I got my the derailleur adjusted at a bicycle shop not long ago and the person mentioned that the derailleur has some slight movement space. Not sure what this arm part is called, it's where the bottom gear dangles downward. I'm able to wiggle it a little right and left about 1/16" each way with a slight push / pull. I was looking at some other bicycles at the store and noticed that other derailleur do not wiggle at all. Is this a normal thing for Rad Power Bikes?
Derailleur wiggles
- Thread starter zig
- Start date
mrgold35
Well-Known Member
I have the same amount of wiggle on both of my 2016 radrovers and 2018 Radcity Step-Thru. My wiggle is about 1/4 to 1/3 inch to either side. Not the best sifter mechanism. I sometimes makes that clicking sound like it wants to up shift in certain gear. I just avoid that gear because adjusting sometimes moves the issue to another gear.
smorgasbord
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
My Campagnolo Chorus derailleur on my high-end analog bike has some wiggle, too. But it still shifts smooth as silk even though it's 13 years old.
@mrgold35, it sounds like your shifting cable needs an adjustment. This is actually pretty simple to do. Since it wants to shift "up" I assume that means it wants to go to a smaller cog. This is typically from the shifter cable stretching a bit. If you look where the cable housing goes into bike very near the derailleur there should be a twist nut that you can turn by hand. This will make the cable housing shorter or longer. You probably want the housing longer to compensate for the longer cable. Give it a 1/4 twist and see if that helps or hurts. Maybe try another 1/4 twist to be sure you're going in the right direction.
The way to remember this is that the derailleur wants to go downhill (to smaller cogs). It takes the cable to pull it up to the larger cogs.
FWIW, the two RadCity bikes we rented both had problems getting into the large cog (low gear). I ended up doing a pretty quick complete reset of the cable and then both worked fine. Again, I suspect that under heavy rental use (people leaving the bike in top gear and relying on assist or the throttle) the cable simply stretched too much. Adjusting a rear derailleur may seem a scary job, but it's actually really easy once you understand how the mechanisms work.
@mrgold35, it sounds like your shifting cable needs an adjustment. This is actually pretty simple to do. Since it wants to shift "up" I assume that means it wants to go to a smaller cog. This is typically from the shifter cable stretching a bit. If you look where the cable housing goes into bike very near the derailleur there should be a twist nut that you can turn by hand. This will make the cable housing shorter or longer. You probably want the housing longer to compensate for the longer cable. Give it a 1/4 twist and see if that helps or hurts. Maybe try another 1/4 twist to be sure you're going in the right direction.
The way to remember this is that the derailleur wants to go downhill (to smaller cogs). It takes the cable to pull it up to the larger cogs.
FWIW, the two RadCity bikes we rented both had problems getting into the large cog (low gear). I ended up doing a pretty quick complete reset of the cable and then both worked fine. Again, I suspect that under heavy rental use (people leaving the bike in top gear and relying on assist or the throttle) the cable simply stretched too much. Adjusting a rear derailleur may seem a scary job, but it's actually really easy once you understand how the mechanisms work.
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