Front gear shift stuck or broken

[RubenW]

Short:<br />
After messing with the front Derailleurs adjustment screws my front gear **** would not react any more even after completely removing both screws and then even the wire.
Long:<br />
Watched the video on adjusting derailleurs<br />
-put the bike into the lowest possible gear<br />
-tightened one of the screws but because it didn't seem to be working i started tightening the other one until the chain was freely moving<br />
-then i tried to go into my highest gear, but the front didn't seem to be shifting up and it wasn't making a clicking sound either. So i pushed a bit harder but nothing seemed to be working any more.<br />
-then out of desperation opened the screw holding down the wire going to the front derailleurs, but still the front gear **** would not react up or down.<br />
After that I opened up the front gear shift/break and was messing around with it trying to understand what was wrong but i failed and gave up after an hour and ha half.
Any ideas ?

[DaveM]

- put the bike into the lowest gear<br />
- play with the two limit screws to figure out which one controls this adjustment. Tighten this until the derail is close to the chain but not rubbing.<br />
- reattach the cable and pull it reasonably tight.<br />
- Loosen the other limit screw, then shift into the highest gears<br />
- tighten the outer limit until it forces the derail close to the chain without rubbing
You may have to play with the limits a little to get clean shifting without the chain falling off. But that should get you back to basic functioning and you can play with the fine adjustments.
good luck

[RubenW]

hmm i figured since i couldn't shift in either direction even with the cable disconnected that there had to be something wrong with the front shifters not the derailleur.

[DaveM]

If by "couldn't shift" you mean that the shifter itself won't move even with the cable disconnected, then you're right - the problem is in the shifter. I assumed you meant that you couldn't get the fr derail to move.
Is it a road bike "brifter"? (combined STI style brake and shifter) or a Mtn style with the brake and shifter on the same piece? Can you move the shift lever and it just doesn't click into place but goes back? Or will the shifter not move at all (compeltely frozen)?
You can sometime fix these shifters. But they are pretty complicated and sometimes your only solution is to replace unfortunately.