MTB trubles

[MONKEYMOUSE]

I have a rather new Mongoose "revolution" mtb. The only things that have been changed is it now has vortex frunt susp. and a NEXT susp. seat post, other than that its 100% stock. Well any ways to the problem I'm having. . . Okay on the rear gear drum it will only work 6 of the 7 gears. If you chage the adj. on the gears so 7th works you lose 1st, if its adjusted so 1st works you lose 7th. Also to add to the agravation theres alot of hesatation(sp?) when switching gears. My dad and I have tried every thing. . .we were out side for at least 2 hours. I need this bike for this week end, so I realy need to figure this out. . .it just happend no reason for it. Any help or ideas will be great. :worship:

 

[Glitch]

Look at the small sprocket closest to the axle of the two sprockets on the rear shifter mechanism. See if it lines up exactly with the sprockets on the wheel. If it doesn't, then that might explain you hesitation of gear changing. To line up the sprocket even with the ones on the wheel, you can turn a knob at the gearchanging thing on the handle bars where the cable goes out or where the cable sheath ends at the gear shift in the rear. You have to experiment to see which way the gear shifter will move when you turn each knob to make sure the sprockets line up.
Now, for your no 1st or 7th. There should be two skinny, long bolts on the rear gear shifter, they control when the gear shifter should stop so that the chain doesn't fall off 1st or 7th. Maybe they are too far screwed in and stop the gear shifter early. So try to study them and see if this is the case, if so, then just loosen the bolt until the gear shifter can get into 1st or 7th, whichever it wont go onto.
Best of luck, they are a pain in the arse.

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

This is what I'm confused about, the sprokets are lined up perfictly. Also I've tried the to small bolts that stop the actuator, it's like it just will not move far enuff in one direction to pull the chain on to the last gear. Also there is no adjustment on the handel bars. I'm completly at a loss. I think your correct about the adjusters that keep the chain from moveing too far, I'll look in to that more tomarro. But any other ideas will be great!

 

[slcpunk21]

ok...now I don't know jack about these MX bikes, but in this field of MTB I can help..haha.
Glitch is right on track with telling you what to do! I'll just give a few more pointers..... Has anything ever hit the "actuator" (real name deraillure)? If so the part of the frame that it (deraillure) hangs off of (deraillure hanger) could be a little bent, which is not a big deal, but if it is you're kinda fighting a loosing battle. Local bike shops should have the tool to make sure it's alighned properly. Or you might even have an replaceble deraillure hanger, which may be loose and just needs to be tightend up, or replaced.

1>If it's straight then start here to readjust it from a fresh start, first shift the deraillure into the smallest size gear on the cassette (the cassette is what all the gears together are called)

2.Now that you are there you can disconnect the cable from the deraillure.

3.Once that is done do not change the shift lever on the bar! Make sure it stays in that gear.

4.Now that you have done that take a look at how the deraillure pulleys lines up with the smallest gear. it should be just about inline with the smallest gear, could even be a mm past it towards the outside and it would be fine. You just dont want it to be a few mm towards the next gear.

5.If it doesn't line up. There are those screws as Glitch stated, you need the one labled "H" for high. Turn it in to make the deraillure move in, or turn it out to make the deraillure move out.

6.Now if that is all lined up you can then go and re attatch the cable to the deraillure. Do this by taking the barrell adjuster ( the plastic nob on the shifter and deraillure) turn those all the way in. Then turn them out about 1-2 turns. This allows you adjustments to either tighten the cable or loosen the cable without tools.

7.Pull the cable tight and then tighten it down to the deraillure.

8.Shift it up one gear, if it's to slow, then turn the barrell adjuster out to tighten the cable. Keep that process up until it shifts into the next gear.

9.Once that is done, shift it through each gear, but only one gear at a time, so that you can see how it shifts to each gear. If it's still slow turn the barrell adjuster slightly more until it shifts up to each properly.

10.Now finally if all the gears shift fine, and then you get to the biggest gear in the back and it doesn't want to shift into it you need to adjust the "L" screw on the deraillure turn it out so that the deraillure can move out enough to get into that gear. If the chain falls off, then turn the screw in to stop it from over shifting.

I hope all this helps you out a bit, if you need more help just ask!

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

Thanks alot slcpunk21!!! Now all gears work, but I can't seem to get rid of the hesatation. I can adjust that lil drum on the deraillure all I want yet it dosent help much. In the low gears its fine but in the high gears I have to petal down with quite the amount of fource for it to switch. . .any ideas? Thanks!

 

[slcpunk21]

Where exactly does it hesitate? Like when you shift to an "easier"/bigger size gear or when you shift to "harder"/smaller size gear? Have you ever chainged your chain lenght?

There is also a small screw on the deraillure that adjusts how much tension it puts on the chain itself. This can slightly adjust how it shifts, because as you move the pulley's away from the gears the easier it is to shift, but then you may run into other problems as in there isn't enough chain rapping around the gear...or other small things.

If you turn the screw in it will pull the deraillure away from the gears, turn it out and it lets the deraillure move in for less tension and gets it closer to the gears. This screw is on the bottom of the deraillure almost right where it bolts to the frame.

If there is hesitation it could also be that if you have a replaceble deraillure hanger it's loose and just flexs under the extra torque/power in those gears.

Honestly the hesitation is a bit harder to diagnose without having my hands on the bike and looking at it. There is a cool forum for mountain bikers, but I don't know if anyone will get mad if I put it up here...dont' want people to think I'm spamming in here.

So check out those few other things and see what happens. I'm more than happy to try and help you out as much as I can. And maybe someday I'll have some questions that I can't figure out on my MX bike and you'll have the answers....haha. Man these things with motors....crazy I tell ya!

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

LoL things with motors is what im good with not MTB's. I now have the chain lined up perfict and it will switch to all gears but from 2 to 3rd 1st to 2nd and 6th to 7th it hesatates quite a bit idk how to explain it realy, its like say your in second and try to go to third you click it in 3rd but it stays in scond u can either petal hard for a sec n it will change or click it into 4th and it will then move to 3rd, then u have to move it back to the 3rd click so it dosen't change to 4th gear. And also in the high gearing(5,6,7) it slips alot. As in if its in a high gear and I petal hard the chain like skipps a few teeth on the gear, as if theres not enuff tension on the chain but I can not locate any way of adjustiong that. Rite now its at Dicks sporting goods (Still within the 30 free repain thingy), I was out side trying to figure this all out for at least 3 hours. I'm only mad because I realy wanted the bike for this weekend I had plans to go to the land and ride some, also its only 5 days old!!!!!!

 

[slcpunk21]

Man to bad I didn't talk to you 5 days ago, I coulda hooked you up with a smokin deal on a mountain bike. I work at a shop, and we have a few bikes from last year I coulda sold you at pretty much our cost. And it woulda worked right, cause I would have worked on it...hahaha! Good luck with it. And if it still doesn't work right I can try and help ya some more, even get pics to help you out if need be.

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

Cool, thanks for all your help if I still need it when I get it back (hopefully sunday) I'll post here.

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

Okay now I'm pissed. . .I get my bike back from Dicks tuesday (yesterday) THINKING its fixed like they said it was. Well it worked fine when I got it back they said the deraillure was jamed, it moved side to side but not up and down. Okay they seem to be rite about that because thats what they "fixed" and it workerd great went through every gear nice and smooth. Today I go out side ride around for about 5-10 min. bike still working great. Well I hit one bump err I shuld say I went off of a curb, and bam stuck deraillure again! Again will not go into 7th and jumps around the gears just like befor. So now what I want to know, how do I un-stick a stuck deraillure? What could be the cause of this? I mean MTB's shuld be able to hadle a few bumps and hard hits, whats up with this? I shulda just stuck with my normal 1 gear ratio BMX bike, I wanted a new one of thoes (landed hard from about 5-8ft in the air bent frunt rim, bent the rear axel and the rear bearings? what bearing :uh: ? There gone . . . somewhere at B3) but my dad made me buy a MTB.

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

Well thats MTB is gone gave it back to dicks. I want a new BMX bike but my dad still says no, thats half the reason im in therpy for my knees.

 

[slcpunk21]

if you're still looking for a mtb i got a few in my shop (brand new) I could sell ya cheap! Ya BMX bikes are a blast I got two I ride, street and dirt. I like MTB's more though....especialy DH rigs, DH is a completely different world! But I live where there are no hills so I guess I wont be ridding DH anytime soon....haha.

Well even if you need some pointers on some good bikes let me know I can help ya out too. Good luck!

 

[Bill Hibbs]

No offense, but the bikes you buy a walmart and Dicks are kind of cheap. Go to a real bike shop and buy something that suits the type of riding you actually want to do. Not only will the bike be better but the mechanics working on them will be much more qualified and fix it Right.

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

Yeah I no Dicks is not a bike shop but they are better than walmart. I wouldent buy a bike from walmart or target or any store like that. But with a budget of around $150-$200 I can't realy afford to buy one of thoes $500-$5500 bikes from a bike shop, as much as I want the disk breaks and foot of susp. travel, I can't. It's just that I thought Mongoose's were quality bikes . . .guess I was rong on that one.

 

[slcpunk21]

Ok, a little inside info for you. Yes mongoose does make a pretty good bike. But there is a difference between the mongoose you find at a "big box" store (a non bikeshop store) and one that you would find in a local bike shop. You have mongoose and mongoose pro, two different bikes. The pro is the better of the two. So don't get fooled by the name you see in the big box stores, it doesn't mean it's the same bike that's in your local shop. You can still get a bike in a shop for about 200 bucks. Look for a last years model, or they do have base models at the price range you are looking at.

 

[MONKEYMOUSE]

The thing is it was a "pro" . . . it was a $350 bike on sale for $169.

 

[splatt]

Most MTBs under $500 won't handle much hard use. I know alot of people can't afford what would really be considered an entry level MTB. The componantry on the $500 and up bikes are much better quality and much more durable. The first two MTBs I owned were sub-$500 bikes and something was always messed up. I finally saved enough to get about a $750 bike and most of those problems were a thing of the past. The componants stayed in adjustment longer and lasted longer. When it comes to MTBs you basicaly get what you pay for.

 

Steve