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So, I bought a bike on craigslist. It rode all right and shifted decently even if something wouldn't let the derailer get the 2 innermost gears (it just stopped shifting, there was no noise or chain binding). So I proceeded to give my new (crappy) bike a tuneup and now the derailer seems a bit more broken. I can't decide if I changed something or if the obscene amount of gunk on the chain was keeping the derailer from making that knocking sound. What I did: Washed the bike with dish detergent. Washed the chain, gear cartridge, and derailers with Simple Green and a nylon brush then again with WD-50 and pipe cleaners (yes, really) Oiled all moving parts with 3-in-1 oil. Centered the brakes by loosening the bracket, closing the brakes and re-tightening. They appear to now be perfectly centered. And now the first two shifts on the gear selector do nothing (instead of the last two), the jockey pulleys seem to have grit in the bearings, and when I do pedal there is a knocking that seems to be the cage plate being slightly out of alignment and/or loose... So I've tried to fiddle with the limit adjusting screws and the tension adjustment screw (slightly different than my handy diagram that provides ~50% of my bicycle derailleur knowledge). I assume it's safe to ride (I only go about 1.5 miles to the train station) so even if I can't get it working perfectly I'm going to ride it until it brakes and just push the sucker home. Do you know when/if I should throw up my hands and go to the bike shop and/or order a new derailleur? Any ideas for things to fiddle with? Should I fiddle with the cable tension? Will I run into the exact same problems because I don't know how to fine tune a derailleur? Is spell check wrong and it really is spelled derailer?