New chain buzz

[Pedalo]

I've just swapped the chain on my bike for a new one. Gear changes seem super slick but there is now a continuous buzzing noise when I pedal. It seems to do it on all sprockets - perhaps louder on the larger sprockets of the cassette.

Is this my bike telling me it also wants a new cassette or will it just go away after a few more miles?

I did thoroughly clean and degrease everything when I changed the chain and re-lubed. Could it be that I haven't used enough oil?

 

[Mussels]

It sounds like the chain might be rubbing on something, is it wider than the previous chain?

 

[Pedalo]

I'm not sure. Unfortunately I've already thrown the old one away (though I can see myself trawling through the rubbish later )

The new one is one of these:
Shimano CN-HG40 Chain with Connecting Link

Is there a chance this might not be suitable for an 8 speed cassette?

Thanks

 

[Mussels]

Is there a chance this might not be suitable for an 8 speed cassette?

It should be but I've found myself that isn't always the case, I've had 7 speed freewheels which don't have quite the same dimensions. Some cages are narrower than normal (can't remember which) and can have problems with certain chains, that might be your problem but it might just be an alignment issue. You need to get close if you can and work out what's rubbing.
Does it happen when you pedal backwards?

 

[sideways]

Your fortunate that its not slipping my experience through selling second hand bikes is most cassettes with more than seven speeds need the cassette and chain changing together, you also need a narrower chain on 8 speed and above, your rubbing noise could be the chain is fractionally too wide and is rubbing on the side of the adjacent gears.Chains advertised as 678 are misleading, in my experience its 567 and you need a chain thats 8/9 speed to do the job.

 

[Pedalo]

From the answers so far I get the impression that this is not normal and wont just go away!

It does also make the sound when pedaling backwards so I guess the 'chain too wide' diagnosis is probably spot on.

Done a little more digging. I thought all the components on my bike were Shimano but I found an old spec sheet for the bike which suggests that the cassette is a SRAM PG830 11-30. Are there compatibility issues between Shimano chains and SRAM cassettes?

What would you recommend I do next:

i) Try fitting a shimano HG 8 speed cassette?
ii) Fit a narrower chain?
iii) Trawl through the bins, put the old chain back on and give it all up as a bad idea!

 

[flecc]

Cassette wear may be playing a part, but since its worse if anything on the larger sprockets, that's less likely.

I use SRAM chains myself and you could try this low cost SRAM chain to match your cassette, its HG compatible:

SRAM chain at SJS
.

 

[Mussels]

What would you recommend I do next:
i) Try fitting a shimano HG 8 speed cassette?

If you fit a different cassette then you may find you need a new gear shifter too as they aren't all compatible (even within the same brand sometimes). I'd try and find the right chain myself, Fleccs link to a cheap one looks like a good thing to try if you don't go for the original.

 

[Pedalo]

Thanks for the advice all. I'll try the SRAM chain and let you know how it goes.

After a bit of reading around it looks like in general:

SRAM chains work with all of SRAM, Shimano HG and IG cassettes.

Shimano IG chains work with Shimano HG and IG cassettes. (not sure about SRAM cassettes)

Shimano HG chains work with Shimano HG cassettes but reportedly not with IG cassettes (and my experience shows not with SRAM cassettes either!).

The above rules of thumb were picked up from various discussion forums so might not be 100% reliable - after all you can never believe all you read on a forum

If this works out I'll stick with SRAM chains in future.

 

[Mussels]

Thanks for the advice all. I'll try the SRAM chain and let you know how it goes.

After a bit of reading around it looks like in general:

SRAM chains work with all of SRAM, Shimano HG and IG cassettes.

Shimano IG chains work with Shimano HG and IG cassettes. (not sure about SRAM cassettes)

Shimano HG chains work with Shimano HG cassettes but reportedly not with IG cassettes (and my experience shows not with SRAM cassettes either!).

The above rules of thumb were picked up from various discussion forums so might not be 100% reliable - after all you can never believe all you read on a forum

If this works out I'll stick with SRAM chains in future.

The chain might be OK with the cassette and have a problem with your derailer, you'd need to have a close look.

 

[flecc]

My SRAM chains are with all Shimano setups and 8 speed rear mechanisms, so I think that SRAM chain should be ok.
.

 

[Pedalo]

The new chain is fitted and I enjoyed a much quieter ride to work this morning. *

Thanks to Mussels and Flecc for help and advice sorting out the problem.

Comparing the chains the links do look incredibly simililar which makes it hard to believe it was actually the type of chain that was causing the problem. As I was fitting the new one I nearly fed the chain the wrong side of the retaining lug just behind one of the jockey wheels. I was probably stupid enough to have made that mistake first time round and if I did it could well have been that causing the rubbing. Anyway I'll hang on to the other chain and try refitting it again in another couple of thousand miles.

 

[NRG]

I did a similar thing with the front triple ring and front derailleur whilst investigating a clicking sound, the middle ring was rubbing on the derailleur and sounded like a chain that needed replacing ASAP!