rear derailleur

Officially launched in 1988, Sram is a relatively young company with a lot of design ingenuity and the original maker of the Grip Shift. They’ve been making their way up through the bike component industry, proving themselves to be a reliable company providing a reliable product.

And they look good too.

They have also forged biking alliances with several companies, including RockShox, Quarq, Avid, Truvativ and Zipp.

So let’s start from the bottom up.

S-Series

 This is Sram’s entry level components group. Here you will find a series of parts which consist of brake levers, shifters, cassettes, chains, crankarms and derailleurs for road, cyclocross and track bikes. The series comes in 8, 9 and 10 speeds and even offer cantilever brakes from Avid. 

Quarq

After a while, your cables will need a little work. If you live by the ocean, have wet weather or ride through mud, you’re going to have humidity issues and possible rusting going on. And in order for your gears to work, your derailleur cables need to be in tip-top shape.

Here’s how you can string them.

First things first: derailleur cables and brake cables are NOT interchangeable so please make sure you get the proper cable.

Next, move your chain down to the smallest cog on the freewheel so that the cable has the least amount of tension on it. Clip off the ferrule (or the end cap) that is nearest to your derailleur, untighten the anchor bolt to release the cable and proceed to remove the cable and the respective housing off the bike.

Measure off the cable and the housing. If you have wound cable housing, make sure you have proper cutters for the job.

How To Adjust a Mountain Bike Rear Derailleur

Whether you mountain bike down edgy rock gardens or slog out singletrack switch backs, glitchy gears can aggravate. Since, they are also dangerous, it is important to adjust the rear derailleur of your mountain bike right away.

How To Adjust a Rear Derailleur on Your Mountain or Road Bike

While today's indexed shifting can make shifting nearly effortless, when problems arise it can be annoying or even dangerous. A sticky, grinding or a jumping chain means it is time to inspect and adjust your rear derailleur. This job is best done after chain has been cleaned and lubricated.

Adjusting a rear derailleur is a relatively easy step by step process that only requires a standard screwdriver.

Rear derailleurs guide the chain from gear to gear. Rear derailleur adjustment is dependent on just three things:

1. Derailleur alignment –this is the derailleur's alignment relative to the frame and drive train. The rear should hang parallel to the plane of the bike. This can be noted from behind the bike.

This is an early episode where Jim goes through parts of the bicycle.  Jim starts with the front wheel, rim, tire, tube, spokes and hub, then moves on to the fork and brake and brake calipers. 

Next he checks out the handlebars, brake levers, and bar tape.  On to the stem, and headset which transitions into the frame, which consists of the headtube, top tube, down tube, seat tube, chain stay and seat stay. 

Which brings us to the seatpost and saddle.  Moving on to the drivetrain made up of the crank, chain, cassette, rear derailleur and front derailleur.  What allows the crank to turn is the bottom bracket and that's pretty much what we're working with.  See you on the road, bitches!

Joe's much less suave, and much more annoying rendition of "Part's of a Bicycle":

A man and his rag: In this video we give you a quick overview of how keep your bike in superb running condition by keeping your drivetrain (i.e. cassette, chain, chain rings, dearailleur) clean. with a Rag Edition.

First thing, if you don't have a handy dandy chain cleaner, like the one in the video.  Most people probably don't, but they do a great job of cleaning the bike chain.