Any question answered...

Anyone know how difficult it is to replace the backlight in an LCD screen?

Anyone?

Are the derailleur and the shifter and cassette of the same brand?
Is the cable secured correctly - passing under the pinch bolt? (getting this wrong can affect the pull ratio) See eg point 2 of http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/2300/SI_5XA0A_001/SI-5XA0A-001-ENG_v1_m56577569830673817.pdf
When you shift into lowest gear (front and rear) how close is the upper jockey wheel to the largest sprocket? If there's a large gap, the b-tension screw may need loosening.
Are the Jockey wheels so old and worn that they flop from side to side excessively? If yes, replace, or dismantle and grind the steel cylinder bit slightly shorter.
Is the gear hanger (bit the derailleur is screw into) vertical or bent & twisted?
Is it just all grimy and in need of a good clean and fresh lubrication?

First of all thanks for the reply, I'm very new to the site and it's nice to get some good advice.

It's a specialized allez 2010 and everything (groupset-wise at least) is standard except the freehub (which I hadn't even considered) because I replaced the rear wheel which was buckled beyond remedying by the previous owner.

In terms of adjustment, I've adjusted up the B-tension though the gear cable is a little frayed at the end (got two new ones coming in the post) so that could be an issue. They appear to have not been finished properly and the guy I bought it off said something about trying to adjust his gears and not getting it right. I had assumed it was just the cable tension that was the problem and I noticed the front derailleur was in the wrong place too.

She was pretty clean until yesterday! And the cables all seem to run smoothly enough. The hanger was OK but derailleur itself a little bent (very marginally though, it's hard to spot at all). I found both online nice and cheap so replacements are coming shortly. I just thought that the way it didn't move across enough could indicate a problem that won't be solved by replacing the mech so I don't want to have wasted my money replacing it as I only noticed this after I ordered them on monday. The derailleur seems in good order apart from that. I'll give it the once-over in line with your advice when I get home this evening. Thanks again!

Bought an item on ebay, as used but in good working order.

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, though I wouldn't put it past the vendor to kick up a fuss. As long as you have the invoice/receipt for the refurb and some explanation why refurb was needed you should be fine even if they do. I think ebay has a system for dealing with issues like this and they decide who's in the wrong. It's their error for describing it as in good working order, what you've done is perfectly acceptable.

What's the best way to get a visa for Iran?

Tell them you know how to make weapons grade plutonium.

What's the best way to get a visa for Iran, and then get blown up by Israeli assassins on motorbikes?

Tell them you know how to make weapons grade plutonium.

.

...

As tester said, the kind of back-lash you're seeing is most likely caused by friction from grimey or damaged cables, but over-tight b-tension and badly worn jockeys are also candidates. The other things are more general causes of poor indexing.

Perfection is not always possible. If you have to choose, make the increasing cable tension shifts quiet - on the road vibration will help to overcome the residual cable friction so that decreasing-tension shifts quieten down after some seconds.

If the wheel you replaced was crash damage, it might be worth asking a shop to check it with their frame and gear hanger alignment gauges.

Another test: get the rear wheel spinning rapidly then with the chain at rest, watch the cassette. It will probably seem to wobble slightly as the wheel turns. A just visible motion is ok, more wobble will limit how good you can get the indexing. Screw-on multiple freewheels often have quite a lot of wobble from new.

Finally, googling shimano part numbers gets you lovely exploded diagrams and service instructions that are often worth reading.

Where is Finn?

Is he in the kitchen?

What's Scoble been doing to incur so much wrath?

posted a Ninja link which when clicked "marked all read" your posts..

Hatbeard did it first but Scoble went into Spam mode

He'll be asking for his account to be deleted next, claiming he's outgrown the WWW.

I posted it in context of the post I was replying to, wholly tongue in cheek and quickly removed it when bobbo clicked it because he was on a mobile device and didn't see the hover over.

Ed was in full on troll mode posting it everywhere with the intention of people clicking it.

#ibinscobled

VB, can you force trolls to have an avatar that's either a troll, a steaming pile of shite or a mugshot of Brian Peppers?

I would like to confirm that there was no malice in hatbeards posting of the said link..

Scoble clearly had too much sugar on that particular day. One came imagine him giggle like a loon as he posted it in thread after thread.

Brown star next to their name

What's the best way to get a visa for Iran?

nobody?

Brown star next to their name

This would work

nobody?

Ask Flock of Seagulls.

nobody?

To the best of my knowledge the Swiss Embassy handles their affairs in London, maybe try them?

Brown star next to their name

I like this idea

Ask Flock of Seagulls.

who he?

I posted it in context of the post I was replying to, wholly tongue in cheek and quickly removed it when bobbo clicked it because he was on a mobile device and didn't see the hover over.

Ed was in full on troll mode posting it everywhere with the intention of people clicking it.

#ibinscobled

Actually for my shame I got scobled too having previously been got by your original post, to make matters worse I was on a PC at the time.

Anybody else bored of the hyperlink business?