Gears and derailleur misalignment

[chascoop]

       

Although I have ridden bikes on and off since a kid (75 years old now), I have very little experience with anything other than a single speed bike.

I recently purchased a new 7-speed Gospel adult tike, which needed assembly. My wife has the same model trike but older and purchased second hand, so I figured to use it as a reference. Gospel has no (0) customer support, which I was not aware of.

My problem, rear gears and derailleur misalignment. I watched several YouTube videos but the methods did not appear to work. After checking my wife's trike, I found the problem. The gears were mounted from the factory in the wrong location. Too far inboard. I loosened the lock ring attached to the gears but cannot move the gear assembly.

My question... Do I need a special tool? Do a use something to tap on the gearing s=assembly? I'm concerned I may damage the gears by forcing the assembly. I've included 2 photos. One of my wife's trike which you can see has very little gap between the assembly and wheel. The second, which shows my trike and the large gap between the assembly and wheel.

Any advise and assistance will be appreciated.

[ReapThaWhirlwind]

Sorry for the late response.

You shouldn't need a special tool. The derailleur wants to tune the same as any other seven speed. However, because of the placement on a trike, I do find that they are trickier to tune in general.

Here are the steps you want to take.

1.) Shift into the highest gear, which will be the smallest cog.

2.) Undo the cable.

3.) Dial the barrel adjuster in all the way (clockwise).

4.) Lightly tug on the cable to remove only the most basic slack and refasten the cable to the derailleur.

5.) Begin to dial the barrel adjuster out (counter-clockwise) and attempt to shift into the next gear. When it doesn't engage, shift it back, dial the barrel adjuster out some more, and try again. Continue this process until you have clean shifting up and down through the entire cassette.

6.) If further problems arise, check the b-tension screw, which may also need to be adjusted to smooth shifting more. Ideally, you will screw this in as much as you can, then begin to screw it out until you get the smoothest shift and ride. You can start with just a modest adjustment in, and then try out, before you do a complete readjustment from scratch.

From the pure looks of the alignment, you may be able to instantly fix this by just dialing the adjuster out some. I would really recommend doing it from scratch though.