Thank you for this.
My 7yr has a Norco 4.3+ and had bashed his alivio 8spd derailleur so much that it could not shift in the first gear (34 tooth cog), because it would get caught in the spokes. Even when new, it would throw the chain off if pedaled backwards because of the bad chainline in the first gear.
Reading the article gave me an idea: 7yr doesn't use the gear 8 (or 7 (or 6)), so why not just take the smallest cog off and put a spacer in the back. I had some old 9sp cassette spacers saved up for some reason, and two of them are just right. The existing lockring is also good for locking the 12 tooth cog (or 13, i don't know) on the freewheel. I had to adjust the limit screw for the first gear. I left the B screw as it was.
The chainline for the easiest gear, which 7yr uses most of the time, is now good enough it can be pedaled backwards without problems.
April 18, 2021, 12:17 p.m. - ZigaK
Thank you for this. My 7yr has a Norco 4.3+ and had bashed his alivio 8spd derailleur so much that it could not shift in the first gear (34 tooth cog), because it would get caught in the spokes. Even when new, it would throw the chain off if pedaled backwards because of the bad chainline in the first gear. Reading the article gave me an idea: 7yr doesn't use the gear 8 (or 7 (or 6)), so why not just take the smallest cog off and put a spacer in the back. I had some old 9sp cassette spacers saved up for some reason, and two of them are just right. The existing lockring is also good for locking the 12 tooth cog (or 13, i don't know) on the freewheel. I had to adjust the limit screw for the first gear. I left the B screw as it was. The chainline for the easiest gear, which 7yr uses most of the time, is now good enough it can be pedaled backwards without problems.