rekon

So, I just bought my Jamis Nova Sport last month and I have recently got a lot of derailleur noise on specific gears. I am able to adjust the derailleurs so either the front/outter gear is good or the front/inner gear is good. I can't seem to get the derailleur to be quite for both front inner & outter gears. I took it to the bike shop yesterday and they were able to slightly adjust it but it still makes noise for the inner gear. :/ Am I doing something wrong? Is this a common problem for Jamis bikes?

Andy_K 

It's definitely not bike specific. There are 100 things that could cause that problem.

Are you sure the noise is at the derailleur. The most likely cause is the chain scraping the front derailleur if the shifting is OK.

Mr. Hairy Legs

Are you new to this style of bike? Are you using the trim (small click) on the front shifter?

Generally you shouldn't use the most extreme combinations which put the chain at a funny angle. Perhaps you know all this stuff already...

spivonious

What's making the noise? If the chain is rubbing the side of the derailleur, then you need to adjust the min and/or max screw. Shift to the smallest gear and turn the screw until the chain isn't rubbing anymore. Do the same on largest gear.

rekon

Yep, I know.

rekon

Yes, It's the chain rubbing against the derailleur and I already adjusted the min/max on the smallest gear for the outter and the largest gear for the inner. It makes noise at the extreme gear which is fine because there is stress on the chain but it also makes noise in between. Adjusting the min/max doesn't seem to solve the problem.

fietsbob

Advantage to IGH , no derailleur to mess up .


lots of posts about D problems in the Mechancs section .

commuting, yours may have been bumped/ banged in the bike rack
bent derailleur hangers throw off the whole click shifting thing .


its foolish to be adjusting the stroke limit screws an expect the shifting to improve.

you may need a real bike shop for the in person demonstration, you have a CoOp in town to use?

Leisesturm

There are front dérailleurs that need to be trimmed (moved slightly) every two or three shifts in the rear. IMO every single post has had a piece of the information, no one has exactly been wrong. However, the main take-away is that the o.p.'s situation is less one of a problem with the dérailleur and more a lack of familiarity with how this dérailleur behaves. The suggestion of a visit to the LBS is clearly in order.

H

scroca

He already did that.

I think the suggestion to ask in the Mechanics section is best.

no motor?

Derailers are to bicycles are like carburetors are to engines. There's a black art to keeping them in tune that requires a lot of time and effort to achieve.

Andy_K 

That bike has an 8-speed cassette and 425mm chainstays. It should be possible to get the front derailleur set up so that you can cross-chain to your heart's content without rubbing. It might be that the front shifting wouldn't be as smooth set up that way though. I suppose the 50-34 front gearing makes it a little more of a challenge.

dynaryder

Derailleurs are much easier to tune than carbs,and you don't get gas on your hands.

Leisesturm

I agree.

no motor?

Meh, balancing multiple carbs and tuning derailers both require a lot of patience and finesse at first. But after they're set up right it's all fine tuning after that.

dynaryder

Limit screws and cable tension. That's not complicated. And you're not removing anything to do it.

acidfast7

Advantage to SS , no derailleur to mess up .

gregjones

About the same.............all you do is turn a few screws.

The trick is knowing how far to turn the right screws in the correct direction.

fietsbob

OTOH, if you are not a flatlander, or, under 30

AlTheKiller

You might have to be a hair more specific. Is it a double or triple chairing? Doubles are extremely straight forward, take a little know how though. And where is it rubbing? When in the small ring up front where is the gear in the back when it makes noise? Same question for the big ring.

To start off tuning a front derailer I go low limit, high limit, then tension. From there try as many up shift/down shift combinations as you can, you'll probably need to tweak the limits and tension again to make it shift smoothly and minimize noise.

Triples can be a bit more problematic, and often won't be able to use every gear combination without chatter, at least not without a lot of experience and patience. The overall method is the same though.

Lastly, are you absolutely sure the noise is coming from your front derailed? You should be able to see the chain making contact if so. Just trying to narrow it down.

Either way, the lbs should have been able to get the high and low limits correct... Or if they couldn't they should've given you some kind of explanation for the problem. I've had some cheap set ups come in that you had to choose between proper shifting, but chatter in several gears, or no chatter but very temperamental shifting...

tsl

Limit screws position only the inner and outer stops so the chain doesn't fall off the inside or the outside. If the chain doesn't fall off either end and is quiet in the small/big and big/small positions, the limit screws are correctly set.

Everything else is cable tension. Everything else is cable tension. Everything else is cable tension.

1. Shift to the small ring and big cog.
2. Disconnect the cable.
3. Double-check your cage position and adjust the inner limit screw setting if required.
4. Using only your hands, swing the cage to the outer stop. You'll need to either remove the chain or move it to the big ring as you do this.
5. Check the cage's outer position and adjust the outer limit screw setting if required.
6. Release the cage alllowing it to settle back to the inner stop.
7. Move the chain to or reinstall the chain on the small ring.
8. Screw in the cable adjuster, generally a barrel adjuster on the downtube, although some bikes have inline adjusters.
9. Pull out all the slack from the cable and reconnect.
10. Now adjust the shifting using only the cable adjuster.

The limit screws don't adjust shifting per se, but after having changed them, cable tension will have changed and will need to be readdressed so it is correct for the new cage position.

jrickards

Hah! Why do we need to recommend the Mechanics forum when we have tsl with us?