NeilnrLincoln
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Lincoln
I'd be perfectly happy to run that. With single chainring & no rear suspension it cant ever get any tighter.
Wot 'e said.That chain is too short by one link. Although it will work sortof OKish, it will be noisy in that gear and will prematurely wear the tension pulley by thinning it on the sides and creating a blade-like profile that wears very quickly. Such a pulley is also prone to derailing.
Your original photo doesn't really show the whole picture. One has to be able to see the jockey cage angle wrt to the horizontal. It should bend forward no more than 45 degrees in the extreme gear combo and point back no more than just-just below horizontal in the extreme gear combo the other way.
You may be surprised to see how big a difference a single link makes. Fix the problem. Happy bike, happy life.
Clutch mechs are more common on mtn bikes now. They put extra tension on the chain to stop it bouncing off or rattling on rough ground.Not to detract from the advice, just curious - what is a clutch mech?
It is a type of damper to reduce chain slap when the bike is going over homogeneous ruts. This type of ruts in the road create a harmonic wave in the chain that amplifies normal chain shake (up and down). The clutch dampens the spring in the RD in one direction so that it is difficult for the chain to "pull length" but easy for it to return to its original position. It is like a one-way damper on a suspension fork. This clutch reduces chain slap noticeably but has the side effect of making shifts (usually up shifts) more difficult since your thumb now has to overcome some friction in the mechanism that gives slack to the chain when required. They have on/off mechanical switches located on the RD itself.Not to detract from the advice, just curious - what is a clutch mech?
Maybe I'll ride it as it is til the autumn, and replace it with a slightly longer one. It does seem to change gear just fine.
I put a pair of links back in, in the end.
Nobody noticed that the chain was running the wrong side of the little angle piece in the cage! It feels smoother now it's not running over that!