I've completely cleaned the entire drivetrain today (using turps and isopropyl for the chain) and waxed it with paraffin wax and after adjusting the front derailleur, indexing the gears, adjusting B screw etc the bike shifts perfectly.
I still haven't taken it for a ride though but the chain is just soo loud. I'm not sure if I'm tripping but there's no way it sounded this loud using wet lube.
Does anyone know what might be the issue? Is it maybe not waxed enough/properly or did I do something else wrong (the chain IS routed correctly…)? I've read that waxed chains get less noisy after riding them, would this be true in my case or is something else messed up?
Why is my SRAM Rival chain so loud?
byu/GladPut8342 inbikewrench
by GladPut8342
14 Comments
Oh that’s interesting, I’m putting a comment to help this post gain traction. Let me know what is said, I’ve never heard of waxing the chain before and I don’t know the benefits
Is your chain routed correctly through the tab on the pulley wheels?
This is normal. It is the chain engaging with the teeth.
Did you actually ride it outside? I use the silca wax and it always sounds loud on the stand but when you ride it, it is super quiet.
Average sram experience
It sounds like a derailleur adjustment is in order; the chain isn’t engaging the next cog or is over-engaging the desired cog. also before you adjust try shifting while riding with some tension on the chain.
Take it for a ride so the wax breaks in.
I had rival for about 6 months before binning it, easily the loudest drivetrain I’ve had. Nothing I did could ever shut it up. Get 105 di2
Sounds fucking glorious to me
I can’t really tell unless you record the shifting of gears. Also record the front derailleur while shifting the rear derailleur. Just from hearing the sound, it could be the pulley wheels or the chain is beading the front derailleur and causing the noise to sound like it’s coming from the chain and rear cassette. Hard to tell…hope it get resolved. That’s pretty loud. I use dumondtech chain lube. My shifting and rear cassette is pretty quiet after switching from muc-off.
Not at all
Sram is noisy is my experience from people with Sram during club rides.
SRAM is generally noisier. You can buy sram red stealth rings (rubber bands essentially) and place them in between the cogs. It can help reduce the noise. Wax didn’t help a lot for me. SRAM does t recommend wax… don’t know why.
Real solution is to switch to shimano cassette, shimano chain, and shimano chainring but keep the rival derailleur. It works perfectly. Super quiet. Hyperglide+ is nice. Also cheaper to replace than sram cassette and chains.
Fresh wax needs to be ridden, I usually have a noisy drivetrain for about 10 miles after wax before it settles in
Metal parts engaging with other metal parts will never be silent. Some combinations seem to be slightly louder than others but all drivetrains do it.