KEEP YOUR DRIVETRAIN RUNNING SMOOTHLY

A typical British winter can wreak havoc on your drivetrain and badly affect the smooth running of the gears. To reduce wear, regularly use degreaser to clean out the muck and grit from the chain and between the cassette sprockets. Dry the chain well then apply lube.

Chains work best when they sit squarely on the sprockets. Shift into the high and low gears and check your chainline runs smoothly from the chainring to the cassette. If you have a chain guide, make sure the chain is centred – if not, shuffle the spacers to improve the guide’s alignment.

Gear cables are made up of thin strands of wire twisted under tension. When you cut a cable, it begins to fray. Sufficient cable tension relies on all the strands of the gear cable being clamped securely at the mech, so always use a cable end-cap and replace a cable if it starts to fray.

Check the mech’s limit screws are set correctly. These set the limits of movement for the chain across the cassette. If incorrect, the chain will either move too far, coming off the cassette and risking damage to the frame and/or wheel, or not far enough, so you ‘lose’ the top or bottom gears.

Over time, a chain ‘stretches’ (as the bushes and pins wear). Use a chain checker and replace your chain when it’s 0.5 per cent worn, or it’ll gradually grind the teeth of the cassette sprocket, chainring and jockey wheels down until they become pointy with wide, shallow gullies between.

Cable tension can reduce over time, making it harder to shift the chain up onto larger sprockets. Contrary to popular belief, cables can’t lose tension by stretching; instead the cable housing wears and gets shorter. Unwind the barrel adjuster to extend the housing and increase the cable tension.

If you feel a slight resistance when you’re shifting gear, it can be a sign that there’s dirt or cable damage inside the cable housing. This can come from protective coatings wearing off the gear cable (we prefer plain stainless steel cables) or dirt getting in via the ferrules.

Finally, check the mech hanger isn’t warped – this sacrificial part is designed to bend or break and protect the more expensive mech. If the hanger alignment is out, even by a fraction, you’ll often encounter problems when shifting at one end of the cassette or the other.