Cross Chaining, how terrible is it really?

[w00hoo_kent]

Quick background, (yeah, probably not that quick) when I started cycling again I did it with a triple. I started looking for another bike and a friend explained cross chaining to me and said I'd be better off with a double (or double compact) because then I could use all of the gears rather than avoiding loads. Plus, in Kent, I never used the smallest cog. So I made sure that was near the top of my list. Fast forward to the Ride London, I'm hearing some odd noises from my chain ring in 'top/top' and waste some time queuing to check with the mechanic that it isn't an issue. First thing he does is look at my chain and berate me for being in the big ring, but a couple of gears away from the biggest cog on the cassette because 'cross chaining like that won't be doing anything any good'.

Aside from the fact I was in that gearing because I'd slowed down for the hub and was ticking along at walking pace, is it really that bad? On a double ring set up are there still areas of the cassette you shouldn't go in to for good reason? If so, should I just give up and go to a 1 by 5 set up, because surely a 1 by 10 would be just as terrible for everything. Or was the guy just being grumpy because he'd had to deal with a thousand punctures already and would only be happy if a single speed turned up?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Avoid the extremes of big/big, little/little but if you do end up in one of these, don't beat yourself up. Just change gear.

I always think of it as being a bit like noticing that your flies are undone. A bit embarassing, but easily remedied, and probably nobody will have noticed. Others on here will differ and consider it a terrible sin, and a sign of a clueless newbie, and the cause for "all the gear and no idea" stories accompanied by tuts and eye-rolling.

If he berated you for "being in the big ring, but a couple of gears away from the biggest cog on the cassette" you have every right to punch him on the conk.

Probably worse on a triple.

 

[Drago]

Not good for your chain as it.concentrates the load on one side of the pins, but it's hardly something to lose sleep over.

 

[fossyant]

It's not ideal, as you'll get rub and more importantly, if you have shifting pins, using the small sprockets when on the small ring could lead to the chain trying to shift up.

Learn to use your grears efficiently.

 

[Trevor_P]

Same true for an eight cog cassette?

 

[Over The Hill]

The loop of a chain is about 50cm, to move the end if it over by about 1cm one way or the other will not affect either chain or cogs. Chain has about 10 times that play in it as it is needed when changing gear.

Only noise may be that big to big or small to small is the limit of the movement and if not quite set up right may rub a bit.

Given that a derailleur works by brutally pushing on the side of a chain until it is wrenched off the cog it really is not going to wear the chain being as a tiny angle.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Same true for an eight cog cassette?

Bear in mind, I've not actually said what size my rear cassette is... It's a Synapse 105, so a 9 cog cassette. I don't get any noise from it at either extreme (to be honest I'm a lot more likely to go big to big than little to little and even then it's quite rare).

How positive are people that this is still a thing? As I say, I can't see any difference angle wise from having a 1 by 10 and being at either extreme to having a 2 by 8 and being big/big or little/little. I'm happy (if a bit confused) to believe that it's still a thing, but as I presume it's come about when 7 or 8 cogs was 'big' on a cassette and chain technology reflected that I'd like to be sure it still exists if I'm going to care about it. Surely big/big on an 11 cog cassette isn't an identical thing to big/big on a 9 cog?

 

[SpokeyDokey]

No interest in cross-chaining - I just use whatever feels right at the time and whatever is easier to change into at the time.

Chainrings, cassette & chain are not exactly big beans to replace.

 

[Smokin Joe]

The loop of a chain is about 50cm, to move the end if it over by about 1cm one way or the other will not affect either chain or cogs. Chain has about 10 times that play in it as it is needed when changing gear.

Only noise may be that big to big or small to small is the limit of the movement and if not quite set up right may rub a bit.

Given that a derailleur works by brutally pushing on the side of a chain until it is wrenched off the cog it really is not going to wear the chain being as a tiny angle.

+1

Provided I've got enough length in the chain not to damage the mech I never worry about what combo I'm using. The thing about excess chain wear is one of those myths that has turned into an internet "Fact".

 

[bpsmith]

With TRIM now being more common, there is even less risk these days.

 

[Cyclopathic]

It will make your bike catch fire and explode!

 

[bpsmith]

It will counteract the wet melting carbon frame then and cancel out both effects.

 

[Big_Dave]

Chain/gear technology has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, narrower chains have enabled more and more gears on cassettes, In my opinion, cross chaining is probably less important now than it was 20-30 years ago, although I don't personally cross chain (from being told in the 80's not to cross chain) I know on all my bikes, as they all run triples there is a "duplicate" gear giving virtually the same ratio on whichever chain ring I'm using so I never have to cross chain, I never race and don't have to save milliseconds only using one lever. As a general rule on my road bikes say if I change from the big front ring to the middle chain ring the I only have to change down one gear on the cassette to have the same ratio as I did on the big front ring. Another major factor is the offset on the chainset, my chainline is set so the middle chain ring is inline with the middle of the cassette so I can use all 10 gears no problem but generally I use the middle 8, in the small chain ring I can use the first 8 gears and the big chainring the last 8 gears.

 

[djb1971]

As others have said, I avoid big-big, small-small. The only exception is my 1x10, use the lot.

I can't see the point of having 10/20/30 gears and not using half of them. So if you've got a compact double 2x10 and don't use two at the top and two at the bottom on both chainrings, your 20 speed is now 12, **** that!

I use my bike to ride, when things wear out they get replaced. This usually all happens at the same time anyway, it's a tool, not something that needs mothering.

 

[bpsmith]

I dont tend to use BIG-BIG or SMALL-SMALL either, but I do use BIG-1 or 2 off BIG at times, as changing to SMALL front would be a pain at times for brief changes.