Stuck in big chain ring

Yesterday on my ride I changed into the big chain ring, & when I went to change back into the small chain ring, it would'nt change. No matter how many times I clicked on the gear, it would'nt budge. I was very careful not to snap the cable as it's happened before. Can any of you experienced in this provide some help, or should I take it to the LBS?

Thanks

I had a similar thing happen to me that required replacement of the lever. (Shimano)
If I clicked to change down, I could reach down and push the derailleur in towards the small chain ring and it would move over OK.
Could change back to the big ring OK, but not get out of it.
They tried fixing it in the LBS, but after a while it wouldn't shift at all.

Yeah my shimano lever had to be replaced a few months ago, so hopefully they just need to adjust the cable. Anyone out there able to tell me how to do this?

Jason C wrote:Yeah my shimano lever had to be replaced a few months ago, so hopefully they just need to adjust the cable. Anyone out there able to tell me how to do this?

Unlike your rear derailleur the front derailleur has no barrel adjuster to adjust cable tension. In some cases there might be a tension adjuster on the cable boss where the cable housing from your STI lever meets the frame on the down tube just below the junction with the head tube.

Shimano used to have tension adjusters (back at 9 spd) on the cable housing just near where it left the lever. In any event, cable tension is usually not the problem. If it was set up right to begin with even a little stretch won't make much difference anyway. Front shifting is not that sensitive to tension changes.

When a front derailleur won't shift down it is usually because the lower limit screw needs some adjustment to allow the derailleur to move inward just a little more. There are 2 limit screws usually marked H and L. Try a half turn (on the L screw) anticlockwise. You want to be conservative and only adjust and test in small increments - the last thing you want is to overdo it have have your chain dropping right off and getting caught between the little ring and the frame.

Thanks Craig, it turned out to be a faulty shimano gear changer, which the LBS changed free of charge.