Originally Posted by nayr497

I have been riding a 1x10 drivetrain on my commuter for about three years now. Everything was running smoothly and quietly, but the chain was shot, so I replaced it. Chain and 36-t cassette were swapped about a year ago. Put on a new chain, same cassette, and I'm getting an awful grinding noise, almost like when you're on a double chainring up front and the chain is rubbing the FD cage.

Cassette looks fine, chain is new, formerly no noise. Bike shop guys think it could be a worn chainring. I guess after three years of commuting 15 miles a day ~ 5 days a week could do that. It's a SRAM Rival crankset I bought new with a SRAM X-Sync 11-sp 42 tooth chainring.

Not the end of the world, as I've wanted a bit lower gearing and the RD only will accommodate up to an 11x36.

Two things, I guess:
1) probably best to go with a narrow-wide chainring, I suppose? I'd rather not add a chain keeper, whole point of the 1x10 was fewer parts.

2) Why are single chainrings of Al not cheap? Race Face rings are like $65 USD for a 110bcd 5 bolt ring. I paid $75 for the entire SRAM crankset, arms + rings. Along these lines...this is a reliable commuter I built up, but nothing fancy. I'm thinking a generic chainring wouldn't be a big deal.

Any input appreciated, thanks! Gotta cure this noise, it is driving me crazy. Of course, I'll likely need to shorten the new Shimano chain and need a master link, which are $10, and the chain was $15 at the shop. Ugh. Nearly a toss up to just buy a whole new chain, though this one is 2 weeks old. I'm pretty sure Shimano does not advise pushing and re-using the master pin.