General Cycling Discussion - Chain Slack

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AaronDavidson
11-17-07, 12:19 PM
I took my bike in recently for a free tune-up and had chain slack (ie two gears didnt really work), I have had the bike back a week and half or so, 4 rides on it. 22miles, 40miles, 14miles(hill climbs), and something else.

What could cause my chain to become slack so quickly again, and how do I fix it myself? My LBS I bought the bike from is 25miles away and a hassle to get to/from.

dobber
11-17-07, 01:29 PM
Describe chain slack and how do two gears not work?
operator
11-17-07, 05:03 PM
Describe chain slack and how do two gears not work?

+1

My bike is broken help me fix it.

Velo Dog
11-17-07, 05:29 PM
Too many unknowns here to diagnose the problem, I think. By "chain slack," do you mean the chain just hangs down between the rear derailleur and the bottom of the chainring? If they installed a new chain (unlikely, in a free tune-up), they might have left it too long, but I can't really imagine a shop doing that. Could a spring in the rear der. be broken? One of the derailleur's jobs is to pull the slack out of the chain, and if it has no spring, it can't do that. And when you say the gears "don't work," which gears? Front or back? What happens when you try to shift into them?
This sounds like something a tune-up would have fixed...I'm wondering if you could have tossed the bike into the back of the car or something and bent the derailleur or the hanger, or just let the thing fall over onto the driveline.
AaronDavidson
11-22-07, 05:45 PM
The gears that did not work were in the back. The two harder gears than my easiest gear. What I mean by do not work is, "when I try to pedal it feels like I skip a tooth at every rotation on the crank." I described this to my LBS and they said it was "chain slack," IIRC. Hopefully that is better description.

Maybe it was "cable slack?" Thanks for your help.
CB HI
11-22-07, 07:42 PM
They probably said "chain suck". It sounds like you may have a stiff link.
While off the bike looking at the chain, turn the crank backwards and watch for the link that skips (or bend each link in your hands to feel which one is stiff). Once you find the stiff link, put lateral pressure on that link back and forth until you have worked out the stiffness. Then test ride.

Future type questions might be better asked in the mechanics forum.