I borrowed a friends mountain bike to do a mountain bike triathlon (I was planning on using my hybrid, but I'm not sure it is beefy enough). To make a long story short, she lent/gave me her bike, but she has not used it in at least a year - but she did have it tuned up before she basically stored it. It looks like it is in decent shape, I put air in the tires and they seem to be ok, but the back wheel is making a very loud click click click click when I am riding. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to give it a quick tune up? I will bring it in and have it done by a bike shop, but I will never be able to get it in before the race on Saturday because there is at least a week to two week wait at my local bike shops. So, should I risk using it, or should I attempt the course on my hybrid (NOT a beefy hybrid!), or should I bag this race? Thanks!
It sounds like the rear derailure just needs to be adjusted. There are two ways to fix it.
1. There is a dial on you handle bar coming out of the shifter that you can use to adjust it
2. There is another dial on the derailure where the cable comes in, this is my favorite place to make adjustments.
If you can use a bike stand it would make the process easier, if not then you might have to ride it and make adjustments as you go. The best place to have the gear for adjustments is on the 4th or 5th on your rear cog. If you did take it to a shop, if this is the issue, it would only take them a matter a few min to fix it.
Good luck !
Thanks for the information, if I try to do it myself, what is it that I will be doing?
PDF file:
[url]http://bike.shimano.com/media/cycling/techdocs/en/bikecomponents/RD/SI-r...
Most rears are similar to this. The screws may not be exactly like that, but they are normally marked H and L.
All you would be doing is just realigning your chain with the rear cogs. The noise you hear is the chain not meshing exactly with the gears. Once you get it aligned again there should not be any more noise.