clicking chain

shmeely

I have a 2017 trek FX3. I'm including as much detail as I can so you will have all the info. its acera FD with Alivio RD. I run shimano 11-34 the better quality one not the one the bike came with. and the triple crank is fsa dyna drive 48/36/26 and a shimano cn-hg 93 chain. every winter i take it apart and assemble with grease lube etc. and I maintain it all summer long. with quick checks before each ride. the BB the bike came with from day one was notchy so I have a shimano one installed smooth as butter. with covid and the fact its hard to find replacement parts I purchased extra parts like cog set and chain. it can sit on the shelf however at least i will have it when needed. i replaced both the cog set and chain this spring . and this month I decided to use the spare chain when cleaning my chain. this way i always have a chain ready for my rides. i use muc off dry lube and like to wait until its dry so switching chains gives me the drying time. so that being said I really don't have that many miles on my chain and the cogs are not worn. however when I put the new chain on I felt a click in my pedals every turn when under load. I tried a new set of pedals and even lubing the chain with park tool lube. made sure the shifting was ok. to make sure I put the older chain back on and no clicking. what could it be. since it only happens under load it could be related to flex and a new stiff chain. I have seen some forums where new chains with clicking have snapped during a ride. could it just be a case of a bad chain. maybe because of covid the quality in the factory was overlooked in exchange for quantity. thank you ahead of time to whoever replies to this post.

JBA

It sounds like the new chain has either a stiff link or a link that is separating.
You need to inspect and 'wiggle' each link in the chain to check.

shmeely

thanks if it is a link I would only feel it when the link comes around however I feel it when I am pushing down on the pedals each rev. honestly I think its a case of the wobble I have with square tapered BB and a new stiff chain. I tried what RJ the bike guy said about trying different orientation of the crank to BB and found the best one however it did not remove the wobble. If I could find a triple in hollow tech II I would switch. even the alivio RD I would swap out for better because going fast over the censored roads in GTA toronto canada I have way too much chain slap. sooner or later I will have find out why the chain is the way it is. just hope I am not like the unlucky ones with a snapped chain. thanks again

shmeely

auto correct changed what I typed to censored. bad roads .

slowmart

Have you checked the links as mentioned? Make sure if you’ve used a split link you have located the pins correctly. This would cause a clicking chain.

There’s a lot of Chinese produced gear out there, mainly made from margarine with machine tolerances in mm rather than thousands of an inch.

If you can’t locate the issue a decent bike shop will sort it in a few minutes

shmeely

links all ok nothing stiff and quick link ok . even wiggling the links side to side I see nothing. I agree about the quality of the import gear. I did spend a little bit more to get the higher end when I purchased the cassette and chain both shimano. cn-hg93 and cs-hg400.going for a spin now and will try and figure it out. there is a slight chance that since spring I have more wear then I would think and the new chain is riding high and taking time to settle into the cogs and coming into place with force which I feel up by the pedals. It may just wear itself in. I do have a great bike repair shop (trek aurora) I do use however here in toronto we have been in lockdown stay home etc. maybe Ill call them and see if I can come over. thanks

shmeely

all ok. if you read the post from start you will see I am using two chains so when one gets dirty I just use the other one. Since the start of the post I have been running the older chain. things I tried :clean and grease jockey wheels these are with bushings. pull the crank and take it apart to better check the chainrings. grease on bolts .even though some say use anti seize. go back to basics and check indexing. with top guide wheel in line with cog. on 7 or 8 speed its not that important. with 10,11 and 12 very important so I stand in the middle with 9 speed. even if I am off a bit I would still have good shifting. yesterday bike got dirty in the rain so I cleaned the bike and lubed the derailleurs and put the new chain on. I don't know what I did however I went out for a long ride plenty of hills and no issue. I would have thought it was the chain all along. thanks again. I hope this helps someone else.