Throwing off chain single oval ring in soft mud

mickisup
mickisup Posts: 295
edited March 2016 in Cyclocross
Having a real issue keeping a B Labs CX oval ring on in soft mud. It's been fine when dry but in the wet the chain just doesn't seem to stay on teeth and when shifting down into lower gears it just drops off on the inside. Poor setup or otherwise?

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  • VamP
    VamP Posts: 674
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19761053#p19761053]mickisup[/url] wrote:
    Having a real issue keeping a B Labs CX oval ring on in soft mud. It's been fine when dry but in the wet the chain just doesn't seem to stay on teeth and when shifting down into lower gears it just drops off on the inside. Poor setup or otherwise?

    I must admit I haven't seen anyone using oval rings for cross. This might be why, but, of course there may be another explanation. Difficult to say without seeing your set up.
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    Whilst cleaning bikes yesterday, I noticed that a teammate's single ring setup dropped its chain much more readily than mine, which I attributed to his lower chain tension. OP - what mech are you using, and what's the chain tension like?

    You could try moving the chainring to the inner position (which is where I have mine, because it gives the best chainline in my most frequently used gears) but you might then find you just drop the chain in higher gears instead...
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • mickisup
    mickisup Posts: 295
    It's a SRAM Force 11 speed medium cage, standard road mech i.e. not a CX1
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19761286#p19761286]mickisup[/url] wrote:
    It's a SRAM Force 11 speed medium cage, standard road mech i.e. not a CX1
    My guess is chain tension might help - is there any scope, with the existing mech, to drop a few links out of the chain?
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • undapressure
    undapressure Posts: 116
    Maybe you need to adjust the chainline. I've been using the Rotor CX ring since middle of last year and not dropped a chain.
  • bobley
    bobley Posts: 60
    We've been having the same issue - 2 bikes, same rear 6800 long mechs with clocked springs (long due to 11-32 cassette), same CX1 cranks but one has X01 spider + X01 34T circular ring, the other Absolute Black 34T direct mount oval. The oval is useless in the muck and has dropped mid race twice (Hillingdon Central league last w/e, Mallory Park today west mids league)

    First plan is to swap oval out to same X01 spider on both and the bike which didn't drop it's chain today but ripped the mech off is getting Rival 1 clutched mech. I'm going to try fitting it with the the 6800 shifter to see what happens but I have also ordered a Rival 1 shifter...)
  • bobley
    bobley Posts: 60
    Had a bit of a measure up. Our chain line is about 47mm which lines up with 7th gear - roughly same on both bikes although the oval did pull the chain closer to the crank arm. I would've thought it would be better to get the chainline closer to the middle of the cassette..
  • Mach_6
    Mach_6 Posts: 24
    I ran an oval single set up for three races last season and dropped the chain every time.... got close to throwing the bike in a hedge after 3 drops in one muddy race. After a week of muddy testing different options, I swapped to a Hope Retainer Ring, shortened the chain by 2 links, dumped the "quick link" and went for a proper pin on the chain and got a K-Edge CX chain keeper (like Telenet-Fidea team use). It's been trouble free ever since in mud, sand, small jumps etc.

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