Cycling, wobbling, etc (circumlunar.space), 12/04/2019
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My  wife  was complaining  that  her  bike wasn't  shifting 
properly. I've not done a lot in the way of adjustment, but 
in this information age the knowledge is literally on-hand, 
so  I thought  I'd give  it  a go.  Her bike  is a  folding 
Citizen bike, the Seoul model, a 7-speed (all in the back). 

When I flipped the bike over,  the first thing I noticed was
that the gear cassette was wobbling  a tiny bit. I thought I
was in for  it, having to take everything  apart to diagnose
that issue- and maybe I am  in for it someday, I don't know.
My initial research  on bike forums indicated  that a little
bit of wobble  there wasn't really a  major concern (please,
tell me  if I'm wrong!),  so I figured I'd  check everything
else.

On to the derailleur. Tested, and found that it wasn't quite
shifting down  to the smallest gear  all the way, so  it was
jumping a little and making  some noise. Per instructions on
the internet (I could have searched gopher, but would I have
found  them there?  I'm not  sure... maybe  they need  to be
explained  in  some  cycling-related  gopherhole?)  I  first
adjusted the cable  tension, then adjusted the  high and low
screws respectively,  with the  gears shifted to  both ends.
Everything was  looking just fine, except  I really couldn't
get the smallest gear to work  right (it was better, but not
right).

Then I  noticed a  metal derailleur guard  that she  has was
just slightly bent out of place, not allowing the derailleur
to move out as far as it needed to go. I bent that back into
place, and voila- it worked. Took  it out and tested it, and
everything shifted perfectly up and down.

As a bonus, I went ahead and too my own bike out for a spin.

And so,  I've now adjusted  my wife's  bike, and I  feel the
smallest bit like I'm not  hopelessly lost, and that I could
manage to at least keep my bike functioning reasonably well.
We'll see. It was fun though!