I’ve got a brand new 10 speed 105 drivetrain on my bike.

Gears all shift fine.

Problem is that it’s noisy.

If I put my finger on the bottom of the rear mech cage as I turn the pedals in the stand there’s a distinct vibration through it – it’s moving backwards and forwards ever so slightly each time a tooth on the chainring engages with a link on the chain (or a link leaves the chain, I guess). It’s like the chain isn;t sitting on the teeth on the cassette or chainring quite right and is ‘dropping’ onto the cog when under tension.

Chain is fitted the right way round – writing facing out, slots in the plates facing towards the wheel. I’ve cleaned the chain so it doesn’t have the new grease on it sticking it to the chainring. Chain is the correct length.

I’ve tried adjusting the rear mech tension and it’s the same throughout the adjustment range (ie. doesn’t seem to be that the mech is trying to move the chain across the cassette and it’s climbing and then dropping).

Tried spinning the wheel out of the bike and it’s spinning smoothly. The freehub is a clicky (like Hope) one but doesn’t seem rough at all. Wheel is virtually new too.

Anyone got any ideas?

Don’t clean the grease off the chain, it’s the best lubrication it’ll ever have.
Get out and ride a bit and give all the bits a chance to bed in with each other.

My SRAM Red mech does this too and after much fiddling the source of all the noise is the wheel/hub echoing. Ive got my winter wheels on now (metal with steel freehub) and its virtually silent, with the carbon wheels its a cacophony of rattles.

I’ve done nearly 200 miles on it and it’s not really changed since day 1 really.

I’m beginning to wonder if I might have to actually take it to a bike shop to get it looked at and make sure the mech hanger is straight etc.

It does feel a bit like when the mech is slightly out of adjustment through the pedals but it’s not that

Have you tried the B-screw adjustment?
Sheldon Brown covers it here

Jockey wheels ok ?

is this in every gear??

Have you threaded the chain the correct way through the mech?

B Screw is ok, jockey wheels look ok and spin freely if I take the chain off them and chain looks like it’s through the mech the right way and not rubbing. Baffled.

Is your lower jockey wheel the right way round? We’ve had a couple fitted backwards recently, they have sculpted teeth and make hell of a noise if they’re not running the right way.

Also I accidentally bought one of the posh ‘uni-directional’ chains which has an inside and an outside, I think I fitted it wrong and the shifting was a bit off, can’t remember if it was noisy also.

I’ll check the jockey wheel coatsey, ta.

Chain running the right way round.

If the hanger looks ok by eye then it is good enough.

Tough one, can you post a close up video?

Is it a 105 chain? Have to say I’d be trying a different one if the jockey wheel is correct.

If the hanger looks ok by eye then it is good enough.

Tough one, can you post a close up video?

Is it a 105 chain? Have to say I’d be trying a different one if the jockey wheel is correct.

had a good squint at the cage on the derailleur last night and it seems square.

May try a different chain if the jockey looks ok and see how I get on, cheers.

if the hanger was off line you’d very likely have indexing problems at either top or bottom of block. I’d have said B screw, but you’ve checked that. Is chain length correct ?

maybe daft question, but are you sure its a 10 speed chain ?

Chain length is ok, I think – it’s big to big plus a link or two isn;t it?

Tried fiddling with the b screw but no change – it’s the same noise in all gears and both small and large chainrings – there’s no contact twixt derailleur and cassette.

are you sure its a 10 speed chain ?

Well, I looked and saw it was HG and thought, “hang on that’s 9 speed!” but picked the product code off one of the links, googled it and it’s a 10 speed chain.

for chain length on road bike, put it big front, small back and jockey wheels should be vertically aligned when chain threaded. Is it a common/current frame ? if you you could always try a new mech hanger which should be readily availably and cheap, but doesn’t sound like that to me. When I got my brand new Defy Composite 18 months ago I had troublesome shifting from the outset and changing the hanger cured it, but that was more a case of indexing being ok at one end of block and off at the other, whereas yours sounds more like a compatability issue. If the full drivetrain new ? rings, chain, cassette, jockey wheels ?

It’s one of those bargin Scott CR1’s from earlier in the summer and I fitted a complete new groupset from Ribble to it.

I’ll see about getting a hanger (as a spare if nothing else).

Or I may just throw it at the LBS as I’m getting frustrated with it now…

i have noticed on a few of my road bikes the drivetrain is noisey. the worst being my dura ace 9 speed rear mec. have tried diff jockey wheel,chain etc to no avail. My microshift new set up was the same but after a few hundred miles it has obv bedded in and has gone quite.
Odd thing is i never seemed to get loud drive train noise on my mtbs

I did wonder if the carbon frame was amplifying it a lot but there’s definite sort of ‘pulsing’ or vibration you can feel through the rear mech cage as the chain goes over stuff.