Can you adjust the gears on your bike yourself? Of course! Before you do, you should definitely shift up a gear in terms of maintenance! Biking is only really fun when all components – especially the gears – work perfectly. A little maintenance and the right adjustment ensure smooth operation and significantly extend the lifespan of the gears – here you'll learn how it's done!
The gears are considered part of the drivetrain components. Other bicycle parts that belong to this category include the chain, crank, or pedals. A clean and properly adjusted gear system ensures that all drivetrain components last longer, as many of these parts are typical wear items.
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Regular maintenance, cleaning, and good care save you a lot of money because you need replacement parts less often. A bit of love and the right gear adjustment also save your nerves, as you won't be slowed down by avoidable breakdowns . |
In this blog post, we want to help you bring your chain gears up to speed by properly cleaning, repairing, and adjusting them.
Spare Parts for Bicycle Gears & Drivetrain
Gear Groups & Spare Parts | Chains | Cranks | Cassettes | Chainrings
What do you need to adjust the bike gears?
If you want to clean, repair, and adjust the gears on your bicycle, you cannot do it without the right accessories and appropriate tools. The list looks long, but don't worry, you don't always need everything on it. Depending on the task, the required materials can be completely different. Generally, it is sufficient to check with an Allen key or Torx key after cleaning to see if all screws are tight. With a bit more equipment and bicycle cleaners and special care products, you are definitely prepared for all eventualities.
Cleaning, repairing & adjusting bicycle gears – tools & care:
- Bicycle cleaner
- Drivetrain cleaner / chain cleaner
- Chain oil or chain spray
- Brushes in various shapes
- Lint-free cloths
- Allen keys (hex keys) in sizes 1.5 - 8 mm
- Torx keys (star keys) in sizes T15 - T25
- Cable cutter or sharp side cutter
- Pliers
- Torque wrench
- Cassette remover
- Chain whip
- Chain breaker
- Chain lock & possibly chain lock tool
- Chain gauge
- Bottom bracket tool
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Our tip: Cleaning and adjusting the gears is much easier if you have a repair stand . It holds the bike securely, but you can move the drivetrain freely, which makes your work significantly easier! |
If your bike looks like this, you should clean the gears thoroughly before adjusting them, otherwise you're just moving dirt back and forth!
Cleaning the bicycle gears
Whether on paved roads, rough gravel sections, or natural trails, sooner or later dirt, dust, and grime will settle in your gears and affect the entire drivetrain system.
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Our tip: Always clean the gears before adjusting them. |
When you get up close with your gears, you'll see if they really just need adjusting or if dirt and wear have taken their toll.
Why do you need to clean your bicycle gears regularly?
Chain, sprockets, or chainrings naturally work best - in the truest sense "frictionlessly" - when they are clean. A clean gear system also lasts significantly longer because dirt wears down the material. Therefore, it is especially important to clean your gears regularly.
The “quick” cleaning of the bicycle gears
After a tour, often a small cleaning action is sufficient.
- Wrap a suitable cloth (Important: one that doesn't shed fibers) around the chain and turn the crank a few rounds backward so that the chain runs through your cloth. This removes coarse dirt.
- Then, each chain link gets a drop of chain oil. You should drip the oil in the middle of the inside of the chain links.
- Afterward, shift through all gears two to three times to distribute the oil well.
- Wipe off excess oil from the chain with the cloth.
The “thorough” cleaning of the bicycle gears
The first steps of the thorough cleaning of the gears correspond to the “quick cleaning,” but this cleaning is more thorough as you also clean the cassette, chainrings, and derailleur pulleys.
- For this, you can either take a suitable brush and clean the chain in place.
- After cleaning your drivetrain with an appropriate cleaner, rinse it off with clear water.
- You can also remove the chain and soak in degreaser (also works with a suitable bicycle cleaner and drivetrain cleaner). However, you will also need to reinstall them; overall, this approach is time-consuming and not always necessary.
Without a proper gear adjustment, nothing rolls on the bicycle – that's why it's particularly important to clean, maintain, and replace worn parts in a timely manner.
Adjusting the bicycle gears – optimize the shifting performance!
As a layperson, you might not dare to adjust the bicycle gears, but with some tools and know-how, it's not difficult!
In the following section, you will learn step by step how to adjust your bicycle gears.
Adjusting the front derailleur
Front derailleurs are becoming extinct as 1x drivetrains are on the rise. If your bike has a front derailleur (= the front "derailleur" over the crank), most groupsets have two screws that allow you to adjust the correct limit stops and cable tension at the shifter.
- The chain should be about one millimeter away from the outer guide plate of the derailleur. Visually, this is almost centered, with a tendency outward (if you are standing on the bike facing forward, to the right). You make this adjustment by tightening or loosening the shift cable with the adjustment screw on the shifter.
- By turning the "H" screw, you set the upper limit of the derailleur, which is the outermost position. This ensures that your chain does not fall over your largest chainring and jump off.
- The "L" screw ensures the lower limit, preventing your chain from slipping between your smallest chainring and the frame.
With the screws shown on your derailleur, you adjust how far your chain travels.
2. Adjusting the bicycle derailleur
The adjustment of the derailleur is also relatively simple and can be accomplished by any biker with some practice.
Here you will learn step by step how to adjust your bicycle gears:
First, adjust the shift cable correctly
- If you are installing a new one, pull it from the shifter on the handlebars through the outer casings and route the casing either externally or internally (in the frame). Make sure that the shift cable moves freely through the shift housing. You can use some WD40 to help, so the shift cable slides optimally through the outer casing.
- Now insert the shift cable into your derailleur and secure it with the Allen or Torx screw provided for this purpose.
Make sure that the shift cable is properly tensioned and that you have previously shifted to the smallest gear on the shift lever.
With these adjustment screws (on the shift lever and derailleur) you can adjust the tension of your shift cable.
- Now cycle through your gears and check if the gear changes are executed directly when shifting.
- Check the shifting processes in both directions, upwards and downwards.
- With the adjustment screws on the shift lever and the derailleur itself, you can correct the tension of the shift cable without tools.
- If the chain does not move to the next larger chainring when shifting up, you should increase the cable tension . If the chain has difficulty moving from the larger to the smaller sprocket, you can relax the shift cable slightly.
This is how you adjust the chain stop
As with the front derailleur, you adjust the stops of the chain on the derailleur using the screws "H" and "L" . This sets how far the chain can move to the right (outside) or left (inside) when shifting to the hardest and easiest gears.
↪ In the smallest gear the top jockey wheel of the derailleur should run exactly under the smallest sprocket of the cassette. If this is not the case and your chain is not in the correct position, adjust this with the H-screw .
↪ For the upper stop first shift to the easiest gear and adjust the L-screw so that the jockey wheel of the derailleur also runs directly under the largest sprocket.
The distance between the largest sprocket and the upper jockey wheel should be approximately 6 mm
The finish of the bicycle gear adjustment
In the final step, you should check the wrap and adjust it if necessary with the screw provided for this purpose. The wrap refers to the distance or angle of the upper jockey wheel of the derailleur to the largest sprocket.
- There should be approximately a 6-millimeter gap between the two components to ensure optimal function.
- On newer Shimano On derailleurs there is a mark on the back of the derailleur to control the wrap. On SRAM derailleurs the wrap is also called B-Gap. Note: There is a special tool for wrap adjustment.
Flying branches, dirt, and mud are fun, but they are a real challenge for your bike's gears. If you can adjust and repair your gears yourself (and get them clean again), you can save a trail day.
More guides in the Bike Blog:
- Cleaning & maintaining bikes in winter
- Cleaning bikes – our best tips
- Bike storage
- The secret of the torque wrench
