Chain and rear derailleur

[Bike_Me]

Hi all,

Its been just a tick over 5 months since I purchased my Charge Juicer with 105 kit, clocking up to approx. 1700km commuting to work and around London.

A few weeks back, my chain snapped on my usual commute to work. Luckily, I was was within walking distance to an Evans who were able to repair my original chain. Prior to it snapping, I had a few instances where the chain would slip and get stuck behind my rear gears after back peddling to get into position when waiting at the lights.

I usually cycle using the highest gear on my front mech, and go up and down the gears at the rear. My question is, the rear derailleur is positioned at a 45 degree angle when using the largest gear, is this right? If not, would this be a sign of my chain being short, causing my chain to snag when I back peddle?

Thanks for the help!

 

[compo]

As a rule of thumb guide, with the chain on the largest chainwheel and the smallest cog at the rear you want your derailleur jockey wheel cage to be pretty well vertical.
There are other methods of getting chain lengths but that is the way I have always done it and had no problems.

 

[Brommyboy]

With a triple changer you should not cross the chain too much: using the front outer ring, avoid using the inner two or three sprockets; with the front inner ring, avoid using the outer two or three sprockets. The front middle ring can usually cope with all the rear sprockets. To get the correct chain length, put it on your two biggest, the front outer chain ring and largest sprocket: pull the chain tight and then ensure that there are just 4 extra links to allow for gear changing.

 

[Bike_Me]

Cheers for the help!