Problems with Noisy Chainline on new Single Speed, Please Advise

blobert

Hello,

I bought a Specialized Langster recently, as I thought the gear ratio was a bit week for my liking I got a new Gebhart Track Chainring 48t and an AC Racing 15t freewheel (I have used these before much prefer them to the Shimano one that comes as stock with the Langster).

Having set this up 1st off with the new chainring and original Shimano freewheel and lengthened the chain I was getting a huge ammount of noise from the chain.

I got a new chain and tried this but no joy. I then removed the Gebhart chainring, thinking it looked a bit off shape and tried the original Sugino Messenger chainring along with the new AC Racing Freewheel and new chain.

Annoyingly it's still very noisy, looking down on the chain from above as I cycle it seems to move left and right a bit as it rotates, looking from the side it moves up and down.

Not sure what to try next, I've had a look at Sheldon Browns advice on getting a smooth chainline but it didn't seem to do anything.

All the parts are new so it doesn't seem to be the case that one of them is worn etc.

Any suggestions as what to try next would be much appreciated, it's driving me slighty mad and after several evening's of messing around with it it's not getting any better.

Thanks

Chips Lovell

Are you sure you've put the chainring on to the correct side of the cranks? I did that before and it had me puzzled for a while.

rottenhat

Even if you have everything set up correctly, you can wind up with a lot of noise when you're mixing components from three different manufacturers. The chainline on my fixed is pretty good but the parts are diverse (TA chainring, Surly cog, SRAM or Wipperman chain) and when they were all brand new it sounded like a chainsaw. It took months to quieten down and even now it's not as quiet as my geared bike.

That said, it sounds like there must be something else wrong with your set up. The chain will move a little left and right on road rings because of the machining to make shifting easier but that shouldn't be the case with a track ring, and I have no clue what could be causing visible up and down movement.

blobert

Thanks for the replies guys,

I'm pretty sure I have the chainring on the right side of the cranks, I don't think it would fit on the other side.

I was thinking of trying it on the fixed side as well to see if that was any quieter but I've made the chain too short to allow it to fit on the fixed side and don't fancy taking it apart again tonight:(

Another thing is that the freewheel seems to move slighty from left to right when the wheel is spinning, I 've checked and it's attached on as tightly as it can be so its not loose.

Any further advice would be much appreciated. I had the same setup on my previous Fuji Track and it worked fine so not sure what is going wrong here.

Thanks again

Seaswimmer

What about sizes? Is everything 1/8" or 3/32" or a mixtures of both??

stuf

blobert wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys,

I'm pretty sure I have the chainring on the right side of the cranks, I don't think it would fit on the other side.

Chainrings can generally go on both sides of the crank to allow for line adjustment. Would be surprised if yours was different

blobert

I went into cycleways at lunch and had a look at their Langster there, the chain did not seem that smooth either but certianly not as bad as mine. My chainring is on the same side as the one in there.


I think the freewheel is 3/32" and everything else 1/8", it's the same setup as on my previous bike which did not cause any problems.


This is the freewheel:

http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?id=1094


I could try a 3/32" chain if you think that would help? But I believe all track chainrings are going to be 1/8"

thesunwashot

You are better off running components of the same width. The general received wisdom is that if you are running 1/8th you want to have a 1/8th cog on the back. The chainring doesn't matter so much but is going to be smoother if it is 1/8th too. You can get cogs in both widths but it is best to try and figure the problem out before buying new components.

Are you able to identify what exactly is causing the noise by listening to different parts of the bike whilst you move the pedals round? If it is making a lot of noise then presumably something is grinding and you should be able to identify that.

Is the noise continuous, once per pedal rotation, every so many pedal rotations?

Are there any stiff links in the chain? This would be quite likely where you rejoined the chain after resizing.

If you have all new components, wear shouldn't be an issue but if you had let an old chain stretch too much it would then cause wear on the teeth of the cog and chainring which would then be noisy with a new chain as it wouldn't match up too well with the teeth.

blobert

Any idea where I can get a spacer for the freewheel. From looking at it the chainline is not straight and if I moved the freewheel out a bit I think it might run straighter.