[Rinker]

Guys/Girls,

I tried searching this topic to no avail and I'm sure someone has posted this question before but here goes.....

I am building up my first SS and have vertical drops on the rear so I have the Surly Singleator attached. New Sram PC1 SS chain w Surly 16 T rear cog. 32 front chain ring. When on the stand everything runs smooth. Chain line appears to be lined up. When I take it out on the trail and put torque to it- I get a jump in the chain like it is binding. I tried to see if the Singleator is binding but can't really tell if it is or not when on the bike. Can you crank the tension on the Singleators too much? Chain has tension but i can still move the Singleator up.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[sasquatch rides a SS]

How much extra chain do you have? I ran into the same issue. There wasn't enough "chain wrap" around my rear cog, and any time a significant amount of force was applied there would be a nasty grinding noise of the chain hopping over the teeth of the cog. Here is a picture of having too much chain.

Now what you want to do is take out a link or two so there isn't much chain, and if you can, get the tensioner to push up so it actually creates more wrap. Here is my bike with a shorter chain (as short as I can get it) and my tensioner pushing up. It is hard to see, but this is the only pic I have right now of that area of my bike. The chain is on top of the wheel on the tensioner, pushing up.

 

[Rinker]

I was going to take a picture at noon and forgot- but I know mine looks close to the one in the first photo. I will try reversing the tensioner so it pushes up and also take another link out of the chain. Thanks for the response!

 

[Sparticus]

I was going to take a picture at noon and forgot- but I know mine looks close to the one in the first photo. I will try reversing the tensioner so it pushes up and also take another link out of the chain. Thanks for the response!

If you can't get a whole link out of the chain, you could employ a half link. But if you do, beware. There's one good half link on the market and multiple bad ones. The one you want is the Gusset Slink Half link. Looks like this:

Available here:
https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=22297&category=59

Also, 3/32 master link here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013CVW56/ref=oss_product
Buy two masterlinks and you're golden.

Thanks to bad mechanic for bringing these two great products to light last year.

All the advice above assumes the use of a 3/32 chain, of course. Personally I use SRAM 8-spd chains and have enjoyed excellent performance.

--sParty

 

[Rinker]

Thanks for the advice guys. i appreciate it.

 

[fishcreek]

and usually the word "appears" and "seems" is always not good enough for good chainline.