Whatever happened to chain suck?

I know this is the kiss of death but I really can’t remember the last time I had it?
Has it been cured what caused it?
I remember going the full Basil Fawlty on my Xizang on a wet ride.

I’ve not had chain suck for a while. I did have my freehub / cassette pushing the chain forward when I stopped pedalling. Solved with a jolly good clean.

1 x chain keeps it further from the sucky area & bigger clearance maybe?

I only get it if the chain ring is getting worn (2x), otherwise rare indeed.

If you have a clutch that might also help reduce chain suck.

Had it a couple of times on my 2x gravel bike running Tiagra 10spd.

Can’t remember the last time it happened on my MTBs though *touches wood*

Dunno, never got it that bad myself, narrow-wide rings probably help though?

Bike and transmission design got less sucky?

Nobody rides On Ones anymore

*joking, kinda

1* and narrow/wide I thought.

clutch mech adding tension to the bottom bit of the chain must be the main reason surely.

Immunity to chainsuck used to be one of the “features” of an Orange wasn’t it?

The guy got a refund, 10 years later.

It can still kinda happen on 1x systems.

As in the chain doesn’t release as soon as it should from a worn chainring. Just watch your chain on the bottom of the ring when it’s really muddy.

But generally it doesn’t cause problems like it used to.

I recon it’s down to a combo of better frame design due to not having to compromise to fit a front mech in/clutch mechs/ and single ring specific rings.

I stopped riding enough to wear out my components 🙂

Clutch mechs keep better tension on the lower section of chain, so less easy to get dragged up.

Had it on the gravel bike recently (2x 105)

Not on the mtb for ages

I was on the receiving end of some chain suck on the Vagabond a couple of weeks ago. To be fair, my chain and drive was minging covered in Cairngorms finest gritty flour in a heavy downpour of rain.
It was still a shock though, as so many years since it has been an issue.
(SRAM CX crank & front mech)

Had it on the gravel bike recently (2x 105)

Not on the mtb for ages

I had this too on the gravel bike, 2×11 SRAM Rival, when the drivetrain was wearing out … And was the main reason for changing to 1x.

I would guess a combination of 1x and clutch mechs plus advances in cleaner/less sticky lubricants.

BITD it was (for me anyway) mainly a mountain bike problem and usually a middle/granny ring issue.

A filthy triple + clag coated chain + weaker rear mech springs. The mech cage is higher and pointing more backwards towards it’s relaxed position (in the inner ring(s)) and therefore the chain line is closer to level front to back rather than slightly down (as would be found in a 1x).

On a 1x system your rear mech is most stretched / spring under more tension when under the most arduous riding conditions (i.e. uphill in filth) so you get good rearward pull.  The size of the rear sprockets also means the lower jockey wheel is lower relative to the chainring so the chain is more likely being pulled down by a long cage mech and away from the chainring not straight back.

Add in materials improvements as well and it’s probably not that surprising.

Clutch mechs are the major factor, the force keeping the chain on a worn or dirty ring is now more than counteracted by the mech pulling it down and away.

I still get it on my 3×9 touring bike. Cheapness of parts takes priority as it’s also my winter bike and takes a beating.

I doubt clutch mechs have much to do with it tbh (if nothing else because of those early shimano clutch mechs where the clutch mechanism always broke and we barely even noticed). Clutches don’t really do a huge amount, they’re just a little bit of icing on the cake.

I reckon it’s mostly just that 1x chainrings are fairly simple and symetrical, no shifting ramps, no real variations, and they wear more equally.

I thought it might be possible that the chain suck that used to happen as the ring got gently hooked through wear has been replaced as the ‘right, that chaining is worn out’ point by the thick teeth wearing enough that the chain gets dropped.

I had a N/W start to chain suck last year- just tickled the hooking on the teeth with a file and it’s been right as rain since. Well, that’s not strictly true, the whole drivetrain is ‘tired’ and needs replacing, i just haven’t had time, but it doesn’t chainsuck.

My brothers giant e-bike suffers really badly from chain suck, so its not gone from all bikes!

Yeah it’s rare now.

Did a thread years ago about the benefits of 1x wide range and never looked back. I reckon it’s the right answer for most peoples MTB usage, with a few exceptions of course!

Then again I am not one of those gung-ho/**** yeah/internet **** let’s cancel everything else to boost my ego types.

losing the granny ring was the main reason for me. 2x and no clutch but no CS either.

Another with rival and chainsuck when it’s dirty. It must be 9 years old by now tbf (27k km according to Strava).

I run drive chains until they are shagged.

Nothing on the bikes with a clutch.

While riding at BPW a couple of weeks ago I encountered a couple of lads looking at one of their bikes that they had upside down. Its drivetrain had jammed up thanks to some chainsuck and they were boggling at it, in a “what the hell is this?” sort of way.

I showed them how to unjam chainsuck, and I was treated as some sort of holder of secret knowledge for doing so!

Unfortunately the chainsuck had managed to absolutely mangle the outer for the gear cable, where it came out of the frame and negotiated the bottom bracket, so even with the chain free the whole thing was still borked. In the end they asked me to split the chain (as I had a multitool with me and they did not) so they could at least freewheel back to the car park, which sounded quite optimistic given whereabouts on the trails they were.

That nice man Mr Gates, in cohoots with mssrs Shand and Rohloff eliminated it for me.

And I’ve NEVER heard of anyone getting belt-suck.

Brant stopped designing cough brochure ordering frames, that’s what!