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Hi,
Anyone had problems with the shifting on an islabikes beinn (20s version fwiw)?
This bike's shifting has always been an utter time sink (more than the 4 other bikes in the family combined)... I think the problem is that the derailieur can only *just* do as little range across the sprockets that 7 speed requires, so the top limit screw actually limits at the bottom, too (I have photos, but can't post them). This means it's *very* sensitive to the hanger's straightness and cable adjustment, and the stops can't really be adjusted (good times with the way kids treat bikes...).
I tried a brand new derailieur and it has exactly the same range issue, hence the conclusion it's only just, if at all, made for 7sp (and/or this spacing). As it is I've had to 'tune' (bend) the hanger to get it all to work for now, which feels... unsatisfactory, and probably will be temporary.
Anyone had any experience or have any tips?
Islabikes themselves were unhelpful, unfortunately.
Yep, same here. Mid-ride hand bending of the mech/hanger is often needed.
When we had a Beinn 20 I noticed that it did not like being in the smallest sprocket at all and wouldn't run very smoothly.
It was like that from the outset, however the other 6 gears (and the ones most often used) were absolutely fine.
I swapped the gripshift for a SRAM trigger shifter very early on as neither of our kids, along with countless others by all accounts, could get to "grip" with the grip shift.
Well, good to know it's not just us, at least, thanks!
When we had a Beinn 20 I noticed that it did not like being in the smallest sprocket at all and wouldn’t run very smoothly.
I had this exactly. I had to bend the hanger (toe-out) to alleviate it. The other gears are fine in ours, too.
Yeah, my daughter has always struggled with the gripshifter, too. Hell, I find it somewhat hard to grip hard enough to twist it, even with new cables. I think they say the littlies don't the the thumb range for trigger shifters, but I can't imagine they're much, if any, worse on balance.
Ours was always a bit pants for shifting too. Gripshift hard to use, especially getting the tension to move into largest sprocket. Eldest child put up with it, but younger one was less tolerant. Swapped for shimano 9 speed set up - that did involve building a new wheel, but the old wheel was fairly knackered by then anyway. Well set up trigger shifter was fine for little hands in our experience.
I see that Islabikes have finally binned the Gripshift on the Creig range.
Still present on the Beinn range though.
Try putting a washer between the mech and the hanger.
I had this on my son's bike. I found a new Pilo mech hanger solved the issue of the derailleur range while servicing the shifter and new coated inner cables with SP41 outers seemed to help with shifting.