Chain broke while commuting the other day - I managed to repair it at the time with a quick link, but the new link seems to be catching slightly when going through the derailleur. Every 4ish rotations of the pedals there’s a very brief sound like I’m freewheeling, and the derailleur starts pulling back when in top gear, but I can’t replicate any of it when the wheel’s off the ground.
Might just be a dodgy quick link causing problems, but does anyone have suggestions while I wait for new ones to arrive?
Generally if your chain breaks it was super worn out. The cassette is probably toast too. The quick link is now the only “new” component of the drive train and won’t work smoothly with the old stuff.
Replace the worn out stuff. Take a look at the chainrings just in case. They usually last through several chains and cassettes but wear out eventually.
But that costs money…
You’re probably right though, it’s been doing 8 miles a day for most of the last 3 or 4 years and everything else has had replacements, so it’s due.
That’s a lot of mileage. I’m surprised it lasted that long! Chains are consumables just like brake pads, tires, and tubes. :)
I used to wrench on motorcycles not push bikes but I assume the chain and sprocket are pretty similar.
Second replace chain and sprocket, they wear each other down together and introducing new components will mesh slightly differently causing too loose or tight engagement which can cause weirdness.
Also if new link is too tight, I don’t exactly know how a quick link works but this happens with botched rivet jobs on vroomy bikes anyway, then it might be lifting the chain slightly as it rolls over. Messing with the free play.
Tightness is a good idea, I’ll see if I can work out anything related to that while I get a new chain and cassette.
If you articulate the chain around the link, does it feel “stiff”? If so, but a little lube around the link and continue articulating the chain. It is important to do this both up and down (the direction the hinges are supposed to move) but also side to side. The side to side motion will force lube into the joints.
I had not done side to side, so I’ll give it a go, but I suspect can might be right that it needs new parts…
Oh yeah, that mostly to just get you going. Like that other guy said, if your chain broke, your entire drive chain is probably worn out, or maybe you’re superman. The entire drive chain tend to wear out together, and the worst part tends to wear out the others faster. In the future, get one of these doohickeys, check your chain 1/month and replace your chain whenever it tells you to. As always, sheldon brown is informative on this topic.
Just throwing ideas out here, as I can’t identify any specific cause. Maybe the quick link isn’t the right size for the chain? Maybe it’s not fully snapped together? You should test the individual pivots on the link and see if they’re stiff and need to break in, that could be another cause.
Could your derailleur be between gears? Have you tried dialing it in? Check out Park Tool’s repair videos on YouTube, very in depth and helpful for learning bike maintenance.
Definitely the right size and properly snapped together, but stiffness might be the case like enkifish suggested as well. I don’t think it’s between gears, I’ve had that issue before and it didn’t have the freewheeling sound. I’ll have a look at the channel and see if any of it helps though, thanks.
