Just taken the FD off my soul, and having got the chainline on the chainring good, I’ve noticed something that could potentially be an issue.

The clearance between the chainring and the chainstay is incredibly tight – less than 1mm. After 1 20k ride it’s already made a groove in the paint.

I just wanted to ask if people think that’ll wear the chainring or the frame? May need to think about a smaller chainring if I’m gonna end up making the frame unrideable.

Cheers for any input and Merry Christmas!

I run a 1x on my 2nd gen 26″ Soul and don’t get the same so something’s not right.
Have you got the chain ring in the right place? where the middle ring should be.
Have you got the spacer behind the BB cup?

As above, middle ring position with 32t was fine for me. My Soul did flex a bit, used get tyre rub in berms, but never had chainring issues.

Yep – was on a set of m785 2x cranks so had to space the chainring in 2mm to get the chainline right. BB spacer behind the cup as well.

It’s a 36t so is quite big – bigger diameter means the edge is closer to where the chainstay comes out so it could be that

I think that 2mm and a 36 tooth is the issue

Vortex – in what way? I had it with no spacing but the chainline was awful and the chain would just dump down the cassette when back pedalling on the lowest gear – still not perfect but better than it was.

I used to run a 34T as 1x in the middle position of my old Soul Mk2 26er, no danger of chainstay contact. Don’t remember if I ever put a 36T on that bike or not, I know I did on others. I was running BB spacers exactly per mfr install spec.

My guess is that it’s the position the 2x M785 crank is putting it in that’s the issue, even with/because of the spacers you’re using to optimise chainline on cassette. If you can beg or borrow an old triple of any description I’d fit that and see if the problem went away before buying anything else, personally.

I miss the Mk2 Soul springiness at times. The 275 gen 4 is a very much more solid bike, probably because of the chunkier 31.6 friendly seat tube. More solid isn’t always betterer 😥

the 36tooth chainring is quite big and bringing the chainline in 2mm makes it even closer to the chainstay. My 1 x11 has a bad chainline in the bottom gears. I think it’s always been an issues.

It’s a 36t so is quite big – bigger diameter means the edge is closer to where the chainstay comes out so it could be that

I had this problem when I changed my mk3 26″ soul to 1x,I was using a 34t chainring on the middle position of an M770 triple crank. To get a better chainline I had to use spacers on the chainring to put it as close to the frame as possible.

Even then the chainline wasn’t that good in the lower gears which I’m sure caused premature wear to the chain and chainring.

Middle position and Hope IBR 34t, no issue, gear changes up and down 11-36 without issue, on my old Mk2, no concerns. A bit of googling shows 36t fronts bring used on Mk2 Souls BITD as a fairly commonplace.

I’m actually running the same crank (an old RF triple of some sort) on my Soul275 currently, with the same spec of ring but with a modified cassette giving 11-42 over ten speeds. Still no issue, B.B. mounted per mfr spacer advice and no spacers on the rings. Shifts up and down as well as you’d expect from an expanded cassette and modified mech (m985 with RadR cage).

I’m sure Cy or one of the Cotic guys posted about this issue and gave some advice BITD, perhaps pre 650b, when the big switch to 1x started happening.