How To Tune Bike Gears The Easy Way - Adjust Your Rear Derailleur Like A Pro, by April - Ride MTB™ on YouTube. 9 min 36 s.
- Video length
- 9 min 36 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Shift the chain onto the smallest rear cog and the smallest front chainring. Hang the bike or put it in a stand so you can turn the pedals freely.
Check derailleur alignment. The cage should hang straight below the cassette. If it is bent, straighten or replace the hanger before adjusting anything.
Set the B tension screw so the top jockey wheel sits close to the largest cog, roughly 5 to 6 mm below it. Turn the screw and watch the gap change.
Adjust the H limit screw with the chain on the smallest cog. Turn it until the chain runs centered on that cog and cannot fall off toward the frame.
Loosen the cable clamp bolt, pull the cable snug by hand and tighten the bolt. Shift up and down through the gears and check how the chain moves.
Fine tune cable tension with the barrel adjuster. Turn it to make shifts faster or slower until each click moves the chain cleanly to the next cog.
Set the L limit screw by shifting onto the largest cog. Turn the screw until the chain cannot overshoot into the spokes but still reaches the big cog.
Ride the bike and shift through all gears. Make small barrel adjuster tweaks until every shift is smooth in both directions.
Tips and common mistakes
Clean and lubricate the chain and cassette first, since a dirty drivetrain makes good shifting impossible.
Turn limit screws in small quarter turns and check after each one so you do not overshoot.
Replace a frayed or sticky cable before tuning, or the indexing will keep drifting.
Check the derailleur hanger is straight, as a bent hanger is the most common cause of bad shifting.
Questions
Do I need special tools to adjust my rear derailleur?
No. A hex key set and a screwdriver cover most of the job. A stand helps but you can hang the bike from a rope or flip it over.
Why does my chain skip after I set the limits?
Cable tension is usually the cause. Turn the barrel adjuster a quarter turn at a time and test the shifts until the chain lands on each cog.
How often should I check my gears?
Check shifting every few rides and after any crash. Cables stretch over time, so a small barrel adjuster tweak is often all it needs.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
