New bike arrived..can't get chain on front cogs

[Accy cyclist]

It won't go on. There's something on the front derailleur blocking its path. The chain is down by the bottom bracket. The gears are Sram Rival. Any suggestions?

 

[Tim Hall]

Pics might help.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Pics might help.

I'd send some if i could. It's a crooked arm, about 3 inch long. It won't move and it looks like it won't unscrew.

 

[Tim Hall]

Hmm. Ok, is the front nech over the inner or outer ring?

 

[Accy cyclist]

Hmm. Ok, is the front nech over the inner or outer ring?

What's it look like?

 

[Tim Hall]

What's it look like?

It's your bike, you tell me what it looks like. If the front mech is over the big ring but the chain has dropped off the small ring onto the BB then the chain may jam against the front mech as you try to put it on. If this is the case, move the front mech by changing gear so it's over the small ring and refit tge chain.

 

[winjim]

Sounds like a chain catcher. It's designed to sit just next to the inner ring and stop the chain coming off. You should be able to loosen it off, move it out the way, put the chain back on and then tighten it up again.

 

[potsy]

Sounds like a dog fang..to stop the chain falling off

 

[Sea of vapours]

Is there a chain catcher on there? Something like the black bit on the right of this image, with SRAM written on it in white? If there is, you'll need to loosen it to get the chain past it, then tighten it back up again so that it just misses the chain when the chain is on the inner ring.

 

[jowwy]

If its a crooked arm, then its the sram chain catcher.......take it off, refit chain, then refit chain catcher

 

[Accy cyclist]

Right. See the front derailleur second left and bottom of this pic? Well it's that vertical black thing.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Is there a chain catcher on there? Something like the black bit on the right of this image, with SRAM written on it in white? If there is, you'll need to loosen it to get the chain past it, then tighten it back up again so that it just misses the chain when the chain is on the inner ring.
View attachment 125542

Yes that's it but how do i loosen it?

 

[Sea of vapours]

It looks as if you loosen the bolt at the front of the chain catcher so that it will swing to the side, put the chain on, put it back at the spacing shown in post #7. It may be the case that the small bolt (facing sideways on the side of the chain catcher in my photo above) controls the sideways swing, in which case you'd loosen the front one slightly, then turn the side one to move the catcher out of the way.

It might be a good idea to wait 'til someone who actually has exactly that front mech can tell you precisely what to do since I can't tell from the photos whether that front (large) bolt will loosen anything other than just the catcher - and you don't want to move the mech itself, just loosen the catcher.

 

[potsy]

I'd be worried about what damage the chain has now done to the carbon frame.

 

[Sea of vapours]

I found the SRAM 'Chain spotter' page on their site. You can safely loosen the front bolt, turn the side bolt to move the catcher out of the way, put the chain on, then move the catcher back in place (as picture in #7 above) using the side bolt, then lock it in place with the front bolt. You want it positioned so that, when the chain is on the inner chainring and largest rear sprocket, the catcher misses the chain by a small amount. It's there to stop the chain falling off to the inside.