[armruffSSR]

This past weekend I went riding on my Santa Cruz Blur and my ride was more of a frustration than an enjoyment. My chain did not want to stay on any of the middle cogs on my rear cassette. The chain and the cassette are about a year old with 2 day weekday and hard weekend riding.
Are there any issues that with the bike being full suspension that the chain will not want to stick to the desired cogs.
Do I need to make any adjustments to my derraliur?
The local shop told me a while back that my cassete may need to be changed pretty soon.
Is it the cassette?
Do other Bikers with rear suspension have problems with the chain slipping on the cassette. I am looking for answers primarily from people with similar rear suspension problems, because my friend on his brand new full suspension bike has a similar issue. We are both looking for answers.

 

[Blue Shorts]

This past weekend I went riding on my Santa Cruz Blur and my ride was more of a frustration than an enjoyment. My chain did not want to stay on any of the middle cogs on my rear cassette. The chain and the cassette are about a year old with 2 day weekday and hard weekend riding.
Are there any issues that with the bike being full suspension that the chain will not want to stick to the desired cogs.
Do I need to make any adjustments to my derraliur?
The local shop told me a while back that my cassete may need to be changed pretty soon.
Is it the cassette?
Do other Bikers with rear suspension have problems with the chain slipping on the cassette. I am looking for answers primarily from people with similar rear suspension problems, because my friend on his brand new full suspension bike has a similar issue. We are both looking for answers.

First off.....If you've been using the same chain for a year with 3 rides/week, your chain is most likely toast. Unfortunately, so are your cassette and chainrings. You can measure the chain to check, but it's most likely worn beyond repair.

The issue with the chain jumping can be a simple cable adjustment, but given the worn chain and rings.......you still need to replace parts even if an adjustment will help.

 

[deadmeat]

I had a similar problem with my blur early on in it's life. Adjusting the rear deraileur and shortening the cable length (cable stretch during break-in) fixed my problem. I do agree though that it sounds like it may be time for replacements. It has been suggested to me to replace the cassette and crankset at the same time if one is worn. This will keep the older part from shortening the life of the newer as the ramping of the teeth would be differently worn.

 

[armruffSSR]

the chain switches gears when rear shock is suspended

thanks for the info. i will get the parts and make the switch.

on my friends bike, the chain slips from gear when the rear shock is suspended. this is similar to what has been happening on my blur. the chain does not want to stay in the same rear cog when i land and the rear shock is suppressed. hopefully this makes sense.

does the actual geometry of a full suspension bike have anything to do with a chain slipping easier than on a hardtail. my hardtail doesn't have this issue.

 

[Warp]

Not really....

But on some designs (cable routing) the shifter cable might stretch which produces this ghost-shifting.

I had a Giant Warp and a URT bike and none of them had any misshifting.

Replace your drivetrain and then work on the cable routing. Try to find a spot where the cable would not bend a lot when the suspension compresses.

 

[Legbacon]

Full length housing

I agree that your drivetrain is probably worn out and your cable stretched but full length housing for the rear derailleur makes sense for FS bikes. I had ghostshifting on a bike when the rear suspension moved but I learned on this forum that full length housing would fix it and it did.

 

[Blue Shorts]

thanks for the info. i will get the parts and make the switch.

on my friends bike, the chain slips from gear when the rear shock is suspended. this is similar to what has been happening on my blur. the chain does not want to stay in the same rear cog when i land and the rear shock is suppressed. hopefully this makes sense.

does the actual geometry of a full suspension bike have anything to do with a chain slipping easier than on a hardtail. my hardtail doesn't have this issue.

Ghost shifting can occur when your r derailler is out of adjustment. This phenomenon occurs more on FS bikes because there is alwasy some side to side motion....however slight.

You still need to change that chain....and maybe the cassette and rings..

 

[chad1433]

If you're getting shifting while the suspension is working, your chain may be too short and your getting that chain growth affect. VPP and single pivot designs rely on chain tension to reduce suspension movement. If the chain is too short, as the suspension cycles it lengthens the distance from the cogset to the chainrings - it may be pulling the chain off the cassette. If the cassette is worn, the chain is worn, and/or too short, you could be exacerbating the problem.

Check the chain length - there's a good article in the new 26 magazine about tuning (SRAM, but it's basically the same for Shimano) and one in the MBR magazine (British Mag). With a chain tool, you can see also if the chain is stretched. If it's not, you may just need to add a link to the chain. If all that doesn't work, you might have to change chainrings/cassette. A more costly proposition.