Dahon Vitesse - gear problems

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Hello folder fellows,

I have had a Dahon Vitesse for a while now (~18 months) and the gears have never been right. It's an older (?) model with derailleur gears (I think the new ones have a hub). But the gears have been a pig since day 1. They clank, they jump, they rattle, they slip.

I've had the LBS look at it, they changed the gear cable - it was alright for about 10 miles and then the clanking started again. I think the chain catches on the higher-up cog (if that makes sense) but not every time - it's like the whole thing is twisted somehow. Now it's got to the point where it's almost unridable. I don't know how to proceed - had anyone else had this problem? How did you solve it? Would a new chain/cogs set make any difference (I don't want to pay x-amount of £££ for that only to find it's still wrong).

I'm in East Anglia so no real hills, so in desperation I'm wondering about getting it converted to a single speed, but don't know if this is desirable/possible.

Help!!
 
We have some at work and they do the same thing I have just given up on them as I think it is some thing to do with the frame? but I just can not put my finger on it and have tried every thing I know to fix it.


Sorry for not helping but if you do find out tell me please so I can fix the ones we have.
 
OP
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Morrisette

Morrisette

New Member
Thanks for replies - I'm not sure what I would be taking a picture of - you can't see anything unusual. Nothing LOOKS twisted or out of alignment.

Spandex - When you say the frame, do you think that it's flexing or something? I'm disheartened to hear you've got the same problem with more than one bike!

I had a look on the Dahon forum but couldn't find much. There is talk on there of gear problems with the Vitesse, but people were talking about 'axle flex' and 'chain tensioners' and I'm pretty sure they are talking about the 5-speed hub geared Vitesse, rather than this one?
 
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Morrisette

Morrisette

New Member
It looks straight. The wheels turn freely. What it looks like (when you turn the bike over and twirl the pedals) is that the chain is not feeding from the front cog to the back at the same angle (sorry, technical terms :?:!). The clanking is worse in the easier gears, maybe this increases this angle?

Given that you've tried to fix this as well and not got anywhere, I wonder would a new chain/cog set solve this? Or a single speed conversion? I don't want to bin the bike, and I do occasionally need a fold-up (today for example). But it's sounding like I could throw money at it in the LBS and still end up with a turkey ;).
 
Do not give up yet
 
Ok what did I do

Checked the cable, mech, mech hanger, shifter, chain (and lobed), chain alinement, wheel / axle spacing.

Changed the cable, mech, mech hanger, chain


All one by one and retested to see if it had worked and nope none did the only thing I did not do is check the frame?

I do not think there is much more to be done?

BTW if you do not know I have a full workshop set up at work to deal with all most any bike you can think of as my work has over 700 bi, tri and quadricycles with seven seats from 1.8kg up to 389kg.
 

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
This might be a silly suggestion and I don't know how many gears you have, but if it was mine and all else failed, I'd try an old school friction type shifter so you could select your gear and trim it in your desired gear so the chain isn't catching on the other cogs...
 
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