Chain drops and hits chainstay when backpedalling



SniperX

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Jan 29, 2003
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Anyone encounter the above mentioned issue ? I realise that using a few of the gears in the rear d .. sometimes during coasting which ocasionaly my legs juz backpedal the chain will loosen and drop to hit the chainstay . does not happen to all the gears though .. is this normal? at first i thought it was the chain being worn out n loose so went to check at the shop but turns out the chain is still relatively new.. anyone knows if this is a normal thing or the cause of this problem?
 
My girl friend has an annoying habit of doing this, and won't listen that it is her own fualt not the bike's.........

She will have the bike in the big ring, and cross chain to the inner most gear at the back. Than back pedal and the chain is pulled off the big ring and right past the small ring since the angle to the deraillor jockey is so far inboard. Once it starts the chain tension tends to just keep rotating the crank til the chain falls right off.

I then have to put the chain back on as she has chosen not to learn how to do it herself, keeping her own hands clean in the process.
 
thnx for the response .. i did not ahve the gear in the big ring or doo any extreme gear combinations ... juz that certain gears this happen .. the chain does not fall off its like the rear pulley compresses causing the chain to become " loose" n drop to hit the chain stay.. so does this mean that one canot backpedal at all during pedalling ? cos its quite irritating to have the chain drop n hit the chainstay and it hapens even not really backpedaling much .. times like when i m relaxing n hapen to backpedal juz a lil not even 1 revolution the chain will still become loose n tend to hit the chainstay..
so is this really a normal thing to hapen?
 
SniperX said:
sometimes during coasting which ocasionaly my legs juz backpedal the chain will loosen and drop to hit the chainstay
The solution is simple: Don't do that. Sorry for the flippant answer, but your drive is not designed to properly guide the chain when pedalling backwards. If your chainline is sufficiently non-parallel, then all sorts of bad things can happen. So, what you experience is normal. Find some other way to relax...
 
+1

In fact, when I am going to lubricate my chain, I have to be in certain gears so that I can spin the crank backwards without causing problems, because I don't want the back wheel spinning while the bike is on the rack and my hands are in the vicinity of the wheel while I am wiping down the chain.

If you absolutely can't keep yourself from back pedalling, and you are worried about the paint job on your chain stay, then they make nifty items called chainstay protectors to protect against chain slap... Chains will occasionally hit the chain stay even without back pedalling, with certain gear combinations while hitting bumps etc. These nifty accessories stick to your chainstay and will keep the chain from chipping up your paint. Some bikes come with the protectors, or have chromed chainstays for this very reason like my old Schwinn Voyageur.
 
They sell carbon fiber protectors on ebay for a couple of bucks, my Fuji has a clear one on it but it is peeling of a little so I think I will try a new carbon fiber one.
 
SniperX said:
Anyone encounter the above mentioned issue ? I realise that using a few of the gears in the rear d .. sometimes during coasting which ocasionaly my legs juz backpedal the chain will loosen and drop to hit the chainstay . does not happen to all the gears though .. is this normal? at first i thought it was the chain being worn out n loose so went to check at the shop but turns out the chain is still relatively new.. anyone knows if this is a normal thing or the cause of this problem?
My bike started doing this about 6 months after i got new running gear. It was occurring any time i was in the smallest and 2nd smallest (12 and 14) gears on the back cluster and was not pedaling. The lbs replaced one of the springs in the back derailrer (sorry i am not sure what one) and the problem appears to have gone away.
 
when is the last time you cleaned and lubed your chain? Assuming you're not cross chaining, and the chain still sticks when back pedaling, or rather, sticks to pullies, then the chain probably is full of gunk, or you've got a stiff link somewhere.

Inspect your drive train. Clean the whole thing out with your favorite degreaser, put in some dry lube, and see how things are.

p.s. not lubing your chain can lead to the pully being pulled 180 degrees around into your spokes, known as "chain suck", sometimes the derailer hanger doesn't bend enough, and you'll take out the derailer.
 
Check that your hub is dead square in the dropouts - I've had this happen on one of my bikes in the past and I ultimately realised that my skewer was too loose, allowing the axle to become skewed slightly. Check that the indexing is spot on. Check that your hanger is not bent.
I don't agree that it should be normal, except in the instance of a big cross-chaining angle. Most/ all normal sprocket combinations should allow free backpedalling.
 
Patient: Doc, it hurts when I do this (hops on one leg while spinning in a circle and clapping hands behind back).

Doctor: Then don't do that.
 
h
Scotty_Dog said:
Patient: Doc, it hurts when I do this (hops on one leg while spinning in a circle and clapping hands behind back).

Doctor: Then don't do that.
although it's true that he shouldn't be back pedaling to begin with, there is no real reason why he shouldn't be able to. If it is that he has a super gunkified chain, then he needs to clean it before he gets chain suck which pulls his derailer into the spokes.
 
thnx for the response.. this onli happens on the smaller cogs at he rear it disapears as the cogs get bigger .. juz cleaned the drivetrain recently and relubed it .. it can get quite irritating at times cos sometimes even the slightest relaxation during coasting n juz happen to backpedal less than half a revolution the chain will seem to become looose n tend to drop n hit the chainstay..
 
SniperX said:
thnx for the response.. this onli happens on the smaller cogs at he rear it disapears as the cogs get bigger .. juz cleaned the drivetrain recently and relubed it .. it can get quite irritating at times cos sometimes even the slightest relaxation during coasting n juz happen to backpedal less than half a revolution the chain will seem to become looose n tend to drop n hit the chainstay..
I bet it doesn't happen when you're on the big ring and the small rear sprockets.
 
surprisingly it does .. it tends to fade onli as the rear sprocs goes bigger n bigger .. i was just wondering could tis be rear hub issue?
 
SniperX said:
surprisingly it does .. it tends to fade onli as the rear sprocs goes bigger n bigger .. i was just wondering could tis be rear hub issue?

Something sure isn't right with your drivetrain. I can backpedal through any gear combo I've got without the chain coming off.

Are you sure your derailleur hanger isn't bent? Are you sure you haven't munged up the geometry of the RD itself?

Of course, not backpedaling will remove the problem, but since backpedaling is a pretty harmless thing to do, chain dropping during backpedaling makes me think there's something in your drivetrain that isn't aligned quite right.
 
the chain dooesnt drop off it juz slacks and hit the chainstay as if the chain has been worn out which at first i thought that was tehcase but after checking the chain with the meter it appears that chain is still new n have not been worn out so its someting else causing this chain 'slack' or someting
 
I can't believe no ones given you a good answer yet. Back pedeling is inportant to me because im a mountain biker and i have to backpedel to get set up for difficult terain. firstly increase the chain tension, its a small screw on the derailer right next to the hanger. i normally have full tension and it works good. secondly you can reduce the drag of the free hub by changing the weight of the grease in there. Thats not very easy to do but a good short cut is to poor some oil in there. just remove the wheel from the bike, use a very small screw driver to push the small rubber seal in the hub, to the side and poor in a few drops of oil. It will mix with the grease and reduce the drag.
 

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