big combination. For me it's not a problem because (a) I don't ride cross-chained in general and (b) I hardly ever use the big front chainring anyways. The only time this ever happens to me is after I clean/tune my bike and I'm riding circles in the cul-de-sac to work it through all the gears, and forget to avoid the big/big combo.

Sheldon Brown says:
And I can't find it right now, but I seem to remember SB writing something about common practice for bike shop mechanics to install chains a little too short, because it is not expected for riders to shift into the big/big combination, but if they do...watch out!

Crosschaining is certainly suboptimal for the durability of your drivetrain components, so as advised above, you should probably avoid it. But if it's something you really want to do -- or something you expect to occasionally do accidentally -- you should make sure your chain is long enough for it.

^I doubt we'll hear from Evan again. If we do, it won't be because of ultraboy6970's helpfulness.

Maybe a derailleur drive train is not right for you, a NuVinci continuously variable internal gear hub
is such that you just turn the shift grip till it, the effort, and pedal speed, feels just right..

not even any gear numbers to think about. ..

Evan;

So this old guy visits his wife's doctor, twist his arm up over his head and complains "Hey doc it really hurts when I do this". Doc looks at him, replies "then stop doing that", and that will be $30 for your insurance co-pay.

#1 Simplist explanation is; Cross chaining while pedalling hard will f&%* up your bikes, no matter how many of them you buy. It is not the bike's fault nor the LBS guys fault. Read all the posts here that are saying "don't do cross chaining". Then move to #2.

#2) I would suspect that your local shops are going to start charging you a lot more money for each repair action than they charge other folks or start refusing to work on your bikes at all. It is probably time for you to start by learning what all the main parts of a bike are called by name and then begin to learn how each of them are installed and adjusted, what tools are required, etc. There is just a mega-boat load of information readily available for the reading on the internet, on the Park Tools website, on Sheldon's website, on Youtube, etc. Also learn to use google. Take lots of notes. Fill your head with useful information and your hands with tools...

3) Goal is to not wreck your bike bits by mis-using/abusing them and to be able to fix your own bikes when they wear or break. You should be able to start saving serious money also.

Thanks for give credit to the other guys :)