After suffering horrendous chainsuck in the D2D this weekend, and as each lap gave plenty of opportunity to consider the benefits of singlespeed vs gears, I’ve been wondering:

Given that chainsuck occurs as the slack part of the chain gets taken up the trailing edge part of the chainring (in my case the middle ring was worse), and then gets jammed against the frame, why does this happen under load more than very light load?

The amount of load the top part of the chain is under should not have an effect on what is going on in the slack part, should it?

Is there any device that prevents it? (Years ago I tried to position tiestraps so the end poked into the chainring, in the hope of flicking the chain off the ring, but this had no real benefit).

And I know singlespeeds don’t get it, would a 1×9 or 1×10 get it?

http://www.fagan.co.za/Bikes/Csuck/

That’s a cracking article. Guess I need to buy some chainrings. And get some different mud put down in Thetford Forest.

cripes same site- ’easy chainsuck test’ 😮

I also had horrendous chainsuck at the D2D. It caused quite a few sweary moments and was very frustrating when powering up a slope, only to grind to a halt – MX Trail was particularly bad.

The chainsuck varied from every other pedal stroke in places (resulting in me walking/running with the bike) or occurring perhaps every few mins.

Thinking about the reason for chainsuck, I wonder if in this situation it could be caused by sand being wedged between the side plates of the chain & the chainrings, causing the chain to bind to the rings….?

Could the chain suck also be caused by excess weight being loaded on the pedals??

knackered front rings 🙂

you can temporarily fix it by filing off the burs on the chainring teeth!

Just a thought ,but has the whole chainlink to chainring tolerance got tighter to allow for 9 and 10 speed blocks ?

Whilst most times it is supposedly caused by worn chain rings or a dirty chain not releasing – however I have definitely experienced chainsuck on a new drivetrain, and even after giving it a month or so to wear it is never went away…

After trying 3 different chainsets/chains on my duster I managed to solve this by switching to deore steel rings (not sure if it makes a difference but they were a 26/36 combo rather than the usual 22/32/44)

I had christianing it duster mystery chainsuck DMC….as no one could solve it….