# Slipping gears, frustrated newbie :(



## redline09

Hey everyone,
I just started riding a road bike and am having trouble with the rear gears slipping when I climb or sprint. It feels like the chain is slipping, or jumping, on the cog teeth. There's a nasty grinding noise that forces me to ease off, and I usually get out of it by shifting to another gear.
The bike is like new, with wax still on the chain, so nothing is worn out.
It's a Felt F3 with an Ultegra crankset and a Dura Ace deraileur and shifters. 
I could take the bike to a shop for an adjustment, but I would rather learn how to do these things myself and become more self sufficient. 
Could you help me, please?
Many thanks in advance. I appreciate learning from experienced cyclists! 
Ride safe,
Redline


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## kykr13

redline09 said:


> I could take the bike to a shop for an adjustment, but I would rather learn how to do these things myself and become more self sufficient.


Awesome. It could be a lot of things, but most likely would be a rear derailleur (RD) cable that's just a little too loose. Stand behind the bike, looking forward and turn the barrel adjuster on the RD about 1/2 turn counter clockwise (unscrewing it). This is the black plastic fitting that connects the housing (the tube that the cable runs through) to the RD. 

Essentially, by turning the barrel adjuster that way you're lengthening the housing which shortens the cable relative to the housing (if that makes sense). Just that little bit makes a big difference.

It should be better with that 1/2 turn but may not be perfect. Give it another 1/4 turn if it needs it, you'll figure it out pretty easily. Something like this is not a repair, just an adjustment and it's a very good thing to know how to take care of yourself. :thumbsup:


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## zriggle

redline09 said:


> Hey everyone,
> I just started riding a road bike and am having trouble with the rear gears slipping when I climb or sprint. It feels like the chain is slipping, or jumping, on the cog teeth. There's a nasty grinding noise that forces me to ease off, and I usually get out of it by shifting to another gear.
> The bike is like new, with wax still on the chain, so nothing is worn out.
> It's a Felt F3 with an Ultegra crankset and a Dura Ace deraileur and shifters.
> I could take the bike to a shop for an adjustment, but I would rather learn how to do these things myself and become more self sufficient.
> Could you help me, please?
> Many thanks in advance. I appreciate learning from experienced cyclists!
> Ride safe,
> Redline


Go adjust your derailleurs. Parktool.com is your friend for all self-sufficient needs. 

Is this a bike that you purchased used? The chain and cassette may be worn, and need to be replaced.


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## Mr. Versatile

You said the bike is "like new." Are you the original owner, or did you recently buy it used? If you recently got it used, the original owner may have installed a new chain which may explain 2 things. 
1. The "grease" on the chain is always present on new chains.
2. If the bike is used the rear cassette may be quite worn. If it is, and a new chain put on the chain will skip over the cogs. This happens when lots of power is applied, e.g. sprinting and climbing. 

If the cassette is worn you can probably see it if you look carefully. On a new cassette the teeth on the gears will be symmetrical. On a worn cassette the edge or the teeth that face toward the front of the bike will be noticeably worn. If it's very bad they may look like shark's teeth. This will work without problem until a new chain is used. The chain and the gears wear together, but a new chain won't match up exactly with the worn teeth. The result, when you apply more power than usual, is the chain will be pulled over the top of the cogs. The only cure for this is to get a new cassette.

I hope this helps you. You can do a search for a pic of worn cogs and maybe find some.


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## carveitup

A stiff link in the chain could also cause skipping, but it would probably happen in all gears. You may just have to lube the chain and/or fix a stiff link. Look for a spot where the chain is a little kinked after coming out of the rear derailleur when you pedal it backwards.

It does sound like the derailleur just needs adjusting. If you have the bike standing up straight, put it in one of the problem gears. The upper pully of the derailleur should be pretty much lined up with the correct gear. A little bit of fine tuning (1/4 turn one way or the other) may be required to get it to shift right from here, but it is a good starting point.

If that doesn't work (you can't get it to work well in all gears), the derailleur hanger (on the frame) may be slightly out of alignment. This can mess up your indexing. It requires a ~$100 tool to align properly so is best done by your LBS.


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## agm2

I say take it back to the shop, if it has an free adjustment ask them to do that, but also ask if you can watch and have him explain to you what he is doing. A lot of mechanics will be glad to do this. When I first started learning I tried the park tools website, and I got it close but it wasn't until I watched someone get it perfect was I able to get it perfect.


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## bahueh

is the bike new or "like new"? ...I've only had that issue with a worn cassette...


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## kmunny19

bahueh said:


> is the bike new or "like new"? ...I've only had that issue with a worn cassette...


my thoughts too. worn chain also, even though the OP stated it looked good, it could just be really nicely cleaned up. the barrel adjustment proposed earlier may be a good place to start, but I'd think it wouls be more a proplem of slipping between gears if it were a misaligned derailleur, rather than the cahin skip described. 

I've had similar (if i'm reading the OP correctly) things perfectly cleared up with a new chain in the past. and when looking at the new one, it didn't look a whole lot different than the old one it replaced after it had been thouroughly cleaned.


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## pastpob

very timely post as i am both a newbie and i am having shifting issues...i think! what mine is doing is when i go all the way down to the lowest gear (i have a triple in the front) it sounds like something is not right. In other words, you could hear the chain almost sounding like it will skip off the gear? i hope i explained that right...would this simply be an adjustment as well? Will give it a shot later this evening. Thanks in advance!


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## MCF

RD needs slightly adjusted. Use barrel adjuster. If you can't do this, never touch anything on the bike EVER again.


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## Kerry Irons

*Different problem*



pastpob said:


> very timely post as i am both a newbie and i am having shifting issues...i think! what mine is doing is when i go all the way down to the lowest gear (i have a triple in the front) it sounds like something is not right. In other words, you could hear the chain almost sounding like it will skip off the gear? i hope i explained that right...would this simply be an adjustment as well? Will give it a shot later this evening. Thanks in advance!


Are you riding in the smallest chain ring of your triple, and then on the smallest cog on your cassette? If so, the chain may be catching on the shifting pins of the middle chain ring and making noise and possibly trying to "auto-shift" to the middle ring. The solution is to not ride in that gear combination.

If it is happening when you are on the largest cog on the cassette, then it could be the lower limit screw on your front derailleur needs to be turned "out" to keep the inner derailleur cage from rubbing on the chain. One more possibility could be "chain suck" where due to a worn chain or worn chain ring, the chain gets "stuck" on the ring and won't disengage smoothly. Check your chain for wear with a ruler; if it is more than 12 & 1/16" long for 24 links (12" original length) then you need to replace the chain.


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## fireplug

Check the chain...I was surprised when my LBS told me a chain might only last for 1,500 miles or so. I know some on here have gone several thousand miles on their chain with no problem but when my C'dale did this a new chain made it all better.


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