Part III: Shifting into a Higher Gear: Advanced Bike Repairs in .NET

Printing Quick Response Code in .NET Part III: Shifting into a Higher Gear: Advanced Bike Repairs

4 Pull the cable out the other side of the shifter Some trigger shifters and most grip shifters will require you to open the shifter body to load the cable This may be challenging, especially on grip shifters 5 Attach the ferrules that came with the cable housing to the ends of each piece of housing where needed 6 Insert the cable into the proper cable housing and pull it out the other end 7 Route the cable and cable housing around the frame of the bike in the same position as it was before The ferrules at the ends of the cable housing should fit snugly into the cable stops on the frame 8 Run the cable through the cable anchor bolt on whichever derailleur is correct for that cable and tighten the cable anchor bolt If you re installing cables for the first time, they re likely to stretch a little after you ve used them It s a good idea to shift them though the full range of gears a few times after connecting them Then pull the cable taut and reconnect the cable anchor bolt if necessary

There are a variety of different shifters available today but they all do pretty much the same thing: pulling a cable to move a derailleur in one direction and then releasing the cable to allow the derailleur spring to move it in the other direction Most bikes these days use index shifters that are mounted on the handlebars Index shifters make a click each time a gear change is made, which prevents riders from missing a shift They re much easier to use than the traditional friction-type shifters, seen mostly on older bikes Friction shifters are usually mounted on the down tube as two levers that the rider moves up or down to move the derailleurs For someone not used to friction shifters, it can be a little unnerving to take your hand off the handlebars to make a shift Most shifters today, such as the one shown in Figure 14-15, do not require much maintenance and are not designed to be dissembled In some cases, worn levers can be replaced, but if the internal mechanism of the shifter starts to wear out and the clicks become less distinct, it s probably time to replace the levers The one thing you can do with shifters is give an occasional spray of a light lubrication into their internal parts Operate the shifter a few times after the application, and wipe off any excess grease

To adjust the position, loosen the clamp bolt if there is one, and move the shifters to a more comfortable position (as shown in Figure 14-16) If the shifters are on a road bike and are wrapped with tape, instead of removing the tape, you can loosen the clamp holding the handlebars and rotate the handlebars forward or backward slightly

In this section, we tell you how to remove shifters on road bikes, with a focus on STI-style shifters, where the shifter is integrated into the brake lever To remove the shifters follow these steps: 1 Unscrew or remove the handlebar end plugs and then remove the handlebar tape 2 Locate the bolt that holds the shifter onto the handlebars The position varies on different types of shifters although in many cases you need to roll back the rubber hood to find it 3 After pulling back the rubber hood and finding the bolt, use an Allen wrench to loosen the bolt without removing it This will loosen the bracket and allow you to slide the shifter off the handlebars 4 Repeat steps 1 through 3 for the other shifter 5 The final step in removing the shifters is to remove the brake (see 8) and shift lever cables (see The derailleur cable, earlier in this chapter)