chain skip made me crash

[mattjf]

Took my new bike out for the first real ride today. It happened while I was climbing a pretty steep hill. I shifted to 53x26. After a few pedal strokes, I got out of the saddle. Then the chain felt like it skipped, or jumped. It didn't go out of gear. When it skipped, there was no longer any tension, so I spun out. This caused me to lose balance, and since I was going slow, I tipped the bike over and crashed. What would cause this? My first assumption was being in 53x26, the chain was at a weird angle, so when I got out of the saddle and put power on the pedal, it skipped. Does that make sense? Anything else?

-Matt

 

[M. DeKelver]

Took my new bike out for the first real ride today. It happened while I was climbing a pretty steep hill. I shifted to 53x26. After a few pedal strokes, I got out of the saddle. Then the chain felt like it skipped, or jumped. It didn't go out of gear. When it skipped, there was no longer any tension, so I spun out. This caused me to lose balance, and since I was going slow, I tipped the bike over and crashed. What would cause this? My first assumption was being in 53x26, the chain was at a weird angle, so when I got out of the saddle and put power on the pedal, it skipped. Does that make sense? Anything else?

-Matt

Yes, this does make sense.

Don't climb slowly in 53x26. Anticipate the upcoming hills, shift onto the small chainwheel in advance.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

... shifted to 53x26...

Just say "NO" to crosschaining!

 

[mattjf]

Thank you very much

Is it normal to hear a metal on metal type sound coming from the rear when shifting? i am working hard on not slam shifting, but I am worried my derailleur might be out of alignment. Since it's brand new, that shouldn't be a problem.

One last question and I'll stop bugging you all . Since it is new, how long before I should expect to tighten the cables due to inital stretching?

-Matt

 

[artmichalek]

It's normal to hear some metal on metal contact from the rear when shifting. Usually at lower speeds since the chain takes a little bit longer to catch a ramp. The cables are typically done stretching out in about 400-500 miles.

 

[topcat]

You should never have the chain on the 2 extremes such as on the big ring and big sprocket and vice versa,

 

[mattjf]

Thanks for all your replies. After your replies, I worked a lot on shifting well. It makes sense to not go with 53x26 for reasons other than cross chaining. If 53x26 was still too hard and I had to drop it to 39 on the front, 39x26 would be *way* too easy. I would spin out and probably crash.

Thanks again. It makes sense.

-Matt

 

[John M]

Thank you very much

Is it normal to hear a metal on metal type sound coming from the rear when shifting? i am working hard on not slam shifting, but I am worried my derailleur might be out of alignment. Since it's brand new, that shouldn't be a problem.

One last question and I'll stop bugging you all . Since it is new, how long before I should expect to tighten the cables due to inital stretching?

-Matt

It is because it is new that the derailleur may be out of adjustment. The cables stretch over the first few hundred miles and will need re-adjustment a few times until they are done stretching. The mechanic who assembled the bike should have done some "prestretching" at the time of assembly and then readjusted everything, but the cables will still stretch a bit. The 10s drivetrains are much less forgiving of a little cable slop than the old days in which the drivetrains tolerated cable stretch, chain wear, or crashed derailleurs and still worked.

 

[TKOS]

The trick sometimes with shifting on a hill to a smaller front ring is to also qucikly shift the back ring to something smaller (ie harder). This should balance out what could be a very harsh shift from hard to too easy. At least I do this and it seems to help.

Also getting better at spinning can help your balance. Try doing some hills in a very easy gear.