Campag Chorus noise

My bike has a strange noise when I'm in the 4 smallest sprockets and on the largest chainwheel. It
sounds like it is coming from the back... I loosened the jockey wheels for a test, which did make a
difference.. so I'm going to lubricate them (suggestions on that to use?). However, I'm suspicious
that it isnt just the jockey wheels, as there seems to be other noise coming from the hub area also
when in these gears.

The kind of sound I get is like a chain sitting out of gear. I've followed the manual about setting
up the rear derailler, and I still get this noise. It is even worse in the smallest rear sprocket.
As far as I can see the jockey wheels are aligned with the sprockets as best as possible. I've lubed
the chain, but that isn't something that would supress this noise, IMO. Any suggestions on what else
I may need to try/check?

Campag chorus on a sachs PC-89R chain.

Thanks for your help.

--
Andy

 

Andy Smith <[email protected]@tinnedfruit.org> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My bike has a strange noise when I'm in the 4 smallest sprockets and on
the
> largest chainwheel. It sounds like it is coming from the back... I
loosened
> the jockey wheels for a test, which did make a difference.. so I'm going
to
> lubricate them (suggestions on that to use?). However, I'm suspicious that it isnt just the jockey
> wheels, as there seems to be other noise coming
from
> the hub area also when in these gears.
>
> The kind of sound I get is like a chain sitting out of gear. I've followed the manual about
> setting up the rear derailler, and I still get this
noise.
> It is even worse in the smallest rear sprocket. As far as I can see the jockey wheels are aligned
> with the sprockets as best as possible. I've
lubed
> the chain, but that isn't something that would supress this noise, IMO.
Any
> suggestions on what else I may need to try/check?
>
> Campag chorus on a sachs PC-89R chain.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> --
> Andy
>
>

Check the angle of dangle screw on the rear mech...the chain could be rubbing against the bottom
edge of the derailleur as the chain goes under the bottom sprocket and back to the front chain ring
when in certain gears. It happened to me!

--
Mark
____________________________
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Yea, I forgot to mention that I'd already adjusted that. Although even in the loosest and tightest
positions, nothing seems to touch.

Andy

> Check the angle of dangle screw on the rear mech...the chain could be rubbing against the bottom
> edge of the derailleur as the chain goes under the bottom sprocket and back to the front chain
> ring when in certain
gears.
> It happened to me!

 

Andy Smith wrote:

> My bike has a strange noise when I'm in the 4 smallest sprockets and on the largest chainwheel.

Even when pedalling gently and smoothly, or only when giving it a lot of welly? If the latter,
greasing hub splines and doing up lockring extra tight will prevent certain weird noises. This won't
help if noise occurs all the time, though, and I would expect the noise (or even more actually) when
on the other sprockets as well.

Is this with new bike or new components, or has it previously been ok but only just got
noisy recently?

Any non-Campag rings, sprockets or jockeys?

> It sounds like it is coming from the back... I loosened the jockey wheels for a test, which did
> make a difference.. so I'm going to lubricate them (suggestions on that to use?).

Grease or oil, pref light grease - but I don't think jockeys will be responsible for the noise
you describe.

> However, I'm suspicious that it isnt just the jockey wheels, as there seems to be other noise
> coming from the hub area also when in these gears.
>
> The kind of sound I get is like a chain sitting out of gear. I've followed the manual about
> setting up the rear derailler, and I still get this noise.

Forgetting the manual and "correct" setup for now, can turning the cable adjuster clockwise (or even
anticlockwise) stop the noise in the top 4 gears? Try this as an experiement even if it throws the
index way out.

I've noticed some play with my Chorus r-h Ergo after upshifting (with thumb button). It doesn't seem
to return and centre quite properly so releases slightly too much cable, causing the chain to
sometimes rub against the next smallest sprocket. This is more noticeable when in the smaller
sprockets. Ergo could possibly be fixed (rebuilding & relubing may do it). Pushing in the downshift
lever gently (without actually shifting) cures it on mine - but it is annoying to have to do this (I
usually don't bother).

> It is even worse in the smallest rear sprocket.

That's odd. Could there be a different cause for just for this sprocket? The usual one is incorrect
mech limit screw adjustment.

An MP3 would help

~PB

 

> Even when pedalling gently and smoothly, or only when giving it a lot of welly? If the latter,
> greasing hub splines and doing up lockring extra tight will prevent certain weird noises. This
> won't help if noise occurs all the time, though, and I would expect the noise (or even more
> actually) when on the other sprockets as well.

I'd say when the welly is given.

> Is this with new bike or new components, or has it previously been ok but only just got noisy
> recently?

The components are ~'98, but have had light use (under 1k).. I've bought the bike second hand.

> Any non-Campag rings, sprockets or jockeys?

It's all campag apart from the rear hub body (?) which is TA. I'm not sure of the name of this
part, but it's the part on which all the sprockets are attached. The rest of the hub, and sprockets
is all campag. Even the rest of the freehub (the bit that turns around the axle and holds the
spokes) is campag.

> Grease or oil, pref light grease - but I don't think jockeys will be responsible for the noise you
> describe.

My thoughts too.

> Forgetting the manual and "correct" setup for now, can turning the cable adjuster clockwise (or
> even anticlockwise) stop the noise in the top 4 gears? Try this as an experiement even if it
> throws the index way out.

Didn't help.

> That's odd. Could there be a different cause for just for this sprocket? The usual one is
> incorrect mech limit screw adjustment.

I've got the limit screw to the point where the jockeys are right over the teeth.

Also, I've never had campag before, so I wouldn't know, but why do the teeth on the sprockets seem
to be 'ramped' in either direction? To attempt to demonstrate, the teeth when viewed from the rear
look either like

| \
| \
| \

or like

/|
/ |
/ |

both these 'styles' appear on all the sprockets. I would hesitate against saying wear because its
looks like theyve been machined like this.

> An MP3 would help

I'll see what I can do

Many thanks,

Andy

 

Andy Smith wrote:
>> Even when pedalling gently and smoothly, or only when giving it a lot of welly? If the latter,
>> greasing hub splines and doing up lockring extra tight will prevent certain weird noises. This
>> won't help if noise occurs all the time, though, and I would expect the noise (or even more
>> actually) when on the other sprockets as well.
>
> I'd say when the welly is given.

Only other thing I can think of is noise at the front mech caused by crank/frame flex. Otherwise,
I'm stumped, sorry. I'll reply again tomorrow if anything else comes to mind.

/snip
> It's all campag apart from the rear hub body (?) which is TA. I'm not sure of the name of this
> part, but it's the part on which all the sprockets are attached.

Freehub body. I'm not familiar with the TA ones.

> Also, I've never had campag before, so I wouldn't know, but why do the teeth on the sprockets seem
> to be 'ramped' in either direction?
>
> To attempt to demonstrate, the teeth when viewed from the rear look either like
>
>> \
>> \
>> \
>
> or like
>
> /|
> / |
> / |
>
> both these 'styles' appear on all the sprockets. I would hesitate against saying wear because its
> looks like theyve been machined like this.

It's normal and part of the "Ultra Drive" design. Supposed to make shifting "smoother and faster".
There's some blurb on it here:
- http://www.branfordbike.com/cassette/cog4.html#item2 (10sp)
- http://www.branfordbike.com/cassette/cog.html (others)

~PB

 

Since you bought the bike second hand, are you really sure that the components
are lightly used? It's not always so easy to tell just by looking at them.

I had exactly the same problem on my Shimano-105-equipped bike this year. The chain ran fine on the
sprockets from 23 down to 15, and it also *shifted* fine onto the 14,13 and 12.

The problem was that the chain had worn in nicely on the larger sprockets and was no longer happy
on the smaller ones, at least not under conditions of serious welly.

The shifting between the sprockets was fine.

A new chain and cassette cured the problem.

Marco