Rear Derailleur Setup

[rob137]

Can anyone guide me to a simple method of setting up the basic shifting for a 10 speed Shimano RD. I am not mechanically inclined, but I would like to add this skill set to my only other (changing a tire).

I need simple.

Thanks.

[Kevan]

that works for you. Zinn has a maintenance book for road bikes that pretty much holds your hand throught this process. Basically, you have the 2 set screws that align the cage pulleys with the lowest and highest cogs in the cassette and a barrel adjuster on the cable to fine tune everything in between. The trick requires two things: practice, practice, practice; and second, make your adjustments small. Once you have the cage properly aligned start shifting the gears up and down the cassette making sure you eliminate that rattle sound by slowly adjusting the barrel screw. You will need to do this both in the small and large chainring to narrow down the tuning. Also, a bike stand makes this a whole lot easier to do. Otherwise someone's going to be real tired holding up your bike while you master this.

Umm... if the book only covers 9 speed, it don't much matter how many cogs. This is actually a good skill to master for when out on the road the bike is running a bit rough.

[CalfeeFly]

Read the directions that come in the box. They are excellent. More wrenches should do it from time to time. (When the triple D/A came out the only ones set up correctly were those where the wrench read the directions or they had a friend that did.)

If you don't have the box and directions go back to your shop. Most folks buy the parts, have them installed and leave the directions and boxes behind.

[CNY rider]

Read the directions that come in the box. They are excellent. More wrenches should do it from time to time. (When the triple D/A came out the only ones set up correctly were those where the wrench read the directions or they had a friend that did.)

If you don't have the box and directions go back to your shop. Most folks buy the parts, have them installed and leave the directions and boxes behind.


I'll agree, the package inserts from Shimano can be helpful.

I'm as far from mechanically inclined as anyone can be, but I've built a couple of bikes from frame and parts using Barnett's manual. The format suits my style: first they tak in general terms about what you will be doing and why you will be doing it. Then it gives you very detailed, step by step instructions. Probably too simple for the experienced wrench, but just right for me.

[rob137]

Read the directions that come in the box. They are excellent. More wrenches should do it from time to time. (When the triple D/A came out the only ones set up correctly were those where the wrench read the directions or they had a friend that did.)

If you don't have the box and directions go back to your shop. Most folks buy the parts, have them installed and leave the directions and boxes behind.

Damn, I knew I shouldn't have thrown those away. At first glance, they looked like assembly instructions for the space shuttle.

Were they well illustrated, I need pictures.

[dave thompson]

Can anyone guide me to a simple method of setting up the basic shifting for a 10 speed Shimano RD. I am not mechanically inclined, but I would like to add this skill set to my only other (changing a tire).

I need simple.

Thanks. Park Tools has the best (IMO) explanation of how to set up a dérailleur: http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=64

[toaster]

Rear derailleurs are easy.

With the chain off and the derailleur cable un-connected you manually check the range of movement of the rear derailleur and adjust the limit screws.

The barrel adjuster is turned in to the proper position and the cable is connected to the rear derailleur. The RD shifter is shifted to the small rear cog position. There is a perfect amount of tension in the wire cable between the BB and rear chainstay braze-on that is neither slack or tight.

Put the chain on.

The thing is ready to go. Just check the shifting between the smallest and next smallest cogs and then between the biggest (easiest) rear cog and next biggest and then the shifting in the middle of the cassette and only make slight adjustments to the barrel adjuster.

Once you do it from the installation perspective a couple of times then understanding how to make it work from scratch becomes the easy way to fix the shifting later.

[SoCalSteve]

Damn, I knew I shouldn't have thrown those away. At first glance, they looked like assembly instructions for the space shuttle.

Were they well illustrated, I need pictures.

Shimano has them on their website in PDF files. You can print them out.

Good luck,

Steve

PS: Parks book on wrenching is very good too.

[sg8357]

Campy instructions have you set the limit screws then shift to fifth
gear and visually check the alignment of the derailer pulley and
cog. The neat part is you do this with the chain off, I guess Campy
uses SRAM chains in house ? ;-)

Anyway, the top pulley floats, so make sure the pulley is centered
when aligning the pulley and the cog, using the barrel adjuster.

Scott G.

[Needs Help]

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