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Friend's new bike - gear slippage. Any suggestions?

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Friend's new bike - gear slippage. Any suggestions?

Old 04-20-07, 12:39 PM
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Friend's new bike - gear slippage. Any suggestions?

Just got back from a ride with a friend who bought a brand new DuraAce equipped Cannondale. Nice Mavic rims connected to a 10spd DuraAce cassette, FSA SLK carbon crank, DA chain, DA rear derailleur.

This has happened to him twice now, about 45 mins. into the ride, his gears start 'slipping'. They don't shift on him, but it just looses it's tension and 'clunks'.

I thought it might only be happening under load, but that's not the case. Oddly, it occurred for about 10 mins. at the 45 min. mark and then went away for about 10 minutes, just to reappear again.

He bought it at a shop that's about an hour away, so if it's an easy fix, it'd be easier than taking it all the way back into the city.

Any thoughts?
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Old 04-20-07, 12:46 PM
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cables need tightened
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Old 04-20-07, 12:48 PM
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My thought is since this is a new bike that the derailleur cable tension needs to be tweeked just a tad and the chain is just riding over the cog. I doubt the freehub body is actually slipping.
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Old 04-20-07, 12:56 PM
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Originally Posted by roadfix
My thought is since this is a new bike that the derailleur cable tension needs to be tweeked just a tad and the chain is just riding over the cog. I doubt the freehub body is actually slipping.
+1 Or possibly a stiff link in the chain. That always makes a clunk sound.
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Old 04-20-07, 12:56 PM
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Adjustment of rear der. should fix that, unless the teeth on the sprockets are worn. Likely one or 2 links of the chain are trying to work up to a lower (larger) gear and then slip off. If it's not threaded in all the way, 3/4 turn in on the cable stop should be enough.
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Old 04-20-07, 12:59 PM
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The derailleur is just slightly out of adjustment. Turn the barrel adjuster out in 1/2 turn increments until its stops. If that makes it worse, put it back where you started and turn it in in half turn increments.

Go to Parktools website for help on adjusting a derailleur.

Given the bike is brand new, I'd bet a 95% probablity this will solve it.
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Old 04-20-07, 01:01 PM
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This same thing happened on both of my mtn bike and road bike about a week after purchase new. Its the cable for the RD. It must be loose. That bike is too new to have any worn out parts yet. Set the shifter to the 1st gear then tighten the cable. It should fix it right up.
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Old 04-20-07, 05:33 PM
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Originally Posted by joshalope
+1 Or possibly a stiff link in the chain. That always makes a clunk sound.
+1, if not the chain, those new Dura-Ace 7801 chains with the super-duper break-off pisns have a tendency to break off a little bit short, and one side of the actual link lifts up a little bit. It happened to me and I got a Wipperman link to fix it.
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Old 04-23-07, 10:35 AM
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And the winner is...

A (slightly) stiff link. Fixed that first and everything has been great so far.

Thanks for the help!
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Old 04-23-07, 11:45 AM
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Wooo Hooo! OMG!!!! I actually won something! What do I get? A toaster?
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