[pnj]

I don't have alot of experience w/ derailers but they seem pretty simple. turn one of the two screws to make the chain go the direction you want.

I have a shimano shifter (the lever part that is on your bars) and it must be for an 8 speed because it only clicks 8 times before it stops when shifting from high or low.

my cassette on the rear wheel (the thing w/ all the gears on it) is a nine speed. I don't care if I can't use all the gears, I usually only use 3 or 4 most of the time anyways.

the problem I have is, when I shift there are a few spots where I have to click the lever twice to get the chain to move. it seems to be in the middle of the gears, not on the high or low end.

I have turned the screws on the derailer so the chain rides on the gears correctly but how do I get rid of this non-shifting thing?

the derailer itself is a low end shimano one.

any and all suggestions are welcome.

 

[binary visions]

You should check the cable tension - the barrels where the cable comes out of the shifter and goes into the derailleur. Screw it counter clockwise to increase cable tension - unscrew it half a turn, check your shifting, repeat.

However, while that might help, the REAL answer is that you need a new shifter. 8spd and 9spd cassettes are the same width, so the shifter for an 8spd will actually pull more cable than needed to shift one gear on the 9spd cassette - which will probably result in a lot of noise or jumping of gears. It was possible to use an 8spd shifter on a 7spd setup (or vice versa) because the cassette widths were different so you just either had a gear you couldn't get to, or had a spot where shifting would jump the chain off the cassette. This isn't an option with 8 & 9spd though.

See if your LBS has a spare rear shifter so you don't have to buy the set.

edit: Does your shifter actually hit the end of the shifting sequence after 8 clicks (i.e. you try to push, and it feels like pushing against a wall), or does it just get really hard to push (i.e. feels like someone is holding the shifter cable, not letting you shift)?

 

[pnj]

Hmmm.. new shifter eh?

quick story....I bought a 300 dollar diamond back and pretty much destroyed it. then bought a $1600.00 planet X from Unreal Cycles. I didn't like the planet x so I sold the frame and swapped out most of the parts to the DB. but I never swapped out the rear derailer.

so I have a deore derailer(not on my bike) and the shifters(on my bike currently). I'm pretty sure when I got the planet x with these parts on them, I could shift into all the gears. that doesn't really make sense though, seeing how the shifter is only and 8 speed. Hmm......

I'm sure all of this stuff worked together.....instead of getting a new shifter, I'd rather get a new rear cassette with 8 gears I think. if that's what I need to do, but I think I should have all the parts I need, because as I said, this stuff worked together at one time.....

 

[pnj]

I just saw your edit...

yea, the shifter gets to the end. it does feel like a wall. eight clicks is all I get, going in either direction.

 

[pnj]

another thing, I have two rear wheels. one has 7 gears, one has 9. I get the same shifting issue with both.

 

[binary visions]

Like I said, adjusting the cable tension will probably improve the shifting though it'll never be perfect on the 9spd rear wheel.

There are actually 3 adjustments on the rear derailleur, not 2 - you have the high-limit screw, the low-limit screw, and the barrel adjuster that adjust cable tension. If it requires two clicks to shift one gear, then your cable tension is too low - adjust it by rotating the barrel adjuster counter-clockwise. If it starts jumping two gears with one shift, then the cable tension is too high - turn it clockwise until it stops.

 

[binary visions]

All of this is just rigging it up so it'll work okay, though. If you want perfect shifting, you're going to need to buy either a new cassette to go with your 8spd shifter, or a new shifter to go with your 9spd cassette.

And if you always had an 8spd shifter on a 9spd cassette, you were definitly not getting all of your gears - it was probably set up such that you weren't getting the same shift every time - somewhere in the mix it was probably smoothly jumping a gear and you weren't noticing.

 

[pnj]

actually, I think it is a nine speed shifter because it clicks 8 times. so that should mean it's in one gear to start with, then shifts the other 8. maybe not...

I'm pretty sure it worked correctly when I got that plant X bike.

going to work on it now....

 

[Wumpus]

8 clicks would make it a 9sp shifter.

You have to have the limit screws set right for it to shift properly even in the middle of the cog.

H sets the smallest cog and L sets the biggest cog.

Make sure it doesn't have any cable slack when on the smallest cog.

 

[pnj]

well, when I mentioned I had a low end bike and swapped out parts from the Planet X, I mentioned I left the low end derailer on. I didn't think this would make a difference but guess what I learned yesterday...

you can't use a SEVEN speed derailer with a nine speed shifter.....
when I originaly swapped the parts between bikes, I thought I had messed up the shifter because I had taken it apart somewhat. ( i wasn't sure where to put the cable in it, so I unscrewed a bunch of stuff )

I just assumed that was why the thing shifted funny. I took the shifter apart, as I had before and saw that I couldn't have messed it up any.

after messing around for HOURS w/ the crappy derailer, I thought "screw it, I'll just run the good one" and amazingly was able to find it in the closet.(we moved recently, stuff is all over the place around here..)

swapped the hanger out because the 9 speed derailer wouldn't fit on my frame, and guess what, it shifts somewhat correctly. once I was able to shift through all the gears, I stopped working on my bike.....(beer time!) but from what I've learned all I need to do now is adjust the tension on the cable.

I never really knew that the limit screws just set the limits. good to know, now the derailer seems like a simple device, not some mysterious thing that I hate.

thanks for all the help.

 

[Vermont]

http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQindex.shtml

check out this website dude
also if you are going to be doing your own bike repairs consider buying a manual that will help you when you get stuck and dont know what to do.
Leonard Zinn's "Zen and the art of Mt. bike repair" is a good one...steep learning curve but worth it when you never have to goto a LBR and wait for you bike for 2 weeks while they lie to you about waiting for parts to be delivered or whatever.
Good luck bro

 

[pnj]

I was using park tools site as well as this and a few other sites....

I'm just a little slow sometimes.... but now I know how a rear derailer works.