Clicking in "easier" gears?

[bluerider]

If the front derailleur needs adjusting, it's usually a scraping sound, not a clicking sound. Is the sound still present when you turn the crank by hand (on a work stand or with the bike upside down), or only under riding load? If the sound is there with the bike stationary, look to see if the chain is scraping the front derailleur or something else. If the rear derailleur is out of adjustment, the chain could be ticking a second sprocket. Another possibility is that the chain and or cogs are worn and need to be replaced. If the sound occurs on the cogs that your ride the most and the drivetrain is more than a couple years old, this is possible. Your LBS can quickly check chainwear or you can buy a chainchecker. Also, some people on this board have mentioned that using WhiteLightning lube on the chain has lead to drivetrain noise.

Thanks DebW. It is a clicking and not scraping. At least I think it is. Yup the sound is still there when I hand crank it. I will take a closer look tonight. I think my chain should be okay as I replaced it about 2 months ago. It's just aggravating to listen to and to avoid it, I end up having to mash up hills!

[Grog]

Thanks DebW. It is a clicking and not scraping. At least I think it is. Yup the sound is still there when I hand crank it. I will take a closer look tonight. I think my chain should be okay as I replaced it about 2 months ago. It's just aggravating to listen to and to avoid it, I end up having to mash up hills!

If you changed only the chain and it had been worn out for a while, it could be the block (cassette) that's worn. These two usually wear out together.

I noticed there are two philosophies regarding chairn-wear in bike wrenches:

A (most common) - Change chain as soon as it's overextended to the 1.0 level (see chain-measure tool).

B (less common) - Don't chain chain until it starts skipping teeth on your cogs. Then change the chain AND the cassette.

My chain has been overextended for a while but it hasn't impaired the capacity of the bike to shift or anything yet. My mechanics wants to wait until it becomes a problem to change it. It helps that he sells me parts at cost. But now I'm starting to think that I might even have to change the cranks when that day comes and even at cost it's going to be expensive (Ultegra here).

[DebW]

My chain has been overextended for a while but it hasn't impaired the capacity of the bike to shift or anything yet. My mechanics wants to wait until it becomes a problem to change it. It helps that he sells me parts at cost. But now I'm starting to think that I might even have to change the cranks when that day comes and even at cost it's going to be expensive (Ultegra here).

When the chain gets stretched excessively (probably considerably greater than 1%) it doesn't fit the chainrings properly and you'll see a gap between the chain and the bottom of the teeth. This will wear the teeth into needle sharp points, and the chainrings (not the whole crank) will need to be replaced. I did this to my chainrings once. Not sure if it really happened because of chain wear of just a softish alloy in the Stronglight chainrings with lots of miles on it. And I've seen one other bike with a chain stretched to this extent. But I think it's pretty rare. I'd monitor the shape of your chainring teeth and whether the chain sits solidly at the bottom of the teeth. If you get worried, well, chains are much cheaper than chainrings.

[Grog]

When the chain gets stretched excessively (probably considerably greater than 1%) it doesn't fit the chainrings properly and you'll see a gap between the chain and the bottom of the teeth. This will wear the teeth into needle sharp points, and the chainrings (not the whole crank) will need to be replaced. I did this to my chainrings once. Not sure if it really happened because of chain wear of just a softish alloy in the Stronglight chainrings with lots of miles on it. And I've seen one other bike with a chain stretched to this extent. But I think it's pretty rare. I'd monitor the shape of your chainring teeth and whether the chain sits solidly at the bottom of the teeth. If you get worried, well, chains are much cheaper than chainrings.

Thanks Deb, I'll look into that today!!

[KnottedYet]

Blue- the exact same thing happened to me when I cleaned my bike a couple weeks ago. I think I bumped the adjustment barrel for my rear derailleur. Once I followed the instructions in my handy BBB by Park Tools I was able to start eliminating the click. (mine was in the middle 3 cogs, no matter what chainring I was in.)

[RoadRaven]

OK... this thread title caught my attention...

My beautiful new baby had her first hiccup this last week - in the biggest gear (big front chain ring, smallest rear cog) it would click on my down stroke...

First we thought the derailleurs... but fiddling with those sorted nothing... hmmm, bent chain ring? Into the shed and three of us peering, finding that the chain consistently misses the ring in the same place - must be a slight bend in the chain, right?

Spanners out, trying to straighten the suspected link even though it looks straight... aha... but whats this??? The tooth on the big ring... ah yes... its twisted and chipped....

So my partner fabricates a tool to straighten the tip of the tooth... and away she is... changing as smoothly as a hot knife cuts through butter... sweeeeet

[RoadRaven]

Oh... I forgot to say... we suspect that it must have been a stone getting jammed in there and ground out to bend and chip the tooth... we've been servicing our own bikes for three years and its the first one of these we have had to deal with...