huh?!? 4 me its like this- clean chain ring and cog- grease hubs- lube chain w/ boeshield +1- silence...

My guess is that the OP's setup is fine, but like someone else said....

Chain tension. Having too tight a chain my experience makes for a loud ride.

Also "new new" parts tend to be much louder.
Wait till the parts find their groove.

If you're really worried about noise;
Take a spin out in the rain.
The drive train just meshes so much nicer when it's wet... like sex.

</3 cents>

really? that nice of a drivetrain and it's still loud?

My drive train is whisper quiet even though I use a weird mic of a miche sprocket mutiny BMX chainring and Whipperan track chain. I did however spen several weeks wondering what the strange clicking noise was whenever I pedalled hard. Turns out it was a loose bolt in my seatpost DOH!!! No wonder the bike shop I used to own closed down LOL

yeah check the chain tesnion and clean clean clean. my dumb ass conversion beater is so much quieter than most of my friend's smexy track bikes cause i obsessively clean him.

you know, feedback would be nice....were all waiting to see if you've fixed the problem or not

About the time I first had to re-adjust chain tension on my brand new drivetrain, that's when I noticed how quiet everything had become. At first, it was a constant tiny coffee grinder sound, not really loud, but loud enough to be slightly annoying. I would slather the chain with lube, which helped a bit, but it was still there. Now it's virtually silent, impossible to hear over the hum of the tires on the road and the wind in my ears.

Re: the factory lube (cosmoline)

In my experience I've found that it's great for about 50 miles in most conditions, then there's enough dirt on it to feed an army. The cosmoline penetrates really deeply, and it does lubricate well, but because it's so sticky all benefits are negated by the grit that quickly builds up.

So here's what I do: chain out of bag, I whipe all outer surfaces with mineral spirits (if you use degreaser, it may contaminate the lube you can't quite get to on the inner surfaces). I just soak a rag in spirits and run the chain through it, applying pressure to alternate faces so the texture of the rag picks up the dirt. Then I install and ride for about a week (depending on the conditions). It's actually easier to remove the cosmoline once there's dirt in it. Then I take it off, fill a closeable container with mineral spirits, and shake it over and over again. If every part on the chain is rustproof, I eventually use water for different shakings (this might be a bad idea, but it's worked so far), because then I can easily tell if there's more stuff that's still coming off (pour into a white sink, look for black specks). Often I also scrub it with a toothbrush, or something else with firm bristles. This is good for cleaning off the inner part of the links. I might do this for 15-30 min, then use an air compressor to dry it off, or put it in the sun for a while. Once it's fully dry, nothing should come off on your fingers, and it should sound very loud when you just move it about.

Now I actually apply the lube, which for me is Boeshield's T9, and make sure to gently whipe off excess on the outer surfaces after about an hour of drying. Every few minutes I'll move the chain about, shake it, etc. to help the lube penetrate, and flip its position. After letting it dry overnight, it should still feel dry to the touch.

Oh, and for all 3/32's out there, for god's sake, use a SRAM PC-68. It's the quietest, rustproffiest, shiniest chain you can get. So that's it, if you guys have any suggestions...

Ninja quiet. Use ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid). Not joking!

Take care,
Kevin

still noisy. it's really only noisy at cruising speeds w/out a lot of torque put into the cranks. i have about 120 miles on the bike, so i will see what happens after a little more use.

thanks for all the input, though. big help as always.

oh, and btw - here are all the things i ruled out from you suggestions:
-brand new b.b, headset - so those are good.
-chain tension is right on from what i have read. i can just wiggle the chain up and down in the tightest spot when turning the cranks. when on a stand, the back wheel spins freely with no binds.
-chain lube/grease. cleaned and white lightninged.

so time is the only solution that i haven't tried.

and i haven't tried this one. classic....

Thats your problem. White Lightning is LOUD!!! You have to use a **** load very often and it is still noisy. Try a wet lube. You have to clean it more but like Pedro says, "effort = results".

I use regular 10-30 motor oil. Yes it gets dirty but I wipe it down and then apply a little more. When you use a wet lube you should get a dropper bottle of some sort. Put one drop on the center of each link. Start at the masterlink so you know when to stop. Wipe the excess off and you are ready to go.

Clean with a detergent ever couple of weeks.

Mine is completely silent. Love it.

Mostly it's just maintainance - a clean, properly-lubricated bike should run silently.

Mine are only loud when I ride them, so it's really not a problem. It's sitting next to them while they're locked up in front of coffee shops/bars that counts, and they're silent then.

I formerly rode with a KMC 610 chain and have since switched to a KMC 810 chain.

My chain gets noisy when I don't clean it.

About every two weeks I soak my chain in WD40, wash it with dishwashing detergent and hot water, lightly spray it again with WD40, thouroughly wipe it with paper towels, and finally reinstall it and lube it with ATB-II chain lubricant.

THEN I wipe it down some more and feed paper towels through the chainring, cog and chain to soak up more surplus lube.

This gives me a bike so quiet I can sneak up on deer.

Really.

On more than one morning I have ridden slowly through a herd of deer, and they don't even blink.
For some reason, a rider on a silent bike doesn't scare them.
They probably don't have file in their brain for "bicycle."

Anyway, totally silent.

^ Deer riding is pretty cool, I've gotten close.

Do you actually have the paper towels run between the chainring and chain, so it gets caught and spit out the other end? Maybe I should try this..

I've tried most of the popular chain lubes and found they all have their inherant weaknesses. The one I heard about most recent and haven't tried yet is Dumonde Tech. It specifies that you absolutely remove the cosmoline on a new chain, thoroughly clean the chain before applying. Once applied, the chains are supposed to run super quiet and go much farther between applications. In fact, you are not supposed to even reapply the lube until you start hearing the chain again. Chains are supposed to run clean and quiet for quite some time between applications. We shall see.

Mark

NJS may not guarantee anything, but Sugino's top flight cranks/chainring is THE BOMB.

The Grand Mighty Gold with Gigas ring (.05mm tolerance roundness) running on a quality BB pulling Izumi V chain over an EAI Superstar stainless steel cog? Smooooooooth as butter. Sure that package costs almost a grand, but hey, you get what you pay for right?

Yes, and I run them through the cog and chain, too.

could you guys keep it down alittle..

Funny Fark link: https://arktimes.com/Articles/Article...8-6116be88032e

Yes, remove the cosmoline. Pull the chain (or before you install), soak and agitate heavily in VM&P mineral spirits, pull it out and dry it. Install on bike. I drip on Boeshields T9. Maybe not the lubiest lube, but works great and the chain stays clean.

1/8 in chains are just...noisy...sometimes

Guess that'd be me. I do believe the Izumi V is the best chain ever made, with the old Regina CX excepted, perhaps. I think that if silence is important to you, the chain is the most important place to start and the Izumi V is the only game in town. In my experience, I have never seen a KMC 1/8" chain run quietly. Folks on this site have disagreed with me, and while I have to admit that what I haven't seen is a lot, I have my doubts about quiet KMCs. I think perhaps definitions of "quiet" vary.

Cogs are a part of it too, of course, and unfortunately my experience is getting to be a bit out of date. There are some cogs out there that I haven't used. Campagnolo, Shimano, and Suntour all make/made good cogs. IMO most of the rest are least one step down, and some several. I never liked EAI, despite some good reviews around here. Perhaps they've improved, but they used to come with sharp edges that made noise, and threads that were slightly different from the thread on hubs from the "big three". The new EAI Superstar cog is perfect, though.

Most chainrings work quite well, in my experience, including those from Sugino. I takes a pretty bad ring -- or a bent ring -- to add much noise.

If your bottom bracket or hub is adding to drivetrain noise, it's seriously f*cked and you've got bigger problems than a little noise. If your bottom bracket or hub is adding to CHAIN noise, you need to lower your dosage, mate.

Mismatched components can contribute to noise, as the chainline needs to be absolutely perfect, and I mean to less than a millimeter. If a straightedge held to the ring and sprocket show even a slight deviation, you're going to get noise. This deviation can be introduced by something as small as a Campy hub with a Shimano crankset. The folks riding conversions made up from stuff laying around the garage are likely to encounter some really amazing chainlines, and they'll make noise, at least until the chain falls off. Spacers can be your friend, here.

Lube is important. Wet lubes are a prerequisite for a quiet chain, in my experience. Do what you will with your mountain bike, but wax, White Lightning, and other "dry" lubes will result in a noisy chain on the FG. If not immediately, then soon.

And tension plays a part too, of course, but not as much as some folks think, at least as long as a great chain is used. With the Izumi V, you will be fine if the chain isn't bar tight or dragging on the stay. That's a slight exaggeration, but then, it's only a slight exaggeration! Lesser chains are more sensitive about tension, in my experience.

I think that about covers the subject. All this, BTW, applies to 1/8" chains. A very simple way to achieve a quieter drivetrain is with 3/32". The 3/32" is more likely to unship, in my experience -- the results of bad chainline and/or poor tension are more severe -- but all other things being equal, road chains are usually quieter.

HTH!

Not audible while riding, provided that th chain is freshly lubed. Only hearing the faint whizz of the tyres is so comforting...