front derailleur adjustment?

cojomo2

Hi,

am fairly new to bikes, got one recently and the chain was rubbing off the front derailleur making an annoying noise..then lastnight I decided to devote some time(4 hours to be exact) adjusting it.

I checked up some youtube tutorials first and came to the conclusion that I needed to have the chain on the smallest cog front and back, the loosen the bracket holding the front mech and adjust so that it is about 1 cm above the big front cog, and pretty much parallel to the chain, with the chain ever so slightly just about touching off the outer part of the mech.

did this, along with adjusting the 2 little screws countless times and after 4 hours I was just left with oily hands and the bike way worse than when I started!

I s this a common problem, and is it usually easy to sort?

I gave up anyway, just dropped it in to the LBS.

ednwireland

the only time ive had issues is due to cable stretch, just put it on the smallest ring on the front cable slightly slack so loosened cable tightened up again, same with rear deraillieur,prob solved didnt touch the limit screws (whenever i start all that it goes pear shaped)

edit:
all the 2 screws do is adjsut the top and bottom limits and that shouldnt change, your only other issue then is cable tension

techieelectric

Well if it started off rubbing when you got the bike it could have been the limit screws set badly. If the chain was rubbing on the smallest ring then probably limit screws, if on the top then either cable tension or limit screws. What shifters have you got?

cojomo2

the front mech is shimano atlus, the shifterts are shimano EF-50 EZ Fire

thanks for the replies.

fenris

Check that the bolts that secure the derailleur to the frame are tight, if they are loose then you will lose and gains from adjusting the H&L screws in wiggle.

Another item to check is whether the derailleur is bent, this can happen quite easily when there are other bikes involved as the pedals are just the right height and shape to catch a derailleur when dragging your bike out of the shed or loading multiple bikes onto a bike rack.

manwithaplan

Sorry to hijack. I lost my chain to the crank side of the outer chainring three times when shifting up while out on a spin at the weekend. I am a bit reluctant to attack the upper limit screw immediately - is there anything other than checking for a loose or bent derailleur I should be doing first?

Edit: Should say that there is a fairly big gap between the chain and the outer side of the derailleur cage when it's in the big ring.

Captain Havoc

Also if you're cross chaining i.e. front gear on the outside, rear on the inside then this could also be it.

HappyHarry

http://bicycletutor.com/adjust-front-derailer/

el Bastardo

See this on the park tool website.

manwithaplan wrote: »

Sorry to hijack. I lost my chain to the crank side of the outer chainring three times when shifting up while out on a spin at the weekend. I am a bit reluctant to attack the upper limit screw immediately - is there anything other than checking for a loose or bent derailleur I should be doing first?

Edit: Should say that there is a fairly big gap between the chain and the outer side of the derailleur cage when it's in the big ring.