I decided to try to tackle swapping out my drivetrain. Put on a smaller chainring, bigger cassette and medium cage derailleur, and a new chain. I’m going through the frustrating process of indexing without a repair stand. But I noticed the chain doesn’t really catch the top jockey wheel. Did I make my chain too short? Derailleur is SRAM Red 22 med cage. I measured the chain length with the big + big + 2 link method. I haven’t gotten to adjusting the b screw portion of indexing. But just wanting to check before I proceed
I have a photo but I can only add one attachment. I’ll put the photo in comments
by idliketogobut
5 Comments
https://preview.redd.it/yf4er0q0snvc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=962da399f04dccd9b10990065fc19f9927868ec2
ETA: this is on big big (50/32)
Chain needs to be on the other side of that tab on the derailleur cage for starters
Definitely too short. I have run this exact setup (50/34 x 11-32) on many bikes and it never looks like this.
This is controversial on here, but I’m a longtime advocate of the small/small minimum tension chain lengthing method. There are virtually no downsides. It maximizes cassette swap-ability, is easier on derailleurs, and if it doesn’t shift absolutely perfectly (basically never happens in my experience), you can always remove a link pair or two. Much better to err long than short.
I run a 50/34 plus Roadlink and 11-36 and it looks better than this tbh. I’m guessing it’s at least a couple of links shy of acceptable even after it’s threaded properly through the derailleur.
You need to add a couple of links to that chain.