Mountain Bike Derailleur Help

[medellinbike]

I have tried adjusting the derailleur several times, but sometimes it delays a little bit when shifting up or down.. Also i find the chain jumping between two sprockets on occasion, but I don't know why it does it because I have an 8 speed trigger shifter, 8 speed long cage derailleur in the rear,an 8 speed cassette, and also a chain recommended for 8 speed bikes..

Any help will greatly be appreciated, Thanks!

(here are a few pics)

[gcrank1]

Hows that cable?, any binding in it will cause what you have happening.

[Walker]

shifting hesitation would kind of point to a couple of things. check out if you haven't already:

1. slack cable
2. worn out shifter

[socal_jack]

How are you adjusting it? From what I've found you really need to do it in a bike stand holding the wheel off the ground. If you try to flip the bike upside down and adjust that way you'll have a hard time getting it dead on.

[medellinbike]

- The derailleur cable is brand new, and the cable housing has no kinks in it either, not to mention i made sure the cable would move with ease through it

- How do i make sure the trigger shifters are working properly and how do i get the best cable tension??

- So upside down isn't the best way to do it? Cause I have been adjusting it by myself so I have to do it upside down because I don't have a bike stand.. I have also tried adjusting it from the biggest sprocket, and i still find myself with some trouble shifting

[cman]

This is a must read. http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... derailleur

[socal_jack]

The derailleur sits differently upside down, the weight of the chain and derailleur itself cause a bit of an additional offset. Normally what happens is if you adjust it while upside down and get it working then flip over the shifts are as you described. Try to get it close using cable tension with the rear shifter barrel adjust at it's midway point, start from the cog that the shifter/derailleur wants to go to when there's no cable tension then set that stop to bring jockey wheel close to cog alignment then pull the cable tight and tighten it down flip it over and try to use the rear shifter barrel adjuster to eyeball it in jockey wheel(closest to cogs) to cog alignment as they'll all be off and the index jumps are preset by the shifters.

- So upside down isn't the best way to do it? Cause I have been adjusting it by myself so I have to do it upside down because I don't have a bike stand.. I have also tried adjusting it from the biggest sprocket, and i still find myself with some trouble shifting

[gcrank1]

Short a bikestand, hang the back end up by a rope around the seat to something overhead; you'll be able to spin it and do it way better.