How to Properly Adjust Bicycle Shifting

How to Properly Adjust Bicycle Shifting

Learn how to properly adjust the rear shifting on your bike for better performance! The bike I use for the demonstration is a Trek Madone equipped with a Shimano Ultegra derailleur.

Required tools:
-Phillips screwdriver
-5mm hex key/allen wrench (older bikes may require an 8-10mm wrench or socket)

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Let me know if you have any questions!

**Always remember that nuts and bolts on 99% of bikes are metric**

Closed captioning by BikeFixIT

50 Comments

  1. Kolokohang pinoy bugarol on July 22, 2019 at 10:22 pm

    Hnd marunong mag turo



  2. Rob Hernandez on July 22, 2019 at 10:24 pm

    Is the high limit adjustment for the big gear or the little gear? anyone know?Thank you



  3. Mike Foster on July 22, 2019 at 10:25 pm

    Itโ€™s called a cable dickhead ๐Ÿ™



  4. Hugh Moore on July 22, 2019 at 10:26 pm

    Thanx . . .
    Very clear and thorough . . .
    I like the arrows showing screw rotation . . .
    Takes out all the guess work ! ! !



  5. Robert Phillips on July 22, 2019 at 10:28 pm

    Helpful.



  6. Sintre Tizer on July 22, 2019 at 10:29 pm

    Great video thank you .



  7. fly on July 22, 2019 at 10:30 pm

    don’t worry try to ride bicycle i can help u practice make perfect just ready to study ๐Ÿ˜‰



  8. MrMicropath on July 22, 2019 at 10:32 pm

    Superbly clear explanation. Thanks!



  9. Hexagon Sun on July 22, 2019 at 10:32 pm

    It worked! So gratifying to finally know how to do this after years of inadequetly tuned bikes.
    Also, comment number 1000! Lol



  10. Daniel Opaluwa on July 22, 2019 at 10:34 pm

    After 4 years this video is still making a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing you saved me a lot of money.



  11. Matvei on July 22, 2019 at 10:37 pm

    No shoes dude!



  12. Johnny Ray Bramton on July 22, 2019 at 10:37 pm

    Stretching a cable like this runs the risk of putting small kinks in it. Stretching is only required when installing new cables. Connect the cable and use the shifter to do the stretching – it’s easier. Then do the adjustments. Your explanations are very clear, you do good work!



  13. Andy Benevides on July 22, 2019 at 10:39 pm

    Great vid!
    What if my gears all switch and coordinate correctly, but they feel like they grind on certain combinations ie. front on 2 and rear on 3 or 5, but better on 4?



  14. Frank Crawford on July 22, 2019 at 10:39 pm

    Great explanation far better than I have seen on other YouTube videos!



  15. Hrishab Banik on July 22, 2019 at 10:40 pm

    Thanks dude for ur help…



  16. Jim Rinehart on July 22, 2019 at 10:41 pm

    I like the clarity & explanation of each screw adjusrment.
    This is the first video that shows the adjustment of the high gear with the cable tension removed.
    Thank you.



  17. Viktor M on July 22, 2019 at 10:41 pm

    Tx much, sorry what position you need to put your shifter on handlebar before start anything ?? I heard to smallest (by size) gear , is this correct ? I think this is super important, nobody mentioned this on videos. all videos about super carbon/shimano , not sure if this same for 100$ bikes for kids ?



  18. Davo on July 22, 2019 at 10:42 pm

    This is a great video. Goes through it step-by-step, so that even a mechanically incompetent person like myself can do it as well too!



  19. Dutch Van Der Linde on July 22, 2019 at 10:42 pm

    I need some help my shifter say it’s on 1 but the chain is at 2 I can’t go back to 1



  20. Big Jeep on July 22, 2019 at 10:43 pm

    Thank you….



  21. tom jojo on July 22, 2019 at 10:47 pm

    well explained easy to follow,thank you.



  22. FIB King on July 22, 2019 at 10:47 pm

    Thanks you have helped me



  23. Jay-Ar Huet on July 22, 2019 at 10:48 pm

    Thank dude save you my ass for this



  24. Anuradha Gamunu on July 22, 2019 at 10:48 pm

    Awesome video ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘,thank u for uploading like thi videos



  25. s s on July 22, 2019 at 10:51 pm

    this is a new bike from big birmingham bike embarrassing me all the time with banging sounds the 2nd gear while gear was unable to shift i had the only option to quit the banging and select the next one it was not coming to hard first smaller pulley giving me headache every time i rod but i am very grateful to you helped me out and i also learnt it for future..now working perfect
    thank you so mcch



  26. JC PACUNO on July 22, 2019 at 10:52 pm

    thanks too your video to help me to how fix my Rd..



  27. kilgarenone on July 22, 2019 at 10:53 pm

    Awesome step-by-step video that clearly shows how to fix a specific problem. Hands on demonstration with explanation that go along with it. Perfect.



  28. Chris Morris on July 22, 2019 at 10:54 pm

    So useful. Thank you.



  29. Zayn Malice on July 22, 2019 at 10:55 pm

    Thanks for the tutorial, but you mix up high and low limits several times and only annotate it once. As a first time ‘bike adjuster’ this was really confusing and I’ve had to restart the whole process several times.

    To clarify
    1. Remove cable tension
    2. Set high limit so that it comfortably shifts into highest gear (smallest cog)
    3. Reintroduce tension
    4. Tighten/loosen tension screw so that chain can shift to and from highest gear comfortably
    5. Set low limit

    Is there any reason you set the low limit after tensioning? I tried it before at first and I don’t understand why that didnt work.

    Edit: my bike doesnt have a quick release cable so I’m having to thread and tension it after setting the high limit, I assume this isnt an issue.



  30. REGATEANDO on July 22, 2019 at 10:55 pm

    I have a problem maybe yโ€™all can help me fix! The cable that goes from my shifter, through the housing and to the derailleur keeps getting pulled back into the housing or on the shifter end and it gets super tight on the derailleur side and it obviously messes with the shifting during the ride. I do this pretty much every time I take it out for a spin. I pull the cable out from the housing on the derailleur end to give it slack and it works fine but after a few turns, jumps, etc it gets pulled back towards the shifter or into the housing and all the slack I gave it is gone again. Any ideas? Help please.



  31. Themistocles on July 22, 2019 at 10:59 pm

    Had you known that nearly two million people would see this video, I wonder if you would have worn shoes.ย  ๐Ÿ˜‰



  32. Man Joe on July 22, 2019 at 11:00 pm

    Thanks man, I watched other videos and was just extremely confused…
    Your vid was easy, straight forward, and very informative!
    You the man!
    Can’t wait to riiiiide๐Ÿšด๐Ÿฝโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿšด๐Ÿฝโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿšด๐Ÿฝโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿšด๐Ÿฝโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿšด๐Ÿฝโ€โ™‚๏ธ



  33. Adam Mulligan on July 22, 2019 at 11:00 pm

    very well filmed and explained…cheers marra!



  34. Brexiteer on July 22, 2019 at 11:01 pm

    Wow ….I did not know that !!! Fantastic video, well explained. looks like I am 5 years behind everyone. Thank for that



  35. Craig Gaunt on July 22, 2019 at 11:01 pm

    Wow it was takin me 4ever until i watched this! Nice1 man, i was makin a rite mess ov it ๐Ÿ˜‚



  36. Matรบลก ฤŽurina on July 22, 2019 at 11:02 pm

    Sir you are a professional ! Thank you very much !



  37. Aaron Maust on July 22, 2019 at 11:02 pm

    Itโ€™s looks like you are using a ladder to hold your bike up, mind sharing how youโ€™re doing that??



  38. Error_ 06 on July 22, 2019 at 11:04 pm

    Huge Respect, thanks for making this video



  39. ecj272 on July 22, 2019 at 11:06 pm

    Excellent video๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ



  40. Evan A on July 22, 2019 at 11:07 pm

    I dont think i have gears



  41. Rent-A-Yak on July 22, 2019 at 11:09 pm

    Great detail man thank you



  42. IamClaytonium KEEP IT 100% on July 22, 2019 at 11:10 pm

    DITTO on the comment below me, kickass video young man! Godspeed!



  43. Hashir Mehboob on July 22, 2019 at 11:10 pm

    Thaks bro you are coll be uploadingg that kind of video ๐Ÿ‘



  44. jotatanka on July 22, 2019 at 11:10 pm

    God bless you!



  45. Mr M on July 22, 2019 at 11:13 pm

    Thanks. Now I finally get it! All I gotta do nio is give this a go. You explained this very simply and that’s what I was looking for. Cheers…



  46. Amanda Conner on July 22, 2019 at 11:13 pm

    Damn your video is so good… so easy to fallow..



  47. s s on July 22, 2019 at 11:17 pm

    I was ver cofused and trouble but now I got fixed my hybrid you saved my time my money and my hasel thank you sir thank you so much



  48. Luis Medrano on July 22, 2019 at 11:19 pm

    Great video. I hope this fixed my bike feeling sluggish. Did all the adjustments now just waiting on weather to get better.



  49. Thomas 10/22 on July 22, 2019 at 11:20 pm

    You are a god! Lol what an awesome how to



  50. Joseph Richy on July 22, 2019 at 11:21 pm

    Is this process the same for down tube shifters?