Originally Posted by
Ferguzz
Hiya,
I have just got a nice second hand Felt F85. It's practically brand new and seems like a great bike. I am new to road riding and have a quick question.
When shifting from the big ring to little ring on the front, sometimes, especially if I am in a high gear on the rear, the chain does not click properly into the teeth, and grinds horribly on the chainring. It has only done it twice but already caused a bit of wear that I'm really annoyed about...
Sheldon Brown mentions, "you should never use small-small combinations anyway". Is this the problem, should I just not be using small-small at all? Why is this? Even so the chain should surely not be grinding on the chainring! How can I stop it?
Thanks.
What do you mean it "grinds" horribly on the chainring? It sounds like this happens when you go from a "big-front-gear / biggish-rear-gear" to a "small-front-gear / same-biggish-rear-gear"? Is the chain rattling on the front derailleur?
Note that putting visible wear into a chainring takes a LOT of miles. Not all of the teeth on the chainrings are shaped the same way.
As others have said, a big/big or small/small combination will cause some grinding noises since the derailleur and the gears simply can't accomodate such a large angle of the chain. But the small/biggish gears should work silently.