aarrghhh - chain suck

daugs

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never had to deal with this before, have read up on Sheldon Brown and Jonathan Levy

it's on the granny ring, shimano IG 22T, not really worn at all, no burrs or anything like that, chain is new shimano IG, no stiff links but is a bit sticky with lube from factory, chain line looks ok, chain length ok, within capacity for XT rear mech,

is there anything obvious I'm missing, could degrease new chain but if bad now what's a bit of mud going to do ?
 
You need an anti chainsuck plate and quick. Fits under the chainstays behind the bottom bracket and knocks the chain off before it can get pulled up. repeated chainsuck will cut into the chainstay and can scrap the frame.Try changing the chain for sachs or one of the other makes.Shimano chains do not have the best reputation. Yes mud is going to make it a lot lot worse.Whatever you do I would still find a chainsuck plate . You may need to file it to the exact profile of your chainset but once you have done it you should have no more problems regardless of the condititons.
Regards
Peter
 
This could just be caused by the fact you have a new chain on old sprockets (just because there's no visible wear on the granny ring doesn't mean there's none at all)

If you didn't have the problem with the old chain then I'd look at replacing the ring (though if that's worn you may need to replace the cassette too).
 
It was a single speed before so the old bits not really applicable to this and in any case the chain and ring have been scrapped. The cassette is virtually brand new as was on a spare set of wheels for my wife's bike that never got used, those wheels themselves are on my single speed and the cassette has sat around in a box.

There is some scratches as evidence of bit of chain suck before but I always thought of this as a chain/chainring issue and that some frames being prone to it was a bit of a myth. As said, it needs to get sorted as don't want to lose frame.

Never looked at anti chain suck plates so that should keep me out of mischief this evening.
 
Assuming New chain is correctly length etc, the Madamoiselle Granny ring is the culprit. Even the slightest wear can cause the ring to grab the chain, a phenomenon SRAM are exploiting good effect with their new XXI chainrings.
 
22t front ring sounds itsybitsy. Would one with a more manly circumference keep the chain further away from the frame?
 
thanks guys for all the comments

It's on a 22-32-42 which is what it would originally have had and was on the chainset I've got. This works with the cassette which is 11-28. Moving up to a 24 or 26 say means actually changing all the rings. I may well do this but wanted to put the thing together as I'm impatient. That'll teach me. I'm going to have time to sort out as got to send the pace forks off for a service.

I found another chain which I tried that did improve the situation a fair bit and so degreased the new chain which has made a big difference but suspect the ring is still questionable and don't want to wreck my frame, so will see if I can find sensible ring and anti suck device.
 
What is the tension like in your rear mech? Is the front mech set to the correct height? Is your granny ring soft alloy rather than (stainless) steel? Is there enough/any 'float' to the jockey wheels?

Once you've experienced chain suck, that particular chain is toast! It will have at least one slightly buckled side plate that will multiply the more often it happens.

All the above are issues that will result in chain suck; address them all and you may solve the problem. I use Onza Buzzsaw granny rings and I've never had any issues with them; Surly make nice stainless rings too, but you pay for them!

Try fitting a new mech if you have one (purely as a test-bed, new granny and chain; be very pedantic in setting up your cabling. Try not to pedal hard when changing gear; I don't ride in mud...

...been there, done that, too bl**dy old for all that malarkay! I ride bikes because I like them, not because I have a jet-wash fetish!
 
We_are_Stevo":2r73igq2 said:
Once you've experienced chain suck, that particular chain is toast! It will have at least one slightly buckled side plate that will multiply the more often it happens.

rather disappointing as a brand new chain that has gone a total of 500 yards on test rides, wasn't in "anger" so hoping that I jumped off in time,
 
I had this problem dropping off a 32t middle ring on the Genesis (same BB/crankset/chain/cassette/and mechs worked ok on Stumpjumper), chucked another middle ring on (middleburn one I had in drawer that looked nearly brand new , better for 2 rides then the problem returned(so much so I killed a 2 month old chain!), as with you I read all the sheldon Brown & other stuff on the net to no avial. Bought a deore (all they had apart from fancy stuff in the lbs at the time)32 ring and hey presto problems have gone , ok it's a few grams heavier as it's steel rather than ally but it should last longer and the best bit is no chainsuck, buy an new ring .
Matthew
 
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