Won't shift from 1st to second on the front

[mattwilkinson]

Hey guys, On my Norco Bushpilot my gears wont shift from the smallest chainring to the middle. My front deraiueller won't move out far enough. I can push it out halfway to 3 than it works. How do I fix this?


Thanks.

[bychosis]

Poosibly cable frayed and sticking? If so - new cable.

[mattwilkinson]

Poosibly cable frayed and sticking? If so - new cable.

Do you know how i go about checking?

Or do i just need to adjust the low/high limit screws?

[bychosis]

I fthe derailleur will shift into the hi and low gears then the limit screws are set correctly. It sounds as though something is binding in the cable (or shifter) if you can make the derailleur move to all gears by hand - essentially you are helping the cable to do its job. Check the cable where it enters/exits cable housings to see if there are any loose strands. If you aren't scared to have a go undo the cable completely and pull it out of the housing all the way. If it is frayed/damaged replace it. If not it wont be too hard to feed it back in. Also check to see if there is any damage to the cable housing.

When you have undone the cable from the derailleur grab a section and put some light tension on it while shifting gears to see if the cable is moving in/out properly from the shifter.

Youtube should help you with how to replace a shifter cable, just look for a clip that shows your type of shifter.

[ironhanglider]

'lo hi,

I presume that the front derailler was working properly at some time.
Do the simple things first. It sounds to me as if your cable is loose, either because it has stretched, or because the bolt where it was clamped to the derailler was not tight enough and the cable has pulled through a bit.

Put your shifter into '1'. Is the exposed cable loose? if so, undo the clamp, pull the cable through by hand and re-tighten the bolt. Use the adjusters (usually at either end of the cable housing) to fine tune if necessary.

Cheers,

Cameron