CHAIN SUCK CURED BY FILING

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,803
30,376
one extra tooth on the smallest ring, not much more but it might help when I change it,
Indeed. When I rebuilt and modded both my eZee bikes, I chose 13 to 34 for both and used larger chainrings. The 20" wheel one has a giant 60 tooth chainring to give equivalent ratios:

 
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kinega

Pedelecer
Jan 29, 2014
62
15
62
Bristol
Save your file.
On my Bosch motor I just turned the sprocket around, now the chain runs on the unused side of the teeth.:cool:
flipping the sprocket worked for me as well. I've gone through 3 chains in just under 3000 miles. Got one in stock now ready for the next failure.
 

georgehenry

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2015
1,435
1,259
Surrey
I cleaned and oiled the transmission in readiness for five rides to work starting tomorrow. I road tested by pushing hard up a gentle incline of quarter of a mile at 20 miles an hour in top with no problems. I must admit I was close to changing the rear cassette and chain if it had misbehaved in the test ride but as it is mostly road work next week I will see how I get on with my 20 mile return journey to work with a potential 100 miles if all goes well.
 

georgehenry

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2015
1,435
1,259
Surrey
I actually rode to work four times completing 80 miles. All the miles were done on the road and the first three rides were glitch free. I experienced lots of wind and a fair bit of rain and my third ride was the wettest. The accumulation of muck and grime led to the return of my top gear problems on my fourth (last) ride to and from work. I have now decided to change at least the chain and rear cassette and perhaps the front chain ring as well. If I do change the front chain ring I will use a steel one as suggested by Martin and see how I get on.
 

georgehenry

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2015
1,435
1,259
Surrey
In the end I changed the rear cassette and chain and have completed two return trips (46 miles) of a possible four return trips (92 miles). I did not need to change the chain ring this time and my filed original is working well with the new chain and cassette with no chain suck. So you definitely can eliminate chain suck and extend the life of your chain ring with some careful filing although as others have said you can also consider flipping the front chain ring over.

The top gear glitch that emerged as a separate issue really just needed a new cheap 9 steel speed cassette and replacement chain. My 10 mile return journey from work is made predominantly in top gear using the smallest cog in the cassette making it vulnerable to wear and damage. The extra power created by a crank drive bike going through the chain, cassette and chain ring must put more strain and wear on those components and off road winter conditions add to the problem.

I find my current gearing seems spot on, 38 tooth front sprocket and 11/34 rear cassette. I could try a 40 tooth front chain ring with a 12/36 rear cassette. Has anyone tried different gearing on their bikes? Does anyone have an idea how this change would effect my gearing? I think a change of one tooth on the chain ring equates to about three on the rear but I am not sure? The reason for considering this change would be to get an extra tooth on the smallest cog/highest gear in the rear cassette to help it wear a bit better but keep a high top cruising speed. I still need good low gears for steep off road sections.
 

georgehenry

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2015
1,435
1,259
Surrey
Hi all, I have now added just over 700 miles to the bike since filing the front chain ring to cure the chain suck and it is still working well.

I did make one other very gentle filing adjustment to make sure the teeth were not hooking. I also needed to change the rear cassette after a re occurrence of a damaged top gear.

After replacing the cassette I suddenly thought that the apparently excessive wear to the cassette could be because the chain has lost most of its lubrication on the off road trip to work and I now have some good old gt85 in my locker at work to spray on the chain when I get there to prevent the chain drying out and this has made the transmission considerably smoother on my B road blast home and I have not had problems with the rear cassette since doing this . I should have thought of that before now!

I did buy a new steel front chain ring but it is sitting on a shelf in the garage at the moment.
 
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