My friend went to the bike shop for the free tune up, they told him he needed a new chain so he bought a chain and paid them $26 to install it. Today I noticed the clearance was kind of low when it's in 10th gear. Is this acceptable?
by die3458
My friend went to the bike shop for the free tune up, they told him he needed a new chain so he bought a chain and paid them $26 to install it. Today I noticed the clearance was kind of low when it's in 10th gear. Is this acceptable?
by die3458
10 Comments
Definitely needs a link removed.
Nope
Remove two links it will be fine. Hopefully your friend didn’t bring the bike to a shop to replace a chain
Wait the free first tuneup and he needed a chain? That sounds wrong unless he’s done a lot (like 1000s) of miles. $26 to install a chain sounds high to me too.
That chain is way too long imo.
At least one link too long.
Don’t worry… a kid at the LBS fixed it
It’s probably too long, but what does it look like in 1st gear?
This will work. It can only get tighter than this. But chain bounce might make it strike, rarely. Taking a link pair out wouldn’t hurt anything.
The traditional chain sizing method is to let the air out of the shock (if present) and then run it around the largest front and rear sprockets, find the minimum length, then add a pair. Then thread it thru the derailleur. This ensures that the chain can never bind and gives you one more link pair in case of a field repair.
Box gives a sizing method I really like and have used for all my 1x bikes ever since. Instead of large-large, they had you put the bike in *top* gear with the derailleur installed and the chain threaded, and draw up just enough chain to get minimal tension. This gives you the *maximum* amount of chain, and large-large will take care of itself if the derailleur is within its rating. Then you finish with setting the gap in granny. For suspension bikes you can do it with the suspension topped out, which is a big advantage vs the usual method where you have to let the air out of the shock and compress it fully. However, this absolutely depends on making sure the derailleur max capacity matches the cassette. It can wind up looking like your photo if it’s right at the edge of needing one fewer pair.
https://preview.redd.it/dar7i4fgt91f1.png?width=854&format=png&auto=webp&s=d32b3e3d6d7e0155e7ecc7292e5d1c7d322b0e32
I know it’s long if both small rings especially in a double setup with no tension on the chain but that is how I set my bike chain up.It doesn’t stretch the derailleur in the two large or when cross chained this way.
It’s 1 link too long, chain slap is possible on 1st gear but it’s not a big deal as you won’t run that on anything gnarly anyway
Get it fixed or not, won’t make any difference