The chain on my one ride old road bike skips on the 6th – 8th sprockets. It doesn’t necessarily skip under load, and since it is all brand new, I’m not expecting it to be due to wear.

The bike did fall over in the workshop before the second ride, albeit rather gently, and I’m not certain it bashed the derailleur at all.

All I know is, that adjusting the cable tension so it changes up and down virtually perfectly makes no difference. It still skips randomly.

So the only thing I can think is that the mech hanger is bent? And I’ve taken that off and it seems straight when I put it on a flat surface.

Any ideas?

Twisted/tight chain links would be the first thing to look for, sticky freehub? Could be one of many things tbh.

Could be good ol’ fashioned cable stretch, might just need an adjustment

Bike has done about 35 miles total in dry weather. Wheel spins fine in our out of the frame, freehub clicks freely. Chain links aren’t twisted but I’ll check for stiff links, chain was and is well-lubed though.

Seems a bit odd, it was fine first ride, and then its like night and day – skipping fairly randomly. In fact I don’t think its stiff links, because its not every cycle of the chain.

I’ve re-adjusted the cable and it shifts perfectly up and down, click by click.

Well, I have never seen that before….. just thought I check for stiff links and was convinced it was the black joining pin link on the chain (Shimano), so I swapped that to SRAM quick link thing.

Thought I’d got it, but it skipped again. Looking a bit more closely I see another link thats bent out. One of the plates is bent 90degrees around where the pin goes through. Scrunched metal.

How the hell does that happen??

So now I have a chain with two quick links in….