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Gearing Troubles
Hi everyone,
I've just got a weird problem with my gears that i haven't been able to find anywhere else.
Basically, when I shift into 1 or 2 on my rear gears, its really hard to do, and shifting into any other gears is really easy.
I'm riding a Centurion Backfire 3md and the specs on my gears are as follows.
Front Derailleur: Shimano M190
Rear Derailleurs : Shimano Acera-X (8 speed)
Chainwheel: Shimano M131 42-34-24 CG
Bottom Bracket: Cartridge bottom bracket
Chain: KMC Z51
Also the chain slips a lot, I realise I don't have the best bike, but its all I've got to work with right now haha.
If anyone can diagnose my problem or provide a solution for it, that would be much appreciated!!
Thanks!
Chris 
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Have you got the high screw adjusted correctly?
Just to clarity, what are you calling gears 1 & 2? The large cogs at the back (easy to pedal) or the smaller ones?
And when you say it's "really hard to do", do you mean that you click your shifter, and the spring is supposed to take up the slack and pull the dérailleur across, but it doesn't do this (at least not for a while), or do you mean that when you push the shifter, you are pulling (putting tension on) the cable and it's only when you push really hard that the shift will happen?
And when you say, "the chain slips a lot", do you mean you can be riding along just fine and it will 'slip' randomly, or does it only do this only when you are trying to change gear, and once the gear is found it never happens?
I take it there's no issue with the from dérailleur?
P.S. For RD adjustment, see the Park Tool site:
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/rear-de...
Sounds like the rear derailleur limit screw is not set right. Back it off and see how it goes.
By really hard to do, i mean actually pushing the shifter is difficult and only happens when i push to the extent it starts to actually hurt.
It generally slips when I change gear or start putting tonnes of power on (im guessing this is a seperate issue)
Im fairly sure theres no issue with the déraileur.
And by gears 1 and 2 I mean the large ones at the back (easy to pedal)
forgive me for not knowing my terminology to much, i dont know too much about bike maintenance.
I heard it could be dirt in the cable housing that causes this whole issue.
Sounds like either a frayed shifter cable (possibly up near the shifter) or contaminated shifter housing.
i think im at your level of bike maintenance,but if you keep your eye out at the news stands, there is a bike maintence guide from either what mountain bike or mountain bike uk - comes with a dvd for around $20 and money well spent - clarified how to adjust screws and cable tension etc
Yeah I've found people have had dirt in their cable housings, and since this happened on a particularly muddy ride, i'd say this might be it.
yea Ive had dirt in my cables where I had a range of 4 gears.
if you were to take it to a shop. this is where they would start. its not going to cost a huge amount to replace the inner & outer cables. the hanger would be the next step after that.
you tube is great for bike maintenance as well.
If anyone wants to know, It got taken to a bike shop last week and the cable was replaced (it was stretched) and the derailleur was also full of dirt and muck