The front derailleur in my Velomobile needs adjusting and as it is a pain to reach it I rather not do it the try and try again method if I can avoid it.
The derailleur is a standard one, only the mounting is different due to the different shape of the cycle. I have an indexed twisting grip shifter, with about 9 positions and only the lowest (1), one in the middle (2) and the other end (3) have numbers on them, there are a few clicks in between which I can use.
When I go to one end of the change limits (1), I am on the smallest of the three chain rings and the derailleur makes quite a bit of noise, as if I am halfway to changing to a (not existing) smaller chain ring. I shift one or two clicks up and the chain sits happily on the small chain ring.
When gearing up when I reach the (2) the chain is still making noise in the derailleur and it sits happily one or two clicks higher up.
Gearing up again it sometimes gets to the biggest chain ring but often it does not go all the way, and even when it does go it still makes a bit of 'not really there' noise and feels like there is some resistance.
There is an adjuster at the shifter which is twisted to the outer end of it range. If it is twisted away from the outer end the situation is worse and I will not be able to get the chain on the big chain ring at all.
My question, if your gears are having those problems, do you look for a derailleur which is bend out of position or do you look at the settings on the derailleur which allow a wider or narrower movement of the derailleur. That will translate for me to try to move the derailleur on its post or to use the shrew driver on the settings.
In the past this setup has worked right, so I am sure something got damaged or gotten out of alignment or the settings have been altered (by themselves or in an attempt to adjust while there was somethings else wrong, which has since been repaired.)