Snapping chainrings
Hi everyone,
Whilst out riding yesterday about mid way through the ride, when on steep inclines, my chain kept dropping off the little ring onto the BB. Thinking the front mech might be slightly out I was careful not to over shift and I perservered ok. Looking down it did look as though 1 or 2 teeth were slightly out - thinking they may be bent I thought I'd see if I could tweak them when I got home.
Anyway, 50-odd miles later I dropped into the little ring to hit a small incline and there was an almighty crack, crank bolts shot out and my little chain ring snapped !
Ok, now the last year or two I do a lot more riding than in the past, but in the last 15 years or so I have never once had this occur.
Is this normal wear and tear (I.e. Is it common) or is it perhaps a fault with the ring? It's Campag Athena and I thought I'd replace both rings - just in-case - but at £65 for the big one and £40 for the one I need Im a little loathe to splash the cash when the big one "looks" ok.
Ta.
Whilst out riding yesterday about mid way through the ride, when on steep inclines, my chain kept dropping off the little ring onto the BB. Thinking the front mech might be slightly out I was careful not to over shift and I perservered ok. Looking down it did look as though 1 or 2 teeth were slightly out - thinking they may be bent I thought I'd see if I could tweak them when I got home.
Anyway, 50-odd miles later I dropped into the little ring to hit a small incline and there was an almighty crack, crank bolts shot out and my little chain ring snapped !
Ok, now the last year or two I do a lot more riding than in the past, but in the last 15 years or so I have never once had this occur.
Is this normal wear and tear (I.e. Is it common) or is it perhaps a fault with the ring? It's Campag Athena and I thought I'd replace both rings - just in-case - but at £65 for the big one and £40 for the one I need Im a little loathe to splash the cash when the big one "looks" ok.
Ta.
0
Comments
-
you say "crank bolts shot out", did you mean chainring bolts?
if chainring bolts came out i'd think it was loose bolts leading to crooked chainring leading to failed chainringmy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Sorry, my bad, yes I meant chainring bolts.
Ah... So if the bolts had come loose, that could lead on to the break?..
A few weeks ago, I was hunting creaks on the bike and a few of the bolts were loose... I tightened them up and they seemed solid (very hand-tight). However, with hindsight, I didn't use any loctite or anything... :-S0 -
Without a chainring bolt to support it, a chainring will simply fold under pressure.Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..0
-
Hmmm... So when I tightened up the bolts that had come loose a few weeks back, obviously whatever loctite-type product that was on them had come off, and me tightening them made sure it was all scraped off just for good measure then !?
Out of interest, how often do people check bolts? Do you every so often undo them, apply loctite and do 'em back up again? I guess I'm a little lax in that respect - a week ago the 24mm bolt came out the back of my front brake so the whole brake came away from the fork. Yesterday was the first ride I'd done since replacing that bolt :-S0 -
I've never seen loctite used on chainring bolts. However, they are very prone to cracking when over tightened, and my first thought would be that this is what happened.0
-
i've never used loctite on them, but they do need to be tight enough (my crankset says 10Nm)
after servicing it's best to be on the alert for anything that seems odd in the same area - mistakes happen, stuff failsmy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
So moral of the story, check bolts regularly!!!
Nice one, cheers all...0
