Bicycle Tutor

Alright so I am not very knowledgeable about this subject so forgive me if this is a silly question, but I have just purchased a new bicycle and while I was riding it without any problems for about two days, this morning I was riding up a hill and switching into a lower gear caused my front derailleur to take my chain completely off the gears and leave me unable to peddle. Picking up the rear wheel off the ground and turning the pedals with my hand while I changed the gear back to what it was before put it back on, but I guess while the chain was slack or something it came off the back gear as well, which I noticed almost immediately once I tried to start riding again.


This time I was able to just put the chain back on the appropriate gear with my hands, but now my rear derailleur makes excessive amounts of noise whenever I try to switch with it, taking much longer to shift that it did previously. In addition, if I ever try to use the 8th and highest gear, I can only ride about 30 feet before the chain just pulls right off the gear again. This is really frustrating, and I'm wondering if it's simple to deal with or if I should go back to the bike shop?

Since you just bought the bike and it is new, I recommend taking it back and have it looked at. It sounds to me as if it left the shop not quite right. Most good shops do this for free.
most new bikes never see the road until after purchased, when they put them together it is in a bike stand and setup however sometimes a bike can act a little different in a stand than actual riding. A little fine tune and things should be fine. It sounds as if your Hi lo limits on both your derailleurs are off a tad and proper cable tension would follow. as long as nothing is bent or out of alignment

Yes, at least the rear derailleur is in need of being adjusted. You can take it back to the store, hopefully they'll fix it. Tell them to check the high and low screws, the B screw, and the cable. This might take 15 minutes from someone who is good.

You should also ask them to check the front derailleur as well.

What happened? Hard to say. Hopefully you didn't fall on the right side of your bike which might have caused the rear derailleur to bend the little metal piece that holds it on. It could be that the cables stretched as well, being new.

Post back what happened.


AndrewB

And you shouldn't forget to shift properly, if you leave your chain on the smallest sprockets (front and rear) the rear derailleur might not have enough tension and that can make some nasty noises.

Hope you solve your problem without much difficulty.

Paulius.

EDIT: Also check your chain, you might have slightly bent it when it came down the front sprocket. I had an accident like that, and until I straightened the chain my derailleur made a lot of noise.

Alright I took it into the shop and they took a look at it, just needed to adjust a few screws on the rear derailleur and I was good to go. Thanks for the help!