Gear Shifiting Problems

[sarahrobyn]

I bought my kona lisa ht around 8 months ago, it had never been used before and worked perfectly well up until recently. I have started to have problems changing gear when I am out riding, both the front and back gears. The front mech clicks but the chain does not move up (it does however move down).
The rear gears have been a consistent problem for me. It began with them becoming less responsive as I changed gear, and the chain wouldn't move until I had pressed it several times! Now I am finding it difficult to actually press the lever to get into my lower gears, and when I am pressing the lever I can hear a sort of creaking noise down the cable.
Any ideas what I can do to make my gears change smoothly?

[danevs]

New cables would be a good starting point.

[Tarbo]

Sarah,

I tend to agree with Dan as I had similar issues with my front mech. I got the cables changed and could not believe just how smooth the gear change went

You don't state your location, as I'm sure there are a few people on here who would offer to come and look at it for you ;D

[davydonn]

If it's 8 months since you started riding it then it's likely the cables and sheaths will be full of dried mud and other such crud. New cables will help but you can save the cost of that by cleaning them out. My Kona Dawg was suffering really badly with the rear mech being almost impossible to change gear. I cleaned out the sheath with the cable in it and suddenly it felt like brand new again.
If you're confident about what you're doing then you can slacken off the gear cable such that it you can pull about an inch away from the frame. You should notice that it will pull some dirt out of the cable sheath. Spray some GT-85 (preferred as it has PTFE in it to help lubricate) or WD-40, down into the cable sheath and then pull the cable again. You should see lots more dirt coming out with it. Wipe away the dirt and keep repeating until there's next to no dirt coming out. Re-adjust the tension on the gear cable and you should be changing gear much more smoothly again. Repeat this about once a month or so and it should stay smooth.
If you're not happy to do it yourself, then as Tarbo says there's plenty of us around who would be willing to help out.

[robcorney]

Just get Aled to fix it for ya....mans job

[Stocky]

Sarah,

I had similar problems repeatedly and even after changing cables but have now changed to these:

www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/components/gear-cable/product/gore-ride-on-sealed-low-friction-cables-24141

have only been out once but can really feel the difference and am very happy. I am hoping will work out decent value in the long run over standard cables.

[freedi]

I too have recently experienced shifting problems due to the outer cables being clogged up with dirt.

I did the same as Davy and cleaned out the sheathes and lubricated them, however I also fitted some of these. At £3.99 a set they've got to be worth a shot before replacing the cables or switching to fully sheathed cables. They've been on my bike a couple of months and the cables haven't jammed up again yet.