I changed my bike chain today on my 16 five as it was worn to bits using a new XT chain with quick links. I measured it up with my old one excatly and fitted it. Noticed in the small ring on the CASSETE its jumping and on the big cassete ring its making a rather unhealty noise when pedaling but it still managers to shift on to it okay.
Is it possible its to short even though i cut it excatly the same as the factory fitted chain? Reason I ask is i have done this once with a sram chain and had no issues. Is this evidence of a short chain? Could it be because of it being a new chain with quick link? Maybe shimao tweaked the new ones?
Most important thing , can i add another link or two without damaging the chain if needed ? Much appreciated.
Worn cassette?
Cassete is still in fairly good nick looks fairly healthy for its age and was fine before I changed the chain.
Is the chain definitely for the right number of gears? i.e. is it an 11 speed chain on an 11 speed cassette?
Did you cut it to the same *length* as the old chain, or the same number of links?
Chain too short won't cause problems on the small ring. When you say jumping, what is it doing? Is it catching on the gear next to it or skipping a tooth?
Worn cassette is quite likely, but generally only causes skipping under load.
One thing to check: is the chain routed the right side of the metal tab between the jockey wheels on the rear mech? This can give an unhealthy noise that may only be noticeable in the bigger sprocket.
Ah i cut it to the same length i think i should have probably counted but i did line the chains up perfectly level. The chain kind of keeps twitching of the cog and then goes back on but does it constantly and it makes that loud gear engagement ting each time it clicks on to the ring again.
Yeah its a 11 speed chain and im running a 1x 11. It was skipping for me just when pedaled on the stand, ill try and get some photos for you . However the small cog i do use a lot in the winter particularly and thats one thas giving me issues.
Funny you should say thàt i found it a bit fiddly routing the chain through the jockeys compared to doing it on a sram. I may have done it wrong . Ahh i will put some photos up tomorrow.
It should be able to fit around the biggest chainring and biggest sprocket with about 2 links extra. The rest of it comes down to chainline, adjustment, etc.
A badly stretched chain will be more than one half link longer than a new chain with the same number of links, which can make it hard to get the new chain the same length, but you're only likely to cut the new one too long, not too short.
1x11 can be quite noisy in the big sprocket anyway, as the standard chainline puts the chain at quite an angle. It may improve with time as the chain wears in a bit.
Issue in the small sprocket just sounds like the limit adjustment screw needs a tweak. Unscrew the "H" screw a turn or so and see if that improves it.
I'd put old chain back on if it works fine it will probs be worn cassette it's hard to tell by looking.Run the old chain and cassette into the ground and replace both together. If the chain has totally had it the cassette will have as well.
Just so you (and anyone else) don't ever get caught out using the "round the biggest sprocket and chainring, and add 2 links" method on a Five, you'll need to add an extra 2 links at least, or chain growth will destroy your rear mech if you hit a big bump whilst in that combination. As for your current problem, I'm with the worn out cassette (and probably chainring) group, I gave up swapping chains regularly back in the 90's, as it was cheaper and easier to run the whole drivetrain into the ground before replacement, and still do as it's economically viable with a cheap 3x9 set-up, not so sure though if you're being stiffed for the cost of 1x11 parts.
Chains 'worn to bits' but your cassette is ok despite it sounding terrible and is jumping?
Time to look again.
It sounds a lot like your cassette was worn to your chain, which is why the old one works OK but the new chain doesn't.
What driver does your wheel have?, if it's a shimano, a 1x11 SLX cassette is £39.00 on CRC at the moment for a 11-42
Cassete is still in fairly good nick looks fairly healthy for its age and was fine before I changed the chain.
If you leave your chain too long, it ruins the cassette so that a new chain will skip.
If you change your chain really early, you can keep the cassette going, but it's debatable if this is worth it or not. So generally, chain and cassette need changing together.
If you measured the length against the old chain then if anything it'll be too long. If however it is too long, the cassette will be truly knackered (you'd be looking at about 2% stretch to get your chain too long as you can only cut it on every other link).
You might find that the chain and cassette bed into each other, or you might find you need a new cassette - depends how bad the skipping is and how much it bothers you.
My experience is typically that if I order a new cassette it'll arrive just after the chain and cassette have started playing nicely together.
This is a XT cassette...
Also for now i counted the new chain with the old one by the pin and its excatly the same and seems to be okay now but unfortunately i think a new cassette is in order. I dont imagine XT cassettes are cheap.
At the beginning, you say the old chain was ‘worn to bits’.
Cassettes and chains can wear together and if you push the old chain too far you may find the cassette will not take a new chain without skipping. You can’t really tell by looking unfortunately, unless the cassette is totally shot and has pointy ninja star teeth. XT cassettes are around £45 usually, SLX a few quid less.
Two obvious approaches, if you leave the new chain on and ride as normal, you may find it settles down. If it doesn’t, your next best bet is to put the old chain back on and if the skipping goes away you found your problem- and you’re going to need to just let the cassette and chain wear out together and change the lot in one go when they do. If putting the old chain back on doesn’t fix it, then you have a different problem.
Thanks ill stick old one on and see if it skips but this cassete has never been replaced in two years and to be honest it still was okay when i had my old chain on.
Sometimes what would happen was when I would ride hard the chain would like go over the rear rings rather than lock on to them and the chain would just rotate over the cogs. This would only happen for a little period of time then would be okay again. This is what made me think it was the chain.
If i replace the chain and the cassete, would it make sense to also replace the front cog? Being a single it should be pretty cheap i imagine. It does look in decent condition tho.
Update I managed to sort the rubbing noise out in the higher sprocket it was my fault I never wrapped it around the tab properly.
Yup everyone's right cassette has had it so ordered a new one, front cog is fine so leaving it I don't see the justification in replacing that yet hopefully it will last the life of the new cassette and chain. Unfortunately only the little ring was worn badly the rest look like they could hang on but I can't live without the granny sprocket .
Also as a few have mentioned I did cut the chain to long, I've added a link to the new one with it being a quick link and length seems to be fine with no problems .