Wheels, chains, and cassettes

[Batbike]

Wondering ...

I have 2 rear wheels -- they are not the same wheel. During the winter I have been using one wheel as my "trainer wheel" and the other wheel as my outside wheel. Until yesterday, I would move cassette from wheel to wheel, depending on which one I was using. Also, I would have to make minor rear derailleur adjustments between wheels (I believe the dish is different on each wheel, but adjustments minor and no big deal).

Anyway, yesterday I put a new cassette on my outside wheel and a new chain on the bike, adjusting the new cassette/chain combo to my outside rear wheel. Then I swamped wheels, putting my old cassette/trainer wheel on bike to ride indoors. It was such a mess! The derailleur didn't shift to all cogs, it was noisy, and when I did get it to shift to all cogs it would "jump or pop or something" when I stood, especially on the 53x13. Is this an alignment problem or a old cassette/new chain problem?!

[DebW]

Wondering ...

I have 2 rear wheels -- they are not the same wheel. During the winter I have been using one wheel as my "trainer wheel" and the other wheel as my outside wheel. Until yesterday, I would move cassette from wheel to wheel, depending on which one I was using. Also, I would have to make minor rear derailleur adjustments between wheels (I believe the dish is different on each wheel, but adjustments minor and no big deal).

Anyway, yesterday I put a new cassette on my outside wheel and a new chain on the bike, adjusting the new cassette/chain combo to my outside rear wheel. Then I swamped wheels, putting my old cassette/trainer wheel on bike to ride indoors. It was such a mess! The derailleur didn't shift to all cogs, it was noisy, and when I did get it to shift to all cogs it would "jump or pop or something" when I stood, especially on the 53x13. Is this an alignment problem or a old cassette/new chain problem?!

Not shifting to all cogs is an adjustment problem. The jumping/skipping problem and noisiness is old cassette/new chain. You are either going to have to put the old chain back on when you use the old cassette or swap cassettes each time or put a new cassette on the old wheel. It is bad for your components and somewhat dangerous (if you were riding outside) to have the chain jumping over cogs like that.

[Batbike]

DebW -- thanks for your reply! I had a feeling that is the problem. I played with adjustments (with old cassette/new chain) for HOURS last night and could not get noise to go away, but did get it move on all cogs. However, the skip/jump thing was still there on the old cassette. I was trying to make my life easier when using the trainer, but looks like it will not work -- will need to swap new cassette from wheel to wheel ... still easier than changing tire from wheel to wheel!

I plan on putting outside wheel on bike today with new cassette and readjusting alignment. Then I will move new cassette to my indoor trainer wheel and see how much "different" it is -- have a feeling my adjustments will be MUCH less because I won't be trying to get rid of noise and the chain/cassette combo will run much smoother.

Do you feel I should throw away the old cassette? Or is it good for some future project?

[DebW]

I plan on putting outside wheel on bike today with new cassette and readjusting alignment. Then I will move new cassette to my indoor trainer wheel and see how much "different" it is -- have a feeling my adjustments will be MUCH less because I won't be trying to get rid of noise and the chain/cassette combo will run much smoother.

Do you feel I should throw away the old cassette? Or is it good for some future project?

Might as well throw that old cassette away. Unless you want to swap chains and keep using the old chain with it. But it's worn and even with the old chain won't last much longer.