oh yeah, AND my chain falls off ....



kek

kek

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Aug 7, 2006
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....and I have another problem too ..... my chain comes off! I'm sorry to sound so ignorant about cycling (still learning) - when I have my back cogs/gears on the largest cog and then move my front gears/cogs up to it's largest cog .... (when my pedalling resistance is higests) all is fine and well until I want to change back down .... when I go to change the front down from the largest cog to the middle cog I hear rattling and I wait for it to settle in to place but usually nothing happens so I try to knock it down again but this time, the chain goes from the largets (front) cog right the way off all together !!!
I've tried knocking it down (is it down if it's going from high to low/ large cog to low cog?) on the back first and THEN going down the cogs on the front and sometimes it works and other times the same happens - ie. the chain comes off all together. It's a newish bike so I'm wondering if the chain has stetched/adjusted OR am I doing something horribly wrong and bringing this all on myself?

again, sorry for the ignorance and thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.

:rolleyes:
 
Cross chaining is to be avoided. :eek:

Big front ring= Small rear spockets,
Small front ring = Large rear srockets.

Ask the LBS to check the Front Derailleur Low limit stop screw and the cable adjuster. If you were in Perth I would do it for you. ;)
 
*smiling* @ ' if you were in Perth ... ' thanks for the offer though.

You said -

"Cross chaining is to be avoided."

Would you mind explaining 'why' though? is it because it stetches the chain or is it more complicated than that. Is this just one more thing I should not be doing and/or is this contributing to my chain comming off?

Big front ring= Small rear spockets,
Small front ring = Large rear srockets." This is what I'm supposed to do right?


.... running out to garage to check out chain ..... OK - ooops! guess I've been " cross chaining " ....... I would imagine the chain is at its maximum stetch like that and that doesn't 'sound' good BUT - it feels so good pedalling in those gears when on a slight decline and if it feels so good how can it be bad?

I guess I now need a lesson in the how, why and when to change gears. I will also take the bike in for a check. I really never expected that buying this bike would give me so many new things to worry about.

thanks for the suggestions George

( :confused: I do realise I sound totally ignorant but how else will I learn :confused: )
 
There is a full page in the Giant Owner's Manual devoted to this topic. ;)

I wonder if the bike is geared too high for your riding style? What are the chainrings and cassette? And the wheel size?
 
I had a friend that used to ride with us and he had ,lots of problems with chain jumping off even when we swopped and he used our bikes.,so it wasn't a bicycle thing.On investigation he either stoped he's pedal stroke while changing gears(you have to keep pedling through the gear change)or in some instances he even pedaled slightly backwards while changing.Believe it or not it took quite a while to get him to correct this habit.
 
thanks for the replies guys. I do continue to pedal forward while changing ( or at least I think I do ) I will pay close attention later. I know I certainly don't pedal backwards while trying to change gear.

George, I'm sorry I can't answer your question because Ms Ignoranus here does not fully understand the question. I know the numbers on on my tyres is 700x26 if that means anything at all.

About those gears and what you said about them possibly being too high .... that excites me 'cause it makes me wonder if it's something that can be changed?

I will ask the fella in the LBS though next time I get chance to get in there.

As far as my "chainrings" and "cassette" ???.... sorry : total :confused: here on that. Do you mean size or type? I am capable of reading things stamped on the bike ;)
 
When I was new to cycling I used to crosschain all the time. And my chain fell off all the time. The sweet spot was always the "wrong gear" combination. (small chainring, small cog on casette.) One thing that helped me not need the "sweet spot" was learning how to spin. This might help you out too.
 
kek said:
thanks for the replies guys. I do continue to pedal forward while changing ( or at least I think I do ) I will pay close attention later. I know I certainly don't pedal backwards while trying to change gear.

George, I'm sorry I can't answer your question because Ms Ignoranus here does not fully understand the question. I know the numbers on on my tyres is 700x26 if that means anything at all.

About those gears and what you said about them possibly being too high .... that excites me 'cause it makes me wonder if it's something that can be changed?

I will ask the fella in the LBS though next time I get chance to get in there.

As far as my "chainrings" and "cassette" ???.... sorry : total :confused: here on that. Do you mean size or type? I am capable of reading things stamped on the bike ;)
Click to expand...
OK, we have the tyre size. Now lets see about the gearing.

The crankset at the front:
How many chanirings? (2 or 3)
How many teeth on each chainring?
They are written on most.
If 2 chainrings, 34/50 or 39/53?
If 3 Chainrings, 30/39/52 or 30/42/53?

The cassette at the rear wheel:
How many sprockets? (8, 9, 10)
Count the teeth on the smallest? (11, 12, 13, 14)
Count the teeth on the largest? (23, 25, 26, 30)

I can then make sugggestions as to what to ask the LBS to change. Is you riding mainly on flat roads or some light hills?
 
For now all I know is there are 3 cogs on the front that the chain can go on - I take it they are the chainrings? all 3 of them? I can't see the numbers to say for sure how many teeth are on each as the outer ring is black and I can only see numbers on the two silver ones. Guess I'm going to have to count them? What I do see though is nothing on the outer black ring - on the middle ring it says 42-52 V3 - and on the smallest ring it says 30 V4. Whatever all that means :confused:

About the back - there are 8 sprockets all together. The biggest one has 26 teeth and the smallest has 12 teeth. I think I counted them right although it was a bit difficult and I'm covered in black stuff now.

I ride on flat all the way if I head south - but - if I ride north there are quite a few hills to tackle so I guess I do both.

I've not been on my bike in 5 weeks due to changes in life but I do need to get back out there and the smoother the ride when I do the more I will keep at it. Thanks for everyone's help and advice. I appreciate it.
 
Well done! :)

OK, we are lookng at a 8 speed triple, 30/42/52 on the crankset and 12-26 on the rear cassette. That is the most common gearing on entry level road bikes and should suit all conditions.

Ask the LBS to check the front derailleur adjustment, it sounds like the cable may have some stretch and the low limit screw just needs a tweek.

You will need to learn about not cross chaining, ask an experienced rider to demonstrate to you with the bike not on the road, say on a trainer, it will save those noisy chain experiences. (see below)

Most of you riding on the flat should be in the midddle (42t) chainring, using all 8 of the gears on the rear cassette.
Downhills you may decide to go faster by using the outer largest (52t) chainring, but only use the 4 smaller gears on the rear cassette,
Uphills, you may need to use the smallest chainring (30t) but only use the 4 largest gears on the rear cassette.

My girlfriend has a Felt F100 with the same gears. ;)
We also asked our LBS to supply gear position indicators for her gear cables, they go just next to the STI shifters and tell you which gear the bike is in.
 
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