Chain problems...

Noizetek

Hi guys, just a little question...

I have a kona blast deluxe 2008, it is only about a month old, but several times whilst shifting betweem the front three cogs (like from the middle to the big ring or from middle to small) the chain seems to come off...not everytime, but often enough now for me to worry, any ideasn what could be up?

Th3 Firestarter

Either try tweaking the barrel adjuster on your shifter, or the limit screws on the mech itself.

batch78

More than likely the limit screws need adjusting.

Look on http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=75

nicklouse

not a chain problem but a front mech and cable problem. back to the shop for its first service and retune.

Noizetek

That procedure looks way too complex for a newb like me! Definitly will take it back for its first service soon (already had the first free check over, maybe they should have spotted it then??). Anyway at least I can have a look and see if everything is alligned ok.

dav1

a lot of it you wont need to worry about as it should all be set correctly.

the section entitled "Front Derailleur- Adjusting Indexing (Three Chainring Bikes)" is the one that you want and its very very easy!

as nickelnose said though taking it to the shop for its first tune up would be the thing to do, will keep the bike sweet until you have gathered more confidence and knowledge with the mechanical bits of the bike.

Northwind

Yup, it's not at all difficult to keep this stuff right but it's a wee bit harder to get it back to being right once it's gone wrong- still not hard exactly but it's a bit of a knack. Though tbh, you can't really do any harm (well, unless you totally unscrew the adjusters!), so if you decide to take it back to the LBS for servicing you might as well have a crack, yourself first! What's the worst that could happen?

Funny, I'll rebuild an engine from the shells up, but show me a front mech to adjust and I get all queasy :oops:

blister pus

I was the same - no more i say, no more.

I had a C050 front mech and 24 spd shifter / brake combo on this Giant and it was lousy at keeping cable tension and general movement was crap to a point I had to adjust things after every ride because things were never 'just right', either shifting was wrong or chain would come off with reverse pedalling (means the cable tension's wrong).

Now I sat there for hours looking at that front mech and shifter cable housing and a laptop with umpteen websites up farting around trying to get things back to how they were originally and almost every time I would end up having to start from scratch undoing that C050 front mech shifter cable altogether - and on top of that I'd also lose (in the process of messing around) the ideal position for the limiter screws.

But you quickly learn cables stretch and crap happens, and the cheaper the stuff...

Anyway, I came to a Mexican stand off with it all and bit the bullet and bought an Alivio front mech with separate Alivio shifters / Deore brakes. 2 options now then:

1) Do it yourself - learn something for future reference.
2) Send it to LBS - learn nothing and keep forking money over every time the bike needs a minor adjustment.

If you watch the videos on gootube and use that parktools site you quickly learn how to set the front mech up. ...then the rear mech. It's a fair bit of messing around at first but when the penny drops you sit there laughing at yourself for being so dim and not grasping the simplicity of it all.

Like, once you've set the limiter screws they don't really need adjusting again most of the work can be done by the shifters barrel adjuster where you add tension or slacken things off. Standing, if you look carefully down over the front mech you can see the front mech moving over as you add cable tension with the barrel adjuster. Or, as you're cycling along using the middle ring adjust the barrel adjuster to add tension and you'll hear the chain suddenly hitting the mech, you know you've gone too far over when that happens. Then you slacken it off with quarter turns till you don't hear the chain hitting the mech, etc etc.

It's a PITA to do, no doubt about that, but It really is a case of fine adjustment most of the time, which is the annoying part if you keep having to send the bike to the LBS.

Meh. Demons can be overcome.