7/24/2019 How Do I Stop Chain Rattle

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01 Cut the valve off an old inner tube. Begi nwrapping the tube around your chainstay;

trap the first wrap of tube under the second to

hold it in place.

T H E B I G Q U E S T I O N

Q&AHow do I stopchain rattle?

THIS MONTH:SILENCE CHAINNOISE, CHAINSTAY PROTECTION,SHOCK BUSHINGS SERVICE

YOUREXPERT

AL VINES

A shop mechanic

for 13 years, Al has

been there and fixed

that. He owns 10

bikes and says his

least favourite job is

sorting out internally

routed cables.

QMy bike is noisy when riding over

really rough ground, and the flapping

chain is starting to damage the paintwork.

What can I do?

Keith Roberts, email

AYou cant silence the noise completely

unless you opt for a singlespeed

drivetrain, but there are two ways you can

stifle it. Firstly, you can limit the flapping

movement of the chain so that it hits the

frame less often, and secondly you can

dampen any noise by placing padding andprotection where the chain hits the frame.

In addition to this you can employ

mechanical means. The finest invention for

this purpose is a clutch rear mech, either in

the form of Shimanos pioneering Shadow

Plus design or SRAMs Type 2. Both vastly

increase the tension in the derailleur cage

and this reduces the movement of the chain,

resulting in less noise. A clutch mech makes

a huge difference and, thanks to technology

trickling down to Deore level, a Shadow

Plus can cost as little as 49.99. It will not

only make your bike quieter, it will also

make it less likely that the chain will become

derailed from the chainring handy if

youre running a 1x drivetrain.

The key difference between the two

systems is that Shimanos top-end XTR and

XT mechs have adjustable tension, which

means you can get the perfect balancebetween chain retention and smooth gear

changes; on the SRAM the tension is fixed.

Both products allow you to reduce tension

when removing the rear wheel with Shadow

Plus its via the on/off switch, whereas the

Type 2 has a catch to hold the cage in its

forward position, which does a similar thing.

To minimise the amount

of chain flapping around

and save weight, measure

the chain length by

passing the chain around

the largest chainring

and the largest sprocket

(avoiding the rear

mech). Shimano then

recommends adding

two whole (male and

female) links, while SRAM

suggests adding one

link and a Powerlock or

Powerlink connector.

On many full-

suspension bikes the

distance between

the cassette and the

chainrings grows as

the bike is compressed.

Shimanos advice is to

measure the chain length

with the suspension fully

compressed to indicate

maximum chain growth.

My personal method

is to fit the chain around

the largest chainring

and sprocket, through

the rear mech, and then

remove enough chain to

have the rear mech at

near full stretch with the

bike fully compressed (on

a full-suspension bike).

CHECK CHAIN LENGTH

H O W T O

100 PEUJANUARY 2014

Take compression

into account when

cutting your chain

MAKE A CHAINSTAY PROTECTORUsing an old punctured inner tube to protect

your chainstay may not be pretty but its really

effective. The rubber reduces noise from chain

slap plus its tough, durable and free.

01

02

W o r l d M a g s . n e t W o r l d M a g s . n e t

W o r l d M a g s . n e t

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7/24/2019 How Do I Stop Chain Rattle

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Pull the tube nice and tight as you wrap it. Use electrical tape as

shown to neaten it up and make the tube extra secure.

03 Continue to wrap the rest of the chainstay, spacing each wrap

evenly. Finish the end of your protector with a good few tight

wraps of electrical tape.

02

FITTING SHOCKBUSHINGS

QIve got some play in the

rear end of my bike and it

seems to be the shock bushings.

Are they easy to fit, should I gofor offset ones (Nukeproof

Mega seems to be slack

enough with a low enough BB

already?) and what ones do I

need? Are they standard?

Monte, forum

AFirst, check the shock

bushes are definitely the

problem by placing your finger

on the shock mount as shown

above, and lift the saddle up

and down to unweight and

weight the bike. Any play will be

felt through your fingers. Also,

check both mounts becausethey sometimes wear at

drastically different rates.

If youre happy with the

geometry of your bike then

dont mess it up just fit a

standard bush. You need to

get the correct size for your

shock though, as different

manufacturers use different

diameter shock eyelets. Most

shocks use a 12.7mm bush,

but TF Tuned has a guide on

its website (tftunedshox.com/

MountKitGuide.aspx) so you can

find out. Regarding removal

and fitting, you can

bodge it with a socket

set and a vice, or get a

proper tool like BETDs

(see mountainbike

components.co.uk),

which will cost

you 28.99.

FURTHER READING

QAre there any mountain

bike maintenance books

you would recommend for the

home mechanic?

Andy McKeown, email

AWe like Park Tools Big

Blue Book of Bicycle

Repair(24.99). Its in its third

edition now, and it should be up

to date for a while. Also, make

sure you keep an eye on thehow to pages in this ere mag.

And if theres anything youd

like to see or think weve

missed, let us know via

mbr@ipcmedia.com.

UPGRADING TO 10-SPEED

Q My current wheels have

Deore XT hubs fitted to

DT rims. However, the M756

freehub I have says it is for 8-9

speed. I will be using a 2x10

set-up. According to what I can

see I need part FH-M756A for

the 10-speed cassette. Am I

going to give myself grief if Igo ahead and fit my 10-speed

cassette to the 8-9 speed hub?

Ive seen 10-speed spacers for

sale do I need one?

markrussel78, forum

AAny Shimano 8- or 9-speed

freehub can take a

10-speed cassette. So you don

need to upgrade this part; you

can just buy a new cassette

and chain, and fit them. The

10-speed spacer you have seen

is for road riders who want

to run a 10-speed

cassette on

an 11-speed

body.

QUICKFIXES

Hands-on job: youll

soon get a feel for

detecting bushing play

JANUARY 2014PEU10

Got a question

about fixing your

bike? Email

mbr@ipcmedia.

com with Q&A in

the subject line

Chainstay protectors either stick on or

wrap around your chainstay to deaden

noise. The stick-on stuff includes

protective clear tape often called

helitape, as it was originally designed

to protect helicopter rotor blades, but

its great at protecting against

paint damage all over the bike.

For greater sound

deadening there are

wrap-around guards made

from neoprene or a

co-moulded plastic.

Neoprene offers

a universal fit,

whereas the

plastic guards

are made to fit

a certain specific make and model of

bike. If you dont want to spend much

money then there are other options,

including Velcro, 3M rubber mastic

tape and even an old inner tube.

10-speed cassettes will

fit without a spacer

DEADEN THE NOISE

03

There are numerous

products on the market

for reducing chain rattle

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