Chain keeps falling off on Gary Fisher Cake 2 DLX

[Greg Tokarski]

Hi all.

I got GaryFisher Cake 2dlx like 3 months ago. Well, I did
not have a chance to ride it much for the 1st month, but by
now I am having all sorts of problems with shifting and
chain falling off. The chain usually falls off when climbing
and when I hit some kind of little bump... Oh, and I have to
be on the mid or smallest ring in the front - which of
course is always the case while climbing. Sometimes the
chain falls off (always towards the frame - left, which I am
sure everybody guessed) when I am going down hill - usually
when I am not pedaling, but just going down and hit a bump.
I am pretty sure it's the full suspension that's doing it.

At this point the place I got the bike at worked with me a
lot, but without actually one of them taking the bike on the
trail I doubt if they figure it out. We just replaced front
derailleur with XT (used to be LX) - that certainly improved
shifting (had problems shifting to the bigger ring on the
front) and adjusting tension of the chain (by shortening it
and adjusting the spring) helped a lot.. but.. still I loose
the chain, useally when it's really very inconvenient.

I do realize that my skill is maybe not that great, but if I
pay that kind of $ for a bike, it certainly should not have
issues that my old (8+ yrs) Novara did not have.

Does anyone have ideas or suggestion? Could there be an
actual issue with this specific GF bike? I did not talk to
GF people yet.. I think I might have to as well, but I think
you pple may have a lot of good input too.

Any ideas will be very much appreciated.

Thx.

Greg T.

[email protected]

 

[Penny S]

Greg Tokarski wrote:
> Hi all.
>
> I got GaryFisher Cake 2dlx like 3 months ago. Well, I did
> not have a chance to ride it much for the 1st month, but
> by now I am having all sorts of problems with shifting and
> chain falling off. The chain usually falls off when
> climbing and when I hit some kind of little bump... Oh,
> and I have to be on the mid or smallest ring in the front
> - which of course is always the case while climbing.
> Sometimes the chain falls off (always towards the frame -
> left, which I am sure everybody guessed) when I am going
> down hill - usually when I am not pedaling, but just going
> down and hit a bump. I am pretty sure it's the full
> suspension that's doing it.

look up "chain suck" and GF bikes. I think the fix is
replacing the drive train but I'm not sure. One of the
reasons I did not buy a GF is that if you do a little
research, they are known for chain suck issues and there are
various fixes out there.

penny

 

[Chuck W]

"Greg Tokarski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi all.
>
> I got GaryFisher Cake 2dlx like 3 months ago. Well, I did
> not have a chance to ride it much for the 1st month, but
> by now I am having all sorts of problems with shifting and
> chain falling off. The chain usually falls off when
> climbing and when I hit some kind of little bump... Oh,
> and I have to be on the mid or smallest ring in the front
> - which of course is always the case while climbing.
> Sometimes the chain falls off (always towards the frame -
> left, which I am sure everybody guessed) when I am going
> down hill - usually when I am not pedaling, but just going
> down and hit a bump. I am pretty sure it's the full
> suspension that's doing it.
>
> At this point the place I got the bike at worked with me a
> lot, but without actually one of them taking the bike on
> the trail I doubt if they figure it out. We just replaced
> front derailleur with XT (used to be LX) - that certainly
> improved shifting (had problems shifting to the bigger
> ring on the front) and adjusting tension of the chain (by
> shortening it and adjusting the spring) helped a lot..
> but.. still I loose the chain, useally when it's really
> very inconvenient.
>
> I do realize that my skill is maybe not that great, but if
> I pay that kind of $ for a bike, it certainly should not
> have issues that my old (8+ yrs) Novara did not have.
>
> Does anyone have ideas or suggestion? Could there be an
> actual issue with this specific GF bike? I did not talk to
> GF people yet.. I think I might have to as well, but I
> think you pple may have a lot of good input too.
>
> Any ideas will be very much appreciated.
>
> Thx.
>
> Greg T.
>
> [email protected]

Rip the Bontrager crankset off (chainrings and all), and
throw it as far as you can. Get a new crankset (even the
cheap $50 jobs from JensonUSA are an improvement). If you
help your LBS figure out the chainrings are the issue, some
will even swap it out for you for nothing.

-Chuck W (fellow Fisher owner, former Bontrager
crankset owner)

 

[Greg Tokarski]

Hi

I actually did upgrade to Shimano XT crankset and all.. The
local store sold it to me for "internet price" so I think
it's OK....

Anyhow, it does feel very nice now, but.. just as I finished
some relatively advanced trails in my area last night, and
was ready to declare the bike healthy, I got a typical chain
suck on a straigh paved trail! Imagine how that made me
feel! I think I shifted in the front from the highest to the
middle gear if I remember right... Anyhow, so the original
chain drop issue does seem to be resolved or at least a lot
better.. but now I am noticing the chainsuck - since the
other problem went away (and yes, I did have chain suck
always, but not quite as noticable as the other problem).
GF's suggestion is to make sure the frame pivots have no
issues - it seems that on accasion they do not have enough
of some compound in the pivots so the barings may be sligtly
loose, which coses the frame to move side to side
slightly... GF support guy told me that if nothing else did
it, this certainly would... well, what else would he say..
right? Anyhow, if this will do the trick, I will keep my XT
(I did like the way it feels to have it all XT grade).. if
not, well.... we'll see.... I think the chain is as short as
it should be, but I will doeble check at the shop if they
think it could be made a bit shorter still...

Well, thx again for all the ideas and help; and I just hope
that I will not become anti-GF person.. I have to say I
still like the way this bike feels, when it works.. it's
just so dissapointing to pay 2k for a bike and have such
issues, but it's nice to see that people like you all are
actually sympathetic and trying to helo out.

Thx.

GregT