Fettling a Soul for a friend here – 1×10 setup, new 11-36 SLX cassette & Shimano 10sp chain.

WHen on the smallest (11t) sprocket, the chain is clightly catching the next sprocket – if I backpedal the bike on the stand, it’s enough to lift the chain slightly.

Any ideas? Have gone back to the start and readjusted deraileur, tried extra spacers to change the chainline, etc – but no luck.

Sorry if this is too basic but have you set the high limit screw correctly? Sounds like it’s too far in and stopping the mech moving far enough out towards the dropout.

Otherwise, is the cable free enough – spring tension is usually at its lowest in the smallest sprocket (assuming non rapid rise) and sticky cables can stop the mech moving fully.

Yeah, have tried that, to the extremes. Seems to be independent of the mech – it’s catching at the top when I backpedal, not underneath.

Slightly stiff freewheel can do it – in the smallest sprocket, back pedalling moves the freewheel faster so any drag causes the chain to go slack which can be enough to catch on the next sprocket, particularly at the extremes.

What’s the front chainring setup?

34t MRP ring on an SLX crank.

Might be the freewheel, yeah.

To add to clubbers suggestions:

B-screw adjustment okay?
Jockey wheel bearings okay?
Derailleur or hanger bent?
wheel in drop out okay?

andyl – Member
To add to clubbers suggestions:

B-screw adjustment okay?
Jockey wheel bearings okay?
Derailleur or hanger bent?
wheel in drop out okay?

Yeah, everything’s new and straight as far as I can tell. Wheel’s been out to check, cassette’s been off, have had all the adjusters to the extremes to see if it changed anything.

Freewheel is sounding like the culprit, TBH

Don’t back pedal? 🙂

34t MRP ring on an SLX crank.

Ring in middle ring position? Two spacers on drive side BB?

I had this – my issue was with the end of the chain joining pin, it had sheared leaving a rough projection that caught on the penultimate cog (with the chain on the 11t cog). took a file to it.

Just changed to a Wippermann Connex 10S8 (shimano worn out c.425 miles FFS !) so we’ll see how it lasts. The shifting’s absolutely fine..

Come across this quite often on new bikes, not got a cure for it other than putting it in the big ring when using the outer sprockets, not much use on your 1x though.