Setting up gears

[Abaca]

Hi
Most of the builds I have done have been of a singlespeed variety however my orange trek is going to be a commuter bike and I would like gears on it
It's only a 18 speed,screw on cassettes are available (though I'm not sure what size to get in these),and the front and rear d look salvageable
How hard is it for a novice to set up gears? Best left for LBS?
Found some nice thumb shifters on the bay for it,tournay? Not sure how good they are?

Cheers

 

[The History Man]

Easy especially with friction thumbs.

 

[fjpshaw]

I used to find the High/Low screw settings a bit of a black art, but practice makes...erm, acceptable!

It's def something you can do yourself. These links explain it in fairly straightforward steps:
http://bikemagic.com/how-to/mountain-bi ... et-up.html
http://bikemagic.com/how-to/mountain-bi ... tling.html

 

[stesnape]

Re:

I find the easiest was is before fitting the cables and chain. The adjusting screws work so much better when not under strain.You can use trial and error and actually see the mechs move, after a couple of mins you'll be come a master, all you need is a small Phillips screw driver.

 

[fagin]

Very useful site for how do do stuff. Just click on the bit of bike you want to work on.
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

 

[Abaca]

Thanks all
Might give it a bash,take it the LBS could fix it up if I get stuck? Theres nothing I can muck up too badly?

 

[Silvergoat]

Re:

It's not really the black art that people and bike shops would like you to think. Friction shifters are easy. The worse thing that could happen is chewing the gear cable but those are easy to replace.

Get the chain length sorted first – without the rear mech on, run the chain round both the largest cog (1st gear) on the cassette and the largest chain ring on the cranks and where the two ends of chain meet or overlap (plus two extra links for good measure) that's it.

Take chain away. Fit rear mech – you can get a good view of the B-tension, high and low top screw settings. Fit the chain properly through everything. Have the chain on the smallest cassette cog. Set the thumb shifter lever to top gear (6th) then thread the cable through everything and secure it in the rear mech fastening. You should now be able to click basically through the gears from 6th to 1st.

The "black art" stuff is all the micro adjusting of the B-tension, high/low top screws and realising or in my case remembering which way to turn them all. Basically, the b-tension alters the forward/backward angle of the mech, affecting the gap between the chain and the teeth on the cassette cogs (this can be roughly 5mm). With high top setting, the jockey wheels need to be in line with smallest cassette cog (6th). With Low top setting, the jockey wheels need to be in line with the largest cassette cog (1st gear).

The Park Tool link is invaluable. The Bike Magic are great visual guide too. A bit of time twiddling and you soon get the hang of it and find out you can avoid costly jobs at the LBS.

 

[Bullpup]

If you can pop a ring pull you can set up your gears. As others have said, follow the guides.

In fact the best way is to do all 3 at once!