Re: [RBW] Slipping/sliding/jumping/ghosting gears on a new Platypus

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 04:58:20 -0800

Good question, Eric! We’re gonna try Microshifts that can be switched to go with either way. I use similar friction/index shifters on my Atlantis and always keep them switched to friction, the mode I prefer. 

Sent with delight from my iPhone

On Jan 17, 2025, at 7:39 AM, Eric Daume <[email protected]> wrote:

Are you keeping with friction shifting, or going indexed?

Eric

On Friday, January 17, 2025, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
Good Friday morning, friends. 

I took a beautiful ride on my new Platy yesterday…yes, there is still salt and some ice on the roads and snow is everywhere, but temps were in the 20s and I decided to get the bike out anyway. I don’t want to be so persnickety about a bicycle that I can’t ride it. I’ll pamper it later on. 

We initially put a new chain on it, but the gears still slipped. 

Next, we replaced the cassette and also added the dab of blue Locktite everyone suggested to the D ring of the shifter, and the 30-minute ride following those changes proved to solve the shifting issue but turned up a new audible and palpable thumping when in one single gear. My hero mechanics filed down a nub on the new chain and the thumping disappeared. 

I’m convinced my initial slipping/ghost-shifting problem has been solved…either by replacing the cassette or by the Locktite or the combination of those two.  

Here’s a decision I  might question myself on later—my mechanics and I have  lost some confidence in these Silver shifters on my bike, y’all. I can’t help it. And I’m not speaking badly about the shifters or other bicycles or cyclists who find they work well…I’m speaking only of my bike and these shifter and me. 

Each time the bike is on the stand, when the mechanics shift through the gears, even they have to WORK and fiddle to get the higher gears to settle into gear. Is that making sense? The shifters seem too stiff in those highest gears, and it takes too much finagling and kid-glove handling to get things to work right. I’m not into that kind of riding—I want to shift as I always shift…I’m a competent enough rider and I’ve been at this a long time and I know how to shift and I don’t want to effing think about being careful in the higher gears—so we’re replacing the shifters. I’ll be out of town for a week or two, and when I return, I should have new shifters. They might not work well either…I don’t know. But we’re gonna try it. 

Liz, and that’s that,  in Cincinnati




On Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 6:36:52 PM UTC-5 John Williams wrote:
Happy New Year Liz!
How frustrating for you!

There a a few issues/questions:
Are you riding a 1x or 2x chainring set up?

Has the rear derailleur alignment been checked? (The dropout?)

Are the two jockey wheels aligned?
If you stand behind the parked bike, in the lowest gear, close one eye and imagine a line strait up and down where the chain comes up off the two wheels. If it’s cocked in any way, that can lead to the ghost shifts. It can also be the jockey wheels aren’t lubed or aren’t the proper ones for your shift system. 

Are you certain that the rear cable is free of any possible crimps, (like under the bottom bracket?) Do you have a kick stand mounted? If so, look carefully at the cables adjacent to the kickstand and that the cables do NOT touch the kickstand or its bracket. It’s often overlooked. 

Another test- grab the rear bare shift cable and see if that shifts and overrides the shifters. (You may need to put your bike on a stationary trainer).  

Last check- make certain you don’t have a modern 11-12 speed chain on the bike. It takes the older, wider chain on these wider spaced freewheels/cassettes. 

Good luck!
(I wish I had a Platypus, 60, Ana Purple)

JRW






On Mon, Jan 6, 2025 at 10:45 AM [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
Your thoughts on a skipping/slipping/floating chain and gear, please.

In late November 2024. I received my newly built up Platypus from C&L Cycles in Montreal. I love it beyond description. However, there’s one very frustrating issue that I can’t figure out and wonder what insight you friends might have about it.

From the get-go, the gears have slipped. Yes, I’m using friction Silver Shifters, and I’ve spent a lot of time eliminating myself as the problem here. But I’ve ALWAYS used friction shifters on every bike (other than my Clem) and I’m not a klutz, and I’ve tried really really hard to be land these gear changes, but this problem just keeps happening. I’ve put probably 200 miles on the Platypus and I’ve not taken a single ride on it that this has not been a problem. 

The issue occurs on the rear 9-gear cassette and almost always in the highest 3 gears…especially when going uphill or cresting a hill, but not always. 

Sometimes the chain seems to simply float EVEN WHEN I’M NOT PEDALING, and then it lands wherever it wants without my touching the shifter.

This is driving me nuts because I adore this bicycle and this problem is making me lose trust. It’s not safe to ride in the kind of traffic I ride.

I’ve taken the bike to my local bike shop, and we’ve changed the chain, but the issue continues. 

(I’m pretty sure no one at the bike shop is actually riding the Playtpus very far, which is disappointing…because I’m convinced that if they ride it far enough they would experience the problem. But I can’t force them to take it for a long ride in cold and sloppy weather, so now I’m considering next moves.)

Does anyone know of any issues like this with the Silver Shifters? I’m considering replacing them with Shimano. Or maybe a new cassette? Maybe an 8-gears cassette—which is what I have on my trusty Atlantis and with which I’ve never had an issue with shifting. 

I sent an email to Rivendell yesterday, which they should read some time today, but I thought I might get somewhere with this group, too. 

Liz (who probably isn’t a klutz, but the thought still lingers that it might be me but it’s not), snowbound in Cincinnati

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