frugihoyi

Sorry for the n00b questions but...

My chain has always been stretched tight, as it should be, but today as I was riding it got all loose all of a sudden when I stopped pedaling -- and it's been like that since. When I'm not pedaling, it's not stretched tight and I'm worried that it will start coming off. It's parked right now and the chain is all loose like that. Why did this happen and how can I fix it?

cryptid01

Sounds like your freehub bearings may be binding. Does the cassette rotate when you backpedal?

frugihoyi

I don't know what freehub bearings or cassettes are.

cryptid01

The cassette is the cluster of gears attached to the rear hub. It rides on freehub bearings. If those bearings aren't turning smoothly, the symptoms you describe occur.

My best advice would be to take it to a bike shop.

Chris_F

The chain tensioner on the deraileur could also be broken, although I've never seen that happen myself.

deraltekluge

Since the function of the chain tensioner is to maintain tension in the chain, and the poster complains of lack of tension in the chain, that seems to be a likely candidate, I'd say.

Of course, the poster didn't say the bike has a derailleur, so the problem could be something else...

cryptid01

^ Or I suppose the jockey wheels could be loaded up with gunk. But anyone who doesn't have the sense to clean it up and see if that helps the problem deserves to pay for a shop to fix it anyway.

junkyard

Take a few links out of the chain.

pOrk

How old is the bike? Chain might have stressed and therefor stretched