jlax2485

Hello everyone,

Let me start off by saying that I am ashamed to admit this...after buying my not-so-vintage CAAD 4, I took it to my LBS to get inspected and fully tuned-up. I am pretty handy when it comes to cars, but I really don't know much about working on bikes, outside of replacing tubes/tires. They replaced the brake pads, cables, and other typical adjustments (though it looked as if they didn't clean the chain at all...my chain tool is on it's way to check to see if it is within spec). So I got it back this afternoon, and I ended up paying an additional $500 for the tune-up, new continental gp 4 season tires, shoes and pedals, and for the tune-up / misc parts....which is more than the bike was originally worth .

Anyway, I am resolved to now do all of my own work. I am going to start collecting the bike-specific tools and learn as much as I can. Now having the bike back, I was incredibly excited to ride a dedicated road bike, instead of the mountain bike I had been lumbering around on the road with for the past 5 years. A few things to note:

1. This bike simply wants to go fast! I had to pump my brakes on several occasions, because I was not used to going so fast down hills. The clipless pedals and lighter weight make all the difference when climbing, especially the steep hills in and around my area. Certain climbs were noticeably easier than I remembered. They may have been even easier, save for one problem I had which I will get to...

2. I briefly tried riding the drops, and I just need to get more used to riding with road bars I think. Even riding on the hoods started to hurt my hands after some time- the muscle in between my thumb and fingers ached by the end of it.....is this normal, or do you think it could be a fit problem?

3. The bars are narrower than my shoulders...could this cause a problem with comfort?

4. Clipping in and out of the pedals was so difficult at first...I fell once and almost fell on several occasions- especially when trying to start going up a hill from a dead-stop. I am getting the hang of it though, and I set the tension as loose as it could go to be able to clip in and out easier.

5. This is the issue that worries me the most, and one that I am going to need help with (I do not want to take the bike back to the same LBS)...I tried to downshift from the middle chain ring to the very smallest ring, and the chain "dropped", and became stuck between the middle and smallest rings on two occasions. I was able to pop the links out that were stuck, and checked the shifting through all of the cogs while off of the bike, and everything seemed to work.

The problem seems to be while under load the front derailleur is mis-shifting. Going up from middle to largest ring is OK. Also I noticed that the chain was rubbing against the inside of the front derailleur cage while pedaling. Is this normal? I don't usually cross-chain, but it does seem unusual and I deliberately put the bike in gears which you wouldn't expect it to rub.

Could this be a sign that the chain is toast? It must have been within spec or else they would have replaced it. The chain was still gunked up when I got the bike back from the LBS, they did not clean it at all. I will try cleaning the chain and putting on some fresh lubricant. I am just frustrated about this problem, because it kept me from being able to use the smallest ring on my ride.

Sorry for the rant and thank you for your advice....despite all of this I am still glad that I now have a road bike.

RobbieTunes

Prologue: for $500 alone, much less an additional $500 to some other quoted price, the bike should be spot-on. If it is not, change shops.
Disclaimer: I have no idea what the shop had to do, replace, fix, etc, or what your priority was. That price may be justified, or low.

1. Lighter weight? Just in pedals? Negligible difference. However, may be more efficient pedal stroke, I simply don't know.

2. See prologue: For $500, you should not have a fit problem. Fit is first, then getting the bike ready is second. The shop should know and relay that.
Disclaimer: I have no idea what the shop had to do, replace, fix, etc, or what your priority was. That price may be justified, or low.

3. The bars should be whatever is comfortable for you, and if you notice they're narrow, they may be. However, if you've been riding hybrids, cruisers, or mountain bikes, the bars themselves may seem narrow. If they are uncomfortable, that goes back to fit, and that goes back to the shop, and that goes back to Disclaimer: I have no idea what the shop had to do, replace, fix, etc, or what your priority was. That price may be justified, or low.

4. Good. Set the tension loose, and then tighten as you get better. Normal to fall over. Many of us repeat that once in a while, just to be humiliated.

5. This absolutely should not happen after a tune-up. Perhaps you are shifting under load, and you generally should not do that. Anticipate. It is not an automatic transmission. Google ways to properly shift, read up on it, and practice. If the chain is toast, the shop should have told you. They should check as a habit, period.

Epilogue: No rant, just fact.
I'd find some folks out riding, preferably with some grey hair, and get some good advice.
They are generally more than willing to help.

Welcome to the forum.

Everyone here is a former TdF winner and ace mechanic.
Plus, all are good-looking and intelligent as all get out.
And those are just the women members.

jlax2485

Thank you for the information - I had read up on the proper ways to shift, videos, etc. and when I tried I was riding on flat ground, and purposely not trying to shift while putting a lot of stress on the drive-train.

By weight I meant the overall weight of the bike, not the pedals. Sorry for that.


I can probably list out everything they did, and the other things I bought while there:

The " full tuneup" itself was $80, not counting other parts.

They replaced the brake and shift cables, brake pads, cleaned the cassette and changed my handlebar wrap for me at a minimal cost.

I also bought new tires (continental GP 4 season "black edition" for $160)
Gel Bar Tape: $30
Shimano shoes: $80
Shimano pedals: $90

USAZorro

I take it you have indexed shifting (brifters)?

It sounds like there are definite adjustment issues, but the chain getting stuck between front rings could be partially due to learning curve and technique. That rubbing though.. different story. There is such a thing as "trimming" your front derailleur, but what it sounds like may have happened is that they set up your cables, and didn't take the initial settling that can happen into account when the put them on. What I always do is adjust the cables, run them through the paces of shifting and braking, and then check and then reset the adjustment as necessary afterward.

If you can deal with auto mechanics, this bicycle stuff ought to be a breeze.

oh - and welcome to C&V

Steve Whitlatch 

I would bring it back to the LBS to have them re adjust the front derailleur for you.

jlax2485

Yes, I do have brifters. I usually do most of my own work on cars, but I'm still learning about bicycle repairs / maintenance. Do you think that the adjustments are something that I could easily learn to do? Could you also elaborate on the learning curve of shifting with the brifters? Sorry I am a newb when it comes to road cycling.

TimmyT 

Yeah, it looks like you paid shop prices for those items. The tune-up seemed to be priced fairly (RobbieTunes' disclaimers holding here, too.)

GP4 seaons are not cheap tires. They are the go-to for road bikes. Internet prices are cheaper, but they installed them, etc.

Bikes are much easier than cars. You will have it in a few months with no problems. Welcome!

Steve Whitlatch 

Get the chain on the small ring with your brifter. Loosen the front derailleur cable. Two adjusting screws are on the fd. One adjusts the highest ring limit outwards, the other adjusts the position of the inner ring. Turn the one that controls the inner ring limit so that the derailleur moves closer inwards towards the bike frame just a bit. Pedal the bike to make sure it does not fall off to the inside of the small ring. When set right, tighten the cable back up. You need to pull the cable tight before tightening. Move the FD too much to the inside and it wont shift up to the middle right. Too little and the chain drops like you have. Easy.

USAZorro

The adjustments are pretty easy. Far easier to show than to try to explain though.

First thing to do with your left brifter is to move it all the way in one direction while turning the pedals forward, and then look where it leaves the derailleur cage. Then move it all the way to the other and observe. Also note that there are probably a series of clicks and smaller movements that the cage is making as it moves. In no case, should the chain come off the big ring to the outside, or off the small ring to the inside. (Steve's post above explains how to adjust for that if it is necessary) Count how many pushes and clicks it takes to move between the rings in the front. With practice, this will become practically automatic. In some cases, it may take one full push and a partial one to get everything right.

Next, get into the gear combination where you had the rubbing. Can you make the rubbing go away with small movements of the shifter? If you can, problem solved. If you can't, what ring in the front, and which cog in the back?

If you can't get it to go away, you may have a chainline issue, or a derailleur adjustment issue. Let's try one thing at a time though.

Ayers

Park Tools will happily sell you any specialty tools you need to do maintenance, and their website has hours of reading to teach you what you need to know. Just read up on dérailleur adjustment and similar. They walk you right through it.

jlax2485

The park tools home mechanics set is going on my Christmas list this year

Ayers

Park makes nice stuff, and I have a lot of it, but like you, my background was in car repair. Your present automotive tool selection might make some of the basic Park kit redundant.

I just picked and and chose stuff along the way. Bottom bracket tools, cone wrench sets, cable cutter, cassette and freewheel tools.

USAZorro

Park Tools also has a bunch of "how to" videos. I've only watched a couple, but they seemed pretty well done.

John E

Since you know your way around automotive repair, you should definitely learn bicycle repair and pick up a few bicycle-specific tools to complement your general and automobile-specific sets. If you can change an Audi timing belt, you can learn to fix a bicycle. (Been there ... done that, on both counts.)

The biggest problem auto-turned-bicycle mechanics seem to have is applying too much torque to the generally smaller and weaker bolts, with obvious consequences.

RobbieTunes

Whatever you do, don't let it interrupt your riding.
Make mental notes during a ride, but ride with gears the bike likes, for now.
Fix them as you go.

Wrenching experience on bikes, like cars, is cumulative.
You only have so much time in life to ride.

MiloFrance

Bear in mind you have more leverage from your leg at the bottom of the pedal stroke, so try to get in to the habit of only unclipping from that position. That helped me a lot.

*GOOD!!

Spaghetti Legs 

Even after years of wrenching on bikes, it often still takes a couple of tries for me on a front dérailleur to get it to shift just right and it never shifts the same on the road as it does on the stand. Take it back it to the shop and let them tweak it some more. They should do this no charge.

I use the Park website, Sheldon Brown site, and Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance as my references. The book is nice to have as you can keep it at your work bench and can leaf through it with dirty hands. Of course, the wise ones here are the ultimate oracles if I have a real problem.

jlax2485

I thought that I had adjusted the FD to the point where things were shifting almost smoothly, and yesterday everything was working fine. Today though I went out for a ride and when I went to shift from the smallest to the middle chain ring, the chain didn't shift up to the sprocket, and became stuck again between the two rings, to the point where I cannot easily pry it free. At this point, I am pretty frustrated- I do not trust this bike to function properly on a long ride, and I simply can't figure out the problem.

I know that I definitely now need to change the chain and I will probably put on a 12-27 cassette to go with it. If the problem is the chain rings, how easy is it to find replacement rings for an Ultegra 6500 9-Sp triple?

Could my problem be related to the tension in the shift cable (indexing)? It seems like when I shift it doesn't quite make it onto the next ring as I ride, though it works flawlessly while I am off the bike. Any help is appreciated - I am getting more frustrated because I really like the way the bike rides!

RobbieTunes

These are eminently repairable. You need to shift quicker up front, don't give the chain time to lolllygag, and perhaps you've got to let out a bit of tension on that cable and then re-adjust the in/out screws.

jlax2485

So I shouldn't adjust the tension and stops independently of one another, correct? For example, if I let out the tension a bit, I will have to then go back and adjust the limits? I have been looking for advice on shifting and most folks say to shift smoothly and keep the lever depressed until the chain catches the ramp and shifts. Is this correct technique?