How often do you have to adjust your chain?

[swee'pea99]

"Chain looks a bit loose..."

I seem to be having to re-tighten my chain every couple of months. Is that normal? I can't figure it out. I'm sure the wheel isn't shifting, so is this just wear? Surely not. I only ride about 30-50 miles/week. Surely a chain doesn't wear (or stretch?) that fast?

 

[Old Plodder]

It does sound like the wheel is moving to me also. Maybe you need serrated washers under the nuts.

 

[dodgy]

It does sound like the wheel is moving to me also. Maybe you need serrated washers under the nuts.

/crosses legs

 

[screenman]

Oops! sorry.

 

[swee'pea99]

I've never had to re-tighten my chain - when it stretches (after 2-3,000 miles) I put a new one on (with a new rear cassette/sprocket). Are you doubly sure that the rear wheel isn't moving?

Pretty much. Its nutted - not QR - and I tighten the things with a 14" adjustable, stopping just this side of stripping the threads. When I just loosened it off to tighten the chain - again - it was actually quite a struggle to loosen the things. And surely if the wheel was slipping, it wouldn't stay straight in the frame? It surely wouldn't slip equally on both sides? Obviously I can't swear to it, but it just doesn't seem possible to me that those nuts have allowed that wheel to move. Then again, maybe it would make sense to at least try some serrated washers.

As to the bike & gears, it's an old Olmo Pista track-racing frame, converted to fixed, with a 48 on the front and a 14 (I think...maybe allow +/- 1) on the back.

I'm very interested to hear of 2,000-3,000 miles without needing adjustment. That's much more the kind of thing I was anticipating...

 

[derrick]

My Fixie seems to need tightening every now and then, as you say if the wheel was moving it would pull it to one side, can only be a bit of wear or chain stretch. i will watch this post for further developments.

 

[Old Plodder]

Do you have chain tensioners fitted (?).

 

[swee'pea99]

Nope.

 

[Colin S]

How loose is the chain when you need to tighten it?
Sounds like it is "chain stretch" to me If you think the much quoted 1mm of wear is over a very small length of chain if you multiply this up to a full chain it would look very loose on a single speed / fixie

C

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I have to adjust mine about once a week this time of year, my fixed is the only bike I ride in the winter, I'm doing around 100-120 miles a week, my Pearson has track ends and I tend to pull the wheel forward, but I daren't tighten the nuts any more, I'd never get the wheel off by the roadside if I had a puncture.

 

[swee'pea99]

Hmmm. "the much quoted 1mm of wear"? That's a new one on me. But as for 'how loose?', I've picked up from somewhere the idea that if you grip the chain half way along its length, you should be able to flex it up, and down, by something like 2cm between the top extreme and the bottom. When it needs tightening, I'd guess it's something like twice that - enough, in any case, that it can jump off the sprocket going over a speed bump or something.

 

[swee'pea99]

I have to adjust mine about once a week this time of year, my fixed is the only bike I ride in the winter, I'm doing around 100-120 miles a week, my Pearson has track ends and I tend to pull the wheel forward, but I daren't tighten the nuts any more, I'd never get the wheel off by the roadside if I had a puncture.

Wow. So, every 100-120 miles. That's more often even than mine. Is that wear, or stretch, or don't know?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Wow. So, every 100-120 miles. That's more often even than mine. Is that wear, or stretch, or don't know?

Mostly its down to me leaning hard on the pedals, have to sometimes, this is about half a mile from work on the way home and is steeper than it looks on the map http://goo.gl/maps/148BL

I sometimes do this one on a Sunday, another good climb http://goo.gl/maps/YY8q7

 

[Andrew_Culture]

On my singlespeed I have to tighten the chain by loosening the QR then sitting on the ground behind the bike, putting my feet on the pedals and going HEAVE and then tightening the QR somehow.

I know when it's time to tighten the chain because I start wondering why pedaling is such an effort, and it's usually because the rear wheel has shifted against the rear stays

 

[colly]

I bought a new chain shortly before Christmas. I use a half link and they, so I'm told, are a little more prone to stretch. I probably got 1100 miles out of the old one. Maybe.
I read that between the rear sprocket and the chainwheel a half inch of movement up and down was correctly tensioned.
It's well dodgy having your chain unship on a fixed.