How in the hell did that get in there?

Don't keep on riding while trying to work out what the hell has happened to your gear shifting. I had just taken off from a side road near Mt Anakie and noticed that the up shift was not as positive as normal. I slowed down and in doing so shifted down or at least attempted too, however the downshift was not responsive and by feel of foot was locked up. I continued to attempt to shift up and down to work out what was the cause, and then all of a sudden as if the problem didn't exist it became free once again. It wasn't until I was a lot closer to home that the shift started playing up again, so I persevered for the next 10 Km.

On arriving home I found that a stone had lodged between the frame and the external selector shaft, ironically the stone had dropped into the clearance indentation in the frame directly below the selector shaft. I photographed the offending object, see images.

What not to do!

• Don't continue to ride your bike until you have assessed the situation appropriately.
• Don't assume it is a mechanical failure and persevere with the problem, it could make it worse.
• Riding your bike without being able to downshift puts a greater load on your braking system and drastically affects your handling creating a safety hazard.
• Don't get all steamed up about your new bike being a lemon and continue cursing all the way home.

What to do!

• Keep your cool.
• Get off your bike in a safe area.
• If you have started cursing, STOP!
• Check out the area of concern
• Ensure that nothing is jamming the gear lever movement through UP/Downshift.
• Remove any foreign objects if found.
• If the gear lever seems free whilst running through the up/down shifting movement take the bike for a short ride and check the shifting whilst in motion.

I should have bloody looked first, DOH!