Ltwoo groupset - gear cables

[Ant in the NL]

I have an Avalanche Pro Reflex 29er (entry level but I'm loving her!) MTB; after maybe 250km of riding the gear changes start to need to be 'feathered' to ensure no slipping of gears. Will a newer, upgraded cable prevent this? 

https://www.avalanchebikes.co.za/products/avalanche-reflex-29-pro-black-red?colours=black%20%2F%20red&sizes=s

Thanks for your help. 

Edited May 11, 2023 by AntVanR
Added link to view bike

[RobertWhitehead]

Are the gears "slipping" or "skipping" 

Slipping = the chain and or cassette is worn and needs to be replaced (the way to distinguish - the moment you apply force to the cranks the chain slips off the teeth and all traction is lost) 

Skipping = the cable has stretched slightly and don't align the rear mech with the chosen gear anymore (this one constantly makes a noise and sometimes the chain jumps between the gears without you doing anything). 

To resolve this have a look at the attached image, you will notice a little adjustable wheel on the side where the cable comes out. Whilst riding move this knob a quarter of a turn at a time away from you i.e. forward until the chain settles in the chosen gear and the noise stops 

[Barry]

38 minutes ago, RobertWhitehead said:

Are the gears "slipping" or "skipping" 

Slipping = the chain and or cassette is worn and needs to be replaced (the way to distinguish - the moment you apply force to the cranks the chain slips off the teeth and all traction is lost) 

Skipping = the cable has stretched slightly and don't align the rear mech with the chosen gear anymore (this one constantly makes a noise and sometimes the chain jumps between the gears without you doing anything). 

To resolve this have a look at the attached image, you will notice a little adjustable wheel on the side where the cable comes out. Whilst riding move this knob a quarter of a turn at a time away from you i.e. forward until the chain settles in the chosen gear and the noise stops 

I was going to wait till Friday to say this. Maybe look at upgrading to shimano or SRAM that LtWoo stuff is just going to disappoint and cost you long-term. 

[RobertWhitehead]

What the actual? Do they actually allow the bike to leave the factory like that? That rear mech 

 

 

[Martin PJ]

Agree with Robert, probably needs cable adjustment at the barrel. If this doesn't work, try break it and put Shimano 12 Deore derailleur. I believe the 12 speed Shimano will work with 12 speed shifter you have.

[PhilipV]

4 hours ago, AntVanR said:

I have an Avalanche Pro Reflex 29er (entry level but I'm loving her!) MTB; after maybe 250km of riding the gear changes start to need to be 'feathered' to ensure no slipping of gears. Will a newer, upgraded cable prevent this? 

https://www.avalanchebikes.co.za/products/avalanche-reflex-29-pro-black-red?colours=black%20%2F%20red&sizes=s

Thanks for your help. 

Add more tension in the cable first before starting  to replace stuff. Unscrew the barrel adjuster a couple of clicks while pedaling and fine tune it.  
there are a bunch of YouTube vids about it, the Park Tools how to vids are great. 

[NotSoBigBen]

23 minutes ago, PhilipV said:

Add more tension in the cable first before starting  to replace stuff. Unscrew the barrel adjuster a couple of clicks while pedaling and fine tune it.  
there are a bunch of YouTube vids about it, the Park Tools how to vids are great. 

After 'only 250k' of riding I would tend to agree with @PhilipV that a slight adjustment should do the trick .... 

As someone once told me a very long time ago (granted in the days when there were only road or commuter bikes) "most gear shifting problems can be solved with half a turn of a barrel adjuster"

 

 

[Ant in the NL]

Thanks for the advice, lol figured 250km riding isn't much for this to have happened. I'll try the remedies before having a sudden derailleur failure and switching to Shimano 😆

[Ant in the NL]

3 hours ago, RobertWhitehead said:

Are the gears "slipping" or "skipping" 

Slipping = the chain and or cassette is worn and needs to be replaced (the way to distinguish - the moment you apply force to the cranks the chain slips off the teeth and all traction is lost) 

Skipping = the cable has stretched slightly and don't align the rear mech with the chosen gear anymore (this one constantly makes a noise and sometimes the chain jumps between the gears without you doing anything). 

To resolve this have a look at the attached image, you will notice a little adjustable wheel on the side where the cable comes out. Whilst riding move this knob a quarter of a turn at a time away from you i.e. forward until the chain settles in the chosen gear and the noise stops 

Yep, it's skipping .....

[Steady Spin]

If you bought the bike new then the shop normally offers the first service for free. 

This is so that all these little niggles can be sorted out. 

Not abnormal for indexing to go out slightly in the first 250km. 

Chat to the shop and if not an option just unscrew that little barrel adjuster while riding until the shifting smooths out.

[droo]

I'll add to the chorus, for what it's worth while LTwoo may not be range topping stuff, it works fine for most applications. Hold off from chucking it in the bin and just get it properly adjusted.

Park Tool's website is the place to go if you want to learn to do it yourself, which is definitely the way forward if you're likely to be doing any kind of distance you'd rather not walk.

 

[Ant in the NL]

Shot, thanks for the advice. Will go for a ride and check the settings to fine tune the set up. 

Edited May 11, 2023 by AntVanR

[tubed]

7 minutes ago, droo said:

I'll add to the chorus, for what it's worth while LTwoo may not be range topping stuff, it works fine for most applications. Hold off from chucking it in the bin and just get it properly adjusted.

Park Tool's website is the place to go if you want to learn to do it yourself, which is definitely the way forward if you're likely to be doing any kind of distance you'd rather not walk.

 

@droo out of interest, have you had any experience working with either the LTwoo or Sensah components? I see a lot of thorough testing online by independent commentators (ie not incentivised to support the big 3 manufacturers), generally the conclusions are positive. I'd be keen to hear your views, thanks 

[Ant in the NL]

3 hours ago, Martin PJ said:

Agree with Robert, probably needs cable adjustment at the barrel. If this doesn't work, try break it and put Shimano 12 Deore derailleur. I believe the 12 speed Shimano will work with 12 speed shifter you have.

 

2 minutes ago, tubed said:

@droo out of interest, have you had any experience working with either the LTwoo or Sensah components? I see a lot of thorough testing online by independent commentators (ie not incentivised to support the big 3 manufacturers), generally the conclusions are positive. I'd be keen to hear your views, thanks 

My few cents worth is that for what I paid and what I'm using the bike for, it's a solid 👍🏼 from me. I had Shimano entry level components before and they performed far more poorly than this set up. I saw a comment earlier regarding the rear derailleur, what should it look like as opposed to what it does on the pic I posted? 😆

[Ant in the NL]

9 hours ago, RobertWhitehead said:

What the actual? Do they actually allow the bike to leave the factory like that? That rear mech 

 

 

Lol, explain? 

[Eugene]

It's normal for this to happen on a new bike. Just a few small adjustments as mentioned and you are good to go. 

Considering the crazy prices from Sram, Shimano and Campag, brands like Ltwoo are becoming more relavent. 

I replaced the Shimano shifters on my daughter's bike with Ltwoo. Half the price of Shimano and they work flawlessly.