Chain Ring Buckle

User avatar
Trev Campbell
Posts: 162
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:12 pm
Location: Strathalbyn, SA

Chain Ring Buckle

Postby Trev Campbell » Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:21 pm

Hi Guys, I've been having an issue with my chain falling off quit regularly when I'm on my Big chain ring and the outer 2 cassette rings. I've tried adjusting the front derailer and this has lessened the occurence, but I've noticed that there is a buckle of about 2mm in my big chain ring when I spin it. I was wondering if this could be part of the issue. I was thinking of taking the chainring off and putting it between 2 blocks of wood and whacking it with a hammer to see if I can straighten it. Is this a bad idea ?????
Great Jens Voigt Quotes:
"I get paid to hurt other people, how good is that?"
"Shut up legs"

User avatar
Mustang
Posts: 1572
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 9:20 am
Location: Little Mountain Qld
Contact:

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby Mustang » Wed Jan 02, 2013 7:25 pm

"Well now" (as my grandson says) if its no good now what have you to loose? Why not get a new one & straighten the old for a spare?
Distance Goal 4000km
70 years young.

User avatar
bychosis
Posts: 7250
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:10 pm
Location: Lake Macquarie

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby bychosis » Wed Jan 02, 2013 9:58 pm

I had a bike shop, with reputable mechanic, straighten one for me using a soft (plastic) hammer. Couple of whacks, spin, repeat as necessary. Alternative might be using a shifter, close up the jaws and bend away, this apparently works ok on disc rotors.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

Wal42
Posts: 736
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:09 pm

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby Wal42 » Thu Jan 03, 2013 5:47 am

Please don't hit it with a hammer unless you want to make a saucer out of it.

As mentioned by bychosis, put a shifter on it, close the jaws so they're snug & bend a little, don't try to do it all in one go, just work your way around the 'dent', providing it isn't to badly bent (2mm should be ok, if it's a gentle curve), it's all about 'massaging' it back into shape not forcing.

You'll only straighten it once, everytime after that it'll get gradually weaker, generally you bang the chain ring in the same spot, so fix it, order another & keep that as a spare.

User avatar
Trev Campbell
Posts: 162
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:12 pm
Location: Strathalbyn, SA

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby Trev Campbell » Thu Jan 03, 2013 9:00 am

Thanks Guys, I'll give the shifter trick a go.
Great Jens Voigt Quotes:
"I get paid to hurt other people, how good is that?"
"Shut up legs"

User avatar
toolonglegs
Posts: 15463
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:49 pm
Location: Somewhere with padded walls and really big hills!

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby toolonglegs » Thu Jan 03, 2013 9:32 am

It will already be weaker the first time you straighten it... that's alloy for you, likes to bend one way ok, doesn't like going back though.
On the hammer thing... I seem to recall the straightening alloy with a hammer was better than using a lever force?, something about the way it doesn't stress the material as much ( talking proper soft plastic and rubber hammers here, not your handy man claw hammers ) ... so not like correcting a steel disc rotor for example.
Long time since I have done such things though, but used to do a lot of alloy repairs on motorbikes during my apprenticeship.

DentedHead
Posts: 187
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:23 pm

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby DentedHead » Fri Jan 04, 2013 1:31 am

bychosis wrote:... using a shifter, close up the jaws and bend away, this apparently works ok on disc rotors.
It worked on the rotors on my latest project. I used the same method to straighten a double chain ring, but never ended up using it, so while it straightens them OK, I can't vouch for the strength once it's done.


Dent.

User avatar
jules21
Posts: 10555
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:14 pm
Location: deep in the pain cave

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby jules21 » Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:35 am

toolonglegs wrote:On the hammer thing... I seem to recall the straightening alloy with a hammer was better than using a lever force?, something about the way it doesn't stress the material as much
same principle as cold forging - if you lever it, you tend to align the crystalline structure of the metal to allow it to bend - thus also allowing it to bend back. belting it causes a more amorphous (i.e. random) crystalline structure, which is stronger. it's been a while since i studied that so someone may provide a better explanation.

however, i have not found buckled chainrings to cause my chain to drop off. the key factor is adjusting the hi-stop screw so that the FD doesn't throw it off when you up-shift. if it's not falling off when you're up-shifting, then another check should be your chain - i recently had chain problems and if there are any damaged/broken links, that will tend to throw the chain off when they feed onto the chainring.

User avatar
Trev Campbell
Posts: 162
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:12 pm
Location: Strathalbyn, SA

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby Trev Campbell » Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:10 pm

Jules thats the weird thing. It doesn't do it on the upshift. I'll get it in top gear and be powering along and then the chain just falls off !!!!! Which is why I thought it may be the buckle that is causing the issue, I'll have acheck of the chain like you suggest but what should I be looking for ????
Last edited by Trev Campbell on Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Great Jens Voigt Quotes:
"I get paid to hurt other people, how good is that?"
"Shut up legs"

User avatar
jules21
Posts: 10555
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:14 pm
Location: deep in the pain cave

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby jules21 » Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:21 pm

Trev Campbell wrote:Jules thats the weird thing. It doesn't do it on the upshift. I'll get it in top gear and be powering along and then the chain just falls off !!!!! Which is why I thought it may be the buckle that is causing the issue.
i can't say for sure, but check for problems with the chain - dislodged plates, maybe stiff links? the former had the same effect for me as what you're describing - when the damaged links feeds onto the ring, it spits it off.

User avatar
Trev Campbell
Posts: 162
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:12 pm
Location: Strathalbyn, SA

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby Trev Campbell » Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:27 pm

Thanks will do.
Great Jens Voigt Quotes:
"I get paid to hurt other people, how good is that?"
"Shut up legs"

wqlava1
Posts: 622
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:13 am
Location: Nillumbik, Vic

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby wqlava1 » Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:11 pm

Mustang wrote:"Well now" (as my grandson says) if its no good now what have you to loose? Why not get a new one & straighten the old for a spare?
Or (and it's late and I was very literal with the words of the topic in a different way) you could use the old one for a buckle. A bit too rodeo for my liking though, and a small 3rd ring would be better.

By the way, I buckled a chainring on a wombat recently (link below), and thought that the hastily fixed ring would drop the chain regularly. Not so. It's been fine for quite a few hundreds more km. I got a new one but there's no reason to change yet, except that it has a couple of extra teeth and I'm leaning towards raising my speed in all gears.
http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... 77&t=58784" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rogerrabbit
Posts: 1219
Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:12 pm
Location: Seaforth

Re: Chain Ring Buckle

Postby rogerrabbit » Wed Nov 27, 2013 9:33 pm

I had a problem throwing the chain off the chainring on bumps a few years ago. I video recorded it happening and it was the chain whipping from the bottom of the chainring and coming off the chainring. Totally weird. The underlying reason was that it was a mid ring off a Shimano Mtb crankset and they have quite short teeth. A change to a longer tooth chainring fixed the issue.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users