TheNissanMan wrote:Am popping the bike in for a service this afternoon as clicking quite a bit from the cogs which I suspect is adding a bit of further resistance which will get sorted
Before you take it to the shop, I would suggest you see if you can:
a) figure out the cause of the problem yourself, and if so
b) fix it yourself
Even if you don't succeed, you will still have learned a bit about how your bike works, and if you still have to get the shop to fix it, you can then ask them what the cause was and you will be better able to understand it, and so may be able to fix it yourself next time.
Most of the components on bikes are fairly simple to adjust yourself. Although some tasks do require specific tools, much of it can be done with just a few allen keys.
'Clicking from the cogs' sounds like the rear derailleur might be slightly out of alignment, most probably because the shifter cable has stretched a bit.
Have a look at the bike from the rear: is the derailleur's jockey arm directly underneath the cog the chain is on, or is it a bit offset (towards the next smaller cog)?
It might be easier to identify this (or whatever else the problem is), if you can spin the pedals with the bike stationary and look at the derailleur/jockey arm and chain position). Ideally you would have a stand to hold the bike (or someone to hold the bike, lift the rear wheel up and spin the pedals while you look at it from behind, or turn the bike upside down and rest it on some grass and then spin the pedals), but even without those you should be able to have a go at diagnosing the problem. If you are reasonably stable/confident on the bike, you could find an empty bit of road, ride along slowly and look down between your legs at the jockey arm, which may also show you if it's slightly out of alignment relative to the cog above on which the chain is running.
If that's what the problem is, it's easy and quick to fix: where the cable enters the rear derailleur, there will probably be a threaded barrel adjuster (if not, there will be one also at the other end of the cable where it exits the shifter). Unscrewing the barrel will increase the effective length of the cable outer, thus compensating for any lengthening of the cable inner due to stretch. You could try simply unscrewing the barrel adjuster half a turn at a time, then riding a short distance and changing gears up and down to see if that fixes it. If you count the number of half turns, you can simply return it back to its original position if that proves out not to be the cause.
Knowing how to adjust and fix something like that will pay off in the long run: you might need to fix a fault in the middle of nowhere, and ideally you want to use the bike shop only for the more complex/tricky stuff where the work requires both more expertise and specialist tools.
I guess I needed the practice as had to put both the front and rear on twice as realised i’ld Put them on the wrong way around!!! To make it worse and to show how inept I am I had to put the front on three times as after taking it off to put the right way are I put it on the wrong way again!!!