Raleigh Competition Gs Chain Line Problem
 

I just picked up a 1978 Raleigh Competition GS recently and have a question about chain line that I thought other owners of this particular bike could answer.

The chain rubs against the side of the large sprocket when aligned with the smallest rear cog and the small front sprocket. The chain rubs slightly even when shifted to the next larger cog. Is this normal???

The bike is completely stock (five-speed freewheel) and nothing seems to be out of alignment.

So what gives???

Jason

Could be that the spindle is too short, or not properly centered. Or... Could be the the chainrings aren't bolted together in the proper orientation. Or... rear wheel isn't properly dished/spaced.

Do not assume it is in alignment, its a Raleigh. Take a thin string and pull it tight from dropout to dropout with a big turn around the headtube, with the cranks in the correct position and possibly waterbottle off you can now measure the distance from the string to each side of the seattube, I bet its off. If it is you need a LBS that can align it for you. If it strings happy, then you need a flat steel or alloy edge to rest against the inside of the lrge chainring with the chain off, and possibly the front shifter as well, the center space between the rings should line up with the middle cog center as one extends the straight edge back, if the frame is straight, but the chainline off often one can adjust the hub spacing. If this bike is all Campagnolo, I would bet on the frame.

When I worked for a Raleigh dealer decades ago we cold set many a bike up to and including the Professional.

Jason, when you're on the small ring in front, keep the chain on one of the 3 largest cogs in the rear, and when on the big ring in front, keep the chain in one of the 3 smallest in the rear. While your frame may or not be well aligned, that should solve your problem...

Avoiding cross chaining is a sound idea, if you look at the gear chart you might find that you have exact or very similar gears elsewhere.

Thank you all for the well-thought-out responses to my Raleigh chain line problem.

I performed the taught string test, just as “number 6” suggested. And guess what? The results strongly pointed to misaligned chain stays. So, then I followed Sheldon Brown’s procedure for bending the stays into alignment. I now get good string measurements and the chain no longer rubs on the large front sprocket.

According to number 6, many Raleigh chain stays were out of alignment, presumably from the factory. So, I’m curious, what gives here?

Thanks again,

Jason

Could be carelessness at the factory, or possibly that the packaging wasn't adequate to prevent a little bit of re-alignment when they were shipped. Really hard to tell now, nearly 30 years later.

I used to sell Raleighs and I remember this model well. This was an inherent problem with this model. At our shop we used to call it "teething". I am quite sure that the frames were not aligned correctly when they were built. Back in 1978 you did have the quality control, especially from England, that you have today.