Crossing the chain

4xsama · Postby **4xsama** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 10:25 am

What is the extent on a roadbike (105 groupset) I can cross the chain on the front rings and rear cluster.

On my MTB big at front meant pretty much only half way up the cluster, small at front = half the other way. Middle ring the whole shebang.

Is there a similar protocol on a roadie?

The chain slipped riding to work this morning and the chain was a bit crossed over. Could that be the reason (bike is new as of last Saturday)

Cheers

jules21 · Postby **jules21** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:00 pm

you should be able to crosschain most of the way across a 105 groupset. if the gears are changing themselves then it's probably a maintenance issue.

crosschaining can sap power and add wear - basically the more you crosschain, the more pronounced those effects will be. there's no hard limit.

InTheWoods · Postby **InTheWoods** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:03 pm

If its a new bike, sometimes you need to add a little tension to the derailler cables as they stretch slightly, using the adjuster barrel. Turn it 1/4 of a turn counter clockwise, test, and repeat as necessary.

rkelsen · Postby **rkelsen** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:04 pm

Never cross the chain...

sogood · Postby **sogood** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:17 pm

Cross chain all the time with no ill effect. Modern 10 or 11 speed chains are perfectly capable of handling big-big or small-small cross chain arrangements. The energy loss is equally small that shouldn't worry us. If it's needed, then do it. The key criteria for gear selection is to know which range of gears provided by each of the large ring is needed.

toolonglegs · Postby **toolonglegs** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:00 pm

Cross chain all day long to no ill affect... Never broken a road bike chain ever!... Get shite load of km's out of the chain and cassette.
Hate leaving the big ring!... Cross chaining 39 to the 11 is a bit silly

.
It is a non issue.

gururug · Postby **gururug** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:44 pm

Small -> Small not really a problem

Big -> big, faster wear, again, as others have mentioned not really a problem.

Just not worth worrying about.

If you are in big-big a lot, next time you change the rear cassette/chainrings opt for something with more range.

pawnii · Postby **pawnii** » Sat May 05, 2012 2:20 am

small-small on my bike means the chain rubs on the big ring. The chain rubs on the shift pins on the big ring i think.

Nobody · Postby **Nobody** » Sat May 05, 2012 10:45 am

Don't know why anyone would bother with small to small as it's inefficient. Get to the big ring as soon as the correct seated cadence will allow.

Can't get big to big without noise, so I don't do it.

Mrfenejeans · Postby **Mrfenejeans** » Mon May 07, 2012 9:42 am

I just listen, too hard to know exactly where the chain is while riding, a bit of a Noise and I know its time to change from the Small to Bi or vice versa