Chain slop!

[Josh Smith]

hi all,

My bike seems to have developed a problem whereby when going downhill or over the rough stuff, the chain goes mad and makes a horrendous noise as it smashes into the chain stay and everything else. Nothing is new, wrong size etc.

Any ideas?

It's a 2012 canyon nerve xc 9 with sram xo kit.

Thanks

Josh

[scottri]

Josh Smith said:

hi all,

My bike seems to have developed a problem whereby when going downhill or over the rough stuff, the chain goes mad and makes a horrendous noise as it smashes into the chain stay and everything else. Nothing is new, wrong size etc.

Any ideas?

It's a 2012 canyon nerve xc 9 with sram xo kit.

Thanks

Josh

Spring in the derailleur a bit tired? You can buy gadgets to prevent chain slap but ive not got any recent experience of them.

PS i believe its chain slap not slop

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Well, the only thing keeping the tension is the spring in the rear mech. But my mountain bike is a 13 year old Specialized, and I wouldn't say the spring tension in the mech is any less than it was when it was new.

My chain smashes around too when I'm giving it death - so I have some protectors over the stay to at least stop the metal / metal interface a bit.

Also depends on what gear you're in - have you taken any notice of what gear you're in when it's particularly bad?

Obviously it will be way worse when you're on the smallest cogs both front and rear...


ETA: yeah you can buy a separate idler wheel kit that bolts onto the stay - but I had one on another bike for a while, all it succeeded in doing was increase friction on the drive, get clogged with mud, come loose and generally be an annoying useless pain.

Edited by Ray Luxury-Yacht on Monday 29th July 17:59

[Steve vRS]

Is the chain and rear mech nice and clean. My snotter does this sometimes when I get a bit lax on the maintenance. A good degrease/scrub and lub stops it.

Steve

[upsidedownmark]

Lizard skin/similar on the chainstay and don't worry about it..

[Fluffsri]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

Well, the only thing keeping the tension is the spring in the rear mech. But my mountain bike is a 13 year old Specialized, and I wouldn't say the spring tension in the mech is any less than it was when it was new.

My chain smashes around too when I'm giving it death - so I have some protectors over the stay to at least stop the metal / metal interface a bit.

Also depends on what gear you're in - have you taken any notice of what gear you're in when it's particularly bad?

Obviously it will be way worse when you're on the smallest cogs both front and rear...


ETA: yeah you can buy a separate idler wheel kit that bolts onto the stay - but I had one on another bike for a while, all it succeeded in doing was increase friction on the drive, get clogged with mud, come loose and generally be an annoying useless pain.

Edited by Ray Luxury-Yacht on Monday 29th July 17:59

What he said

[SkinnyBoy]

Piss the mech off an get a shimano shadow + or a SRAM Type 2. These have a clutch that eliminates pretty much chain slap. Wouldn't use the old type again since I converted my bikes.

[Josh Smith]

It doesn't seem to make any difference what gear I am in, I often end up with it roughly in the middle of the cassette and then the big ring on the front.

Bike is always immaculate as I'm a bit obsessive with the cleaning and already have a neoprene guard on the chainstay.

I'll check the spring in the rear mech and have another good general check over.

I like the idea of the clutch system on the rear mech to lock it up though....