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A veteran at my shop asked why I index gears with the cable loose and I have been doing it wrong for 6 years
I was adjusting a rear derailleur on a Trek FX at the shop on Tuesday and the old guy who owns the place walked by and asked why I always set the high limit with the cable connected. I said thats how I learned it, and he just shook his head and told me to back the barrel adjuster all the way in first. Turns out I had been fighting cable tension this entire time when the right way is to set limits with zero tension, then clamp the cable and dial it in. I tried it on the next three bikes and every single one shifted clean on the first road test instead of me chasing ghost clicks for 20 minutes. Six years of doing this and nobody caught it because my shifts were good enough, not right. The tell was always that I had to turn the barrel way out to get the indexing to land, which should have tipped me off years ago. How do you all set limits, cable on or off, because I feel like an idiot for not questioning this sooner.
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michaeltorres10d ago
Six years of doing this and nobody caught it" is wild because every shop I have ever been in has at least one guy who will lecture you about the correct way before you even finish rolling the bike in. Honestly though, you are not the only one who learned it backwards, almost everybody clamps the cable first because that is how the videos do it and the videos are mostly made by people who never touched a bike with a bent hanger. Setting the limits with zero tension just makes sense once you think about it, you are stopping the cage by hand instead of letting the cable fight you the whole time. The barrel adjuster thing is the real giveaway too, if you are maxing it out just to get shifts, something upstream is off, not the indexing. At least you found out from the old guy and not from a customer bringing the bike back mad, that would have stung way more.
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morgan.rose10d ago
The cable fight thing shows up everywhere. People build on a bad habit for years and call it skill because the end result sort of works. House painters who tape trim instead of cutting in. Cooks who taste with the same spice every time. It works until it doesn't. @michaeltorres is right about the videos too, most of them show the quick way not the right way. And the barrel adjuster being maxed out was your sign the whole time.
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