Bicycle chain "slipping".

[RossJarvis]

have you checked the chain for twist ?

Not finding a chain splitter, I'm waiting for the weather to look up so I can get the rear wheel off in the garden. By taking the tension out, the "free run" across the bottom appears to be hanging straight, but this is only about 12-18" so you can't see much.

 

[Jacob]

have you checked the chain for twist ?

I've never heard of anything like "chain twist" in 50 years of cycling and fiddling with hundreds of bikes. I suppose it would be possible as accident damage or if your chain drops and jams behind the chain wheel, but I've never had a twisted one.

 

[Jacob]

What sort of bike is this with only 6 gears?
Sounds like freewheel prob. Most force is applied in bottom gear where it'll show first. Oiling might fix it - bike on it's side and flood oil into the hub, but if you've ridden it a lot with the slipping it's probably too late. Could be something else though.

why would oiling the 'hub' help a freewheel? these are two different components you can oil a freewheel ,but please never oil a hub this will need taking apart and greasing.

PLEASE NOTE THE ABOVE IS NOT WHAT IS CAUSING THE OP's PROBLEM.

I meant the hub of the freewheel so to speak. OBVIOUS I THOUGHT, AND NO NEED TO USE CAPITAL LETTERS.

it is more likely to be the chain and rear cassette

It isn't a cassette freewheel - you can see in the photo.

 

[clk230]

Jacob,

I've done a bit more that fiddle with bikes unless working on a member of Team GB's bike could be classed as fiddling .

twisted chains exist

 

[Shrubby]

A new chain from Sram or kmc should have a magic-link so a splitter is something to borrow just to get the old chain off (or improvise - hacksaw etc)
The other cause of skipping in top gear is overshifting where the mech pushes the chain beyond the smallest sprocket and it rides outside the teeth - this is cured by adjusting the H limit screw on the derailleur - this is rare on an indexed gear bike as the float built into the top pulley normally stops it happening
Matt

 

[Jacob]

Jacob,

I've done a bit more that fiddle with bikes unless working on a member of Team GB's bike could be classed as fiddling .

twisted chains exist

I imagine Team GBs bikes won't have had old style freewheel blocks for many years, so fiddling with heaps of crappy neglected bikes is probably a more useful experience in this case!

 

[clk230]

Jacob ,

i know you like to have the last word ,but I have vastly more experience in this area than yourself and have worked on crappy bikes right up to the very top end .So please don't ruin this thread for the OP .

Ross,
Theres some good advice on this thread if you read between posts lol.

 

[RossJarvis]

Ross,
Theres some good advice on this thread if you read between posts lol.

Yes, thanks for all the help everyone . I'm just waiting for the weather to improve to get it upside down in the garden. Think that'll be March

 

[Jacob]

Jacob ,

i know you like to have the last word ,but I have vastly more experience in this area than yourself and have worked on crappy bikes right up to the very top end .So please don't ruin this thread for the OP .

Ross,
Theres some good advice on this thread if you read between posts lol.

FFS what are you talking about? I am just telling our OP of what I've experienced in the hope that it might be helpful, and I am getting contradicted from various people looking for a disagreement AND SHOUTING IN CAPITAL LETTERS. YOU ARE ruining the thread!

I repeat - old style freewheels can seize (or otherwise fail to function) due to lack of maintenance and may need cleaning out (white spirit or paraffin) and oiling (not grease it may cause a problem of it's own). I've done this many times. Next step is to dismantle it.
It may not be our OPs problem of course - it may be something else. Or it is very probably too late as he has been hammering the ratchets for some time.

 

[bugbear]

FFS what are you talking about? I am just telling our OP of what I've experienced in the hope that it might be helpful, and I am getting contradicted from various people looking for a disagreement AND SHOUTING IN CAPITAL LETTERS. YOU ARE ruining the thread!

You will just have to accept that on a public forum you will bump into opinions different from your own. That's the whole idea, you shouldn't be surprised.

BugBear

 

[bellringer]

Chian can get twisted easily and Jacob i don't play with road bike so i don't work with the type of free wheel he has. Now go away and stop annoying people

 

[Jacob]

FFS what are you talking about? I am just telling our OP of what I've experienced in the hope that it might be helpful, and I am getting contradicted from various people looking for a disagreement AND SHOUTING IN CAPITAL LETTERS. YOU ARE ruining the thread!

You will just have to accept that on a public forum you will bump into opinions different from your own. That's the whole idea, you shouldn't be surprised.

BugBear

I haven't expressed an opinion here at all - I've just detailed a problem than can occur with free wheels, and a simple solution. And a fact - that I have never encountered a twisted chain. I have no idea why anybody should take exception to these dull little items of information.

 

[SteveF]

i assume the rear adjuster isnt twisted ?

or the chain is too tight \ too loose?

Steve

 

[clk230]

Jacob,
The symptoms expressed by the OP would not point to a sticky freewheel ,if the freewheel is jamming the chain will pucker up and jam .
the advice given about oiling hubs could/was misread and could have ruined the OP's rear wheel hence the capital letters.

 

[Jacob]

Jacob,
The symptoms expressed by the OP would not point to a sticky freewheel ,if the freewheel is jamming the chain will pucker up and jam .
the advice given about oiling hubs could/was misread and could have ruined the OP's rear wheel hence the capital letters.

It could point to sticky ratchets not engaging due to gunge/rust whatever. This is a common problem with neglected bikes (OP mentions rust) with freewheels (not cassettes) and you'd get the symptoms described.
Oiling the hub of the freewheel is perfectly good advice - in fact essential as the old style of hub (as per OPs photo) has no seals.
The only misreading was your own, as you don't seem to realise that a freewheel has a hub, which is not the same hub as the wheel hub. Have a look at an old bike you will see what I mean.

 

[clk230]

Jacob ,

Why why why do you have to have the last word !

I guarantee I know more about bikes than you , but you crack on and try to argue the fact your right , when in this case you are wrong.

To the OP -the symptoms you gave will not be caused by a sticky freewheel.

Happy Christmas to all

 

[Jacob]

Jacob ,

Why why why do you have to have the last word !

I guarantee I know more about bikes than you , but you crack on and try to argue the fact your right , when in this case you are wrong.

To the OP -the symptoms you gave will not be caused by a sticky freewheel.

Happy Christmas to all

Could be caused by sticking ratchets. Simple fact. Oil might be the answer. clk230 is wrong.

I quite understand that you hadn't spotted it as an old style free wheel - they aren't that common any more. I haven't had one on a bike of my own for about 15 years. It was a 5spd Suntour block on a Campag Record wide flange hub on a 1965 Mercian Superlight frame, all scrapped now.

 

[clk230]

think about if the ratchets are sticking the bike will act like a fixed wheel ,this does not give slipping symptoms.
Don't presume I hadn't noticed it was a freewheel as it had to due to the age and being 6spd and they are still very very common .

Simple fact is life is to short to argue with you.

To the OP pm me for any advice.

 

[Woodchips2]

Ross, I've got no experience of bikes but I wonder if it's more fundamental going back to the wood store and Hobnobs project. You seemed to work very hard and maybe you stretched a fetlock and your legs are no longer the same length. Perhaps get the apprentice to check you out or better still build a dog cart and give up the cycling :lol: . Cycling seems a bit like sharpening, it all ends in grief :roll: .

Merry Christmas and look forward to a new humorous WIP next year.

Regards Keith

 

[Jacob]

think about if the ratchets are sticking the bike will act like a fixed wheel ,this does not give slipping symptoms.
Don't presume I hadn't noticed it was a freewheel as it had to due to the age and being 6spd and they are still very very common .

Simple fact is life is to short to argue with you.

To the OP pm me for any advice.

This could run and run!
Ratchets do stick, and fail to engage. I know this, I've seen it, I've fixed it, it happens often with old bikes left out in the rain etc. etc.
The fact that this is news to you doesn't make it any less true. Do you think I make up this boring b**llox or have hallucinations! This is ridiculous!