What does this signal?

[verbs4us]

About a year ago, I replaced chain and cluster (sorry—old vocabulary doesn’t die easy) on an Athena 11 sp drivetrain. Now rear der shifting into higher gears is inexact. A little chain clicking until I fiddle with the shifter and the chain settles in. Going to lower gears is fine. I suspect this is means a rear der or shifter adjustment is needed. Could it also mean chain stretch, gear wear, or jockey/tensioner pulley wear (they are original, six years old and look fine)? I’m gentle on drivetrains – no mud riding, use NFS as instructed, clean chain often, etc. -- so I’m hoping it’s just an adjustment. Thoughts?

[vqdriver]

it's been doing that for a year?
when you say "higher gears" you mean down the cassette to smaller cogs?

[jtakeda]

Did you change your cables?

I’d start there

[Mark McM]

like vqdriver says, a little more information is needed. At what point did the shifting start acting up? When you replaced the chain and cassette a year ago? More recently? Which direction is "up" and "down" (smaller or larger sprockets)? Does it behave the same way across the entire cassette, or just at one end?

Broadly, when shifting is slow (or you need extra lever travel to coax a shift) in one direction, but shifting is quick in the other direction, and this symptom is the same across the entire cassette, then the fix is an adjustment of the cable tension barrel. The direction of the adjustment depends on the direction of the slow shifting (screw the barrel out if shifting to big sprockets is slow, screw the barrel in if shifting to small sprockets is slow).

If the symptoms only occur on one end of the cassette, then issue is probably elsewhere.

[oldpotatoe]

If the above isn't helping..I see 'Hudson Valley', has more than a couple of bike shops around..do some research for a decent one and have them look at yer rig..probably something simple.

[Red Tornado]

Based solely on what I've read so far, you might want to check the derailleur hanger. I recently had a similar issue, but on the opposite end of the cassette.
Put a 105 (10s) drive train on my backup bike and it shifted great from the smallest to about the third/fourth largest sprocket. From there to the largest it was sloppy, noisy and would sometimes skip a sprocket. Messed with it for quite a while and finally had a guy at the shop look at it. He couldn't get it to shift right in those sprockets either. Closer inspection revealed a very slightly twisted hanger with a hairline crack in it. Installed new hanger & shifts great.
Could also be cable stretch/wear and maybe just needs a little fine-tuning....

[unterhausen]

cable or derailleur hanger seem most likely. I had shifting problems on one of my bikes, noticed the hanger was out and so I straightened it. Then it wouldn't shift into first. So embarrassing. That means I adjusted it after the hanger got bent.

[Black Dog]

Did you change your cables?

I’d start there

Outer cables do wear. After making sure it is adjusted and if problem persists I would change the outers.

[verbs4us]

it's been doing that for a year?
when you say "higher gears" you mean down the cassette to smaller cogs?

Yes-- "higher" means smaller gears-- going "downhill" on the cog.

[verbs4us]

Did you change your cables?

I’d start there

Hmm---good point Didn't think of that since shifting seems snapping in one direction.

[verbs4us]

like vqdriver says, a little more information is needed. At what point did the shifting start acting up? When you replaced the chain and cassette a year ago? More recently? Which direction is "up" and "down" (smaller or larger sprockets)? Does it behave the same way across the entire cassette, or just at one end?

Broadly, when shifting is slow (or you need extra lever travel to coax a shift) in one direction, but shifting is quick in the other direction, and this symptom is the same across the entire cassette, then the fix is an adjustment of the cable tension barrel. The direction of the adjustment depends on the direction of the slow shifting (screw the barrel out if shifting to big sprockets is slow, screw the barrel in if shifting to small sprockets is slow)..

Thanks Mark. Starting recently, not after the gear/chain change. "up" is to larger (lower) gears; "down" is to smaller/higher gears. It seems to happen thru the range, not just at one end, or in one particular gear. Running the original cables/housings, so will try the cable tension barrel and if that fails, I have excuse to replace the cables.

[josephr]

Thanks Mark. Starting recently, not after the gear/chain change. "up" is to larger (lower) gears; "down" is to smaller/higher gears. It seems to happen thru the range, not just at one end, or in one particular gear. Running the original cables/housings, so will try the cable tension barrel and if that fails, I have excuse to replace the cables.

I'm not sure why this happens, but whenever I've replaced chain/cluster, I get the same issue and have tracked it down to alignment with the RD and smallest cog. I think it has something to do with the cable barrel adjustments to compensate for cable stretch over a period of time. Anyway, I just started the RD alignment process over as I realized cable-tension was 'holding' the RD in place, and not the RD lower limit screw. Suggest setting the lower limit screw without the cable attached to be sure no cable tension is interfering.