Hello all,

Recently bought a single speed for commuting on, started all completely smooth and silent. Two days later there is a definite noise when pedaling, forwards or backwards and its not smooth. I'm wondering if the tension has tightened somehow? Chain seems super tight, there less than 8mm or movement up or down.

Basically how tight should it be? Should there be noise when pedaling?

Cheers,

Rich

I've always gone with 1/2" (12.5mm). Noise is usually down to poor alignment IME.

Id slacken it off abit, if its so tight that it makes a noise when pedalling its probably making a mess of your bearings

roll the cranks backwards. if you can feel the links as the cranks go round it's definitely too tight. 8mm doesn't sound too tight to me though ( if it's 8mm at it's tightest – chainrings are rarely completely round ) otherwise, have you tried a bit of lube?

You can definitely feel the link as the crank goes round, I'll loosen it off once I get a decent set of allen keys that don't round off bolts. But thats another story.

Cheers for the info.

Rich

started all completely smooth and silent

i'd try lubing the chain rollers first as it won't tighten from use

I always set mine with no slack in the chain when stationary. When pedalling, frame flex will put a bit of slack in the chain.
If the chain has gone tight with use I'd start with lubing it unless……………..

Maybe the chain tension was set somewhere very warm and the differential thermal expansion rates between your steel chain and whatever material your frame is made of has caused your chain to shrink more than your frame when taken out in the lovely weather we're having at the moment.

Or maybe not.

Well I've decided to up the gear ratio but I'm gonna lube it tonight until the new chainring and chain come.

It should be silent – there's a noise that chains/sprockets/chainrings make when they get too tight so it's easy to tell.

Really you want the chain as loose as you can get away with but certainly there should be no tight spots where it gets noticeably harder to spin the cranks by hand.