I’ve been having random noise on my chain since I switched my replacement lager from shop delivered onespeed to fixed.
The chain has come off twice (braking, but nothing particularly brutal) and I think the chain is pretty fubar now; and thought that this was the obvious reason for the noise
I read sheldons guide to chain tensioning; and thought that a brand spanking new bike would have a centred chainring - assumption is such a wicked thing; and after messing around with walking my rear wheel back, and some pretty awesome chain antics including massive vibration, to the point where the chain practically disappeared, I realised that hte chain ring itself was not centred.
I undid the bolts, but unless I’m less than a complete novice, can’t find out how to get more out of the chainring after it hits the crankset, unless I am to grind off a portion of the ring to get it to sit centred (naturally I’d let the shop do it)
so my question is: Am i being retarded and missing something, or is the chainring just not quite right, and I should have it seen to?
the chain looks like it’s had its day now, after having a couple of trips around my hub - I just dont want to fork out for a decent chain, and have that ruined as well because of the chainring
bedtime now, any advice/help appreciated :>
fwiw: running a completely unmodified (bar loss of brakes and swapping to spd pedals) 09 lager se, replaced by insurance company via goldcross cycles chadstone
it is possible your chainring itself isnt round… it happens a bit on cheaper rings (and will end up occurring on better rings that are worn that way after time).
if thats the case (and you can convine the shop that it is also the case) then the simplest answer is to get a new ring. is there a warranty on the lagers?
if its the cranks… consider replacing them as putting the grinder to them seems like a good way to create some other problems around chainring fitting.
one approach would be to try the ring on another bike and see if you can replicate the problem, and vice-versa with someone else’s chainring on your (to test the cranks).
It’s only a week old, which is the thing that is really disconcerting about all this.
I can say one thing honestly: I’m no longer a fan of goldcross, if I ever was one!
I took it back into them, and told them that my problem was with chain noise, and vibration. The guy tells me I should lube my chain more (week old bike) so then he takes it away comes back, and the noise is still there. He says there’s a massive buckle in my rear wheel, so I’m obviously not treating the bike well, and I should stop doing skids; which is why the chain is making noise. I have damaged it…
He did say that my chain line was good, and my chain wasnt in bad condition - which surprised me, I thought the chain wasnt doing so well after being trapped around the hub a couple of times.
I reply that I havent been doing skids (which is true, I’m pretty amateur) and point out that the chain’s tension changes as the cranks go around.
He replies that no chainring is perfectly centre, which is fine, I realise that, but then he says it’s normal for bikes to have high and low points in chain tension and there’s nothing that can be done.
I say that the chain has come off twice so far, and it’s dangerous. He says that if I want a centred chainring I should consider purchasing one for $100-150.
He added that I can always try returning the bike, but they are just the retailers; and that goldcross have nothing to do with parts/warranty exchange, he said that I should come back on monday and speak to the manager about returns, as they cant do anything about returns on the weekend.
Apologies for the vent, I just can’t believe that this passes as service on goods within a week of sale.
I’m returning the bike tomorrow regardless, I probably should check the ring to make sure it’s not round, but I can’t see what else would cause this problem.
I should add: the chainring not being centre is not the crux of the issue - it’s more that it’s impossible to adjust it because the crank physically stops it where the “halfcut” bed that the chainring sits in is not big enough to adjust to a central position.
I guess I’ll find out in a week or so what the deal is.
First chainring: I had issues with a high/low spot for a while. Tried to use the Sheldon method, didn’t work. Same problem as you had with no adjustment possible due to the chainring almost being an interference fit with the spider arms. Invested in a good chainring, had to also replace the chain as it was cactus after all that bad karma, now no problems and most importantly no noise!
Second goldcross: It sounds like you got a sales ASSistant. Demand a refund!
Nice excuse “They’re just a retailer” sorry but bikes like that don’t come to the store pre-built, they build them out of the box, and from the sound of it someone neglected to get the damn thing built properly. A good mechanic wouldn’t have let a bike like that onto the floor.
i guess the thing is that it is an insurance replacement from a lady who drove over my bike. So I don’t really want to spend more on a new chainring - if anything I would want to spend the cash upgrading other parts of the bike first.
I went in to goldcross in victoria gardens yesterday and spoke to the manager - this guy called aaron, who was lovely. He saw my problem, said it was dangerous, and said they would sort it out asap. Where the first guy I saw said I wouldnt get an answer for at least a week, Aaron said he’d keep me updated by wednesday, and hopefully it is just a chainring problem, and said he’d replace the chain as well!
I explained it was a replacement fixed bike, and this is what I was using it for, and it not fulfilling its role means it is not a replacement. He could not have been more helpful. I was really impressed.
This rides on them agreeing with me that the offcentre chainring is the problem, of course, I’ll find out tomorrow
I went in to goldcross in victoria gardens yesterday
I bought my wifes bike at that store. The guys are incredibly nice and will no doubt sort you out. Agree with them replacing the chain as well. If the chain has been running for a while on an off-centre chainring chances are it will never be the same.
i rang them y’day after they had it for 4 days and no word; they said that it was ready to pick up (not sure why they hadnt notified me)
I went in, and the guy who had been working on it was the person who first looked at it.
Same problem exists with the chain movement, no replacement chain and I got an ear full of what sounded like excuses and nonchalance.
basically:
My tyre was apparently not centred, which is why I was experiencing problems (except he had looked at the wheel before, and said that there was no problem with the chain line between the chainring and cog) so I wonder how he missed the tyre being off centre when he ran the tyre to look at the chain line
and of course: this doesnt explain any tension issues with the chain, an askew tyre still pulls tension.
The problem with the chain coming off was because the tyre was not put on at goldcross, I had put it on incorrectly and this is why the chain had come off
My lager is the only one with this issue, and I am told that it is not major issue
I am also told that all the other lagers in the store ride the same way - so I dont understand how the other lagers don’t have the same issue…
I was told my chainring was swapped over, but the signs of wear on the ‘new’ chainring say that it’s not a new one.
I feel quite gullible atm, and kind of disappointed with the service, hopefully the guy is right and my chain noise, the chain bouncing because of high and low points in the tension, and vibrating at mid-high speeds is normal; and there is no danger of the chain coming off now that a registered goldcross mechanic has touched my bike :roll:
I’ll be pretty gutted if the chain comes off again, none of this seems particularly normal to me… Kind of regretting using goldcross to replace the bike, and thinking I should just deal directly with SE now.
/shrug
Tyres have nothing to do with chainline and nothing to do with your chain coming off.
SEs have cheap parts. The chainring is not quite round so you won’t get even tension. Don’t worry about it - most chainrings are not perfectly round. In my experience, chain noise varies with different chains and chainrings, even on the same bike with the same chainline. It’s hard to tell without seeing the bike whether it’s just a noisy chain or if there is actually a problem.
If you can’t live with the noise (and the chainline is already good), try a new chain first (try a KMC chain for about $20 - they’ve always been good for me).
But most of all, don’t go to Goldcross. They generally don’t know anything about bikes anyway. Think of it as a department store with only one department.
I’d wager that ‘tyre’ = ‘wheel’ in this case. Surely they’re not that stupid/crooked as to try to pass an off centre tyre as the problem?
Even if it was the wheel. Assume you put it in horribly crooked, with 10mm off centre at the outside diameter (tyre), that would translate to less than 1mm of offset at the sprocket, hardly enough to throw a chain.
yea I really wondered why he mentioned it in the first place, unless he thinks that i’m clueless, or am lacking common sense
yea, I figured as much, its more that the crank spider doesnt let me centre the chainring than merely the chainring being centre (the bike was a present after all, I can’t expect the world)
yea, the problem in this case being that goldcross being the department/chain store are the preferred retailers for insurance companies, so any complaints must go back through said chain store/ratrace people.
Rigorr - did you get a resolution here? I think I have the same problem with my bike, have dropped the chain once in the past week and it is really noisy. Rolling the dice with Moonee Ponds Goldcross this Friday…
Even expensive chainrings can be eccentric (a chainring can be non-round but not eccentric e.g. Biopace), TA is renowned for this. Just get a good compromise between too loose and too tight, you’ll not have problems.
An out-of-line sprocket (wheel not aligned) encourages the chain to walk off the sprocket, just as if the chainline was a long way off. After all, that is how derailleurs work.
essentially I just pull the rear wheel back as far as I can, after the chain is a bit worn it’s less noticable, I’m still too dubious about using my cranks to brake when I am going around corners in case it derails again…
Like LWB says: chainline plays a large part in it; but it wasnt my problem
Also make sure your rear wheel is tight, I dont think GC tightened my rear wheel up properly when they gave it back to me, which I think was the cause of the last derailing.
I had no success with GC at all. Simply put: they’re bastards, and have no interest in customer satisfaction post-purchase unless there is a financial incentive.
The last time I took my bike in they tried to sell me $120 worth of chainring and another 80 worth of crankset… While my bike is under warranty as-is.
Basically: no satisfaction from GC, I’ve been told Moonee ponds is among the better of them though
I have had to take the bike up to Moonee Ponds GC before (because some monkey at the Camberwell store didn’t put it together properly initially) and have actually found them fairly helpful so I live in hope.
Worst case at least I got the bike on special for $500 so theoretically still $250 ahead of the game at RRP - which it sounds like I might need given the crankset/chainwheel is so shit. :x
thats it… both the crankset and chainring are pretty freaking average.
It’s a decent bike to learn how to ride fixed on, as a standard cheap OTS package…
