Chain tension

[slctrials.com]

I just put on a new surly singleator and shortened the chain so much that the singleator arm lightly touches the chainstay. The bike pedals smoothly and feels great. Is it bad to have the chain so tight?

Sorry if this question is too basic for some of you advanced people, but I am mechanically retarded.

[AgrAde]

how much movement does the middle top side of the chain have?

[slctrials.com]

1 inch or slightly less

[AgrAde]

she's sweet bo. as long as you can't feel abnormal resistance when backpedalling with your hand.

edit: oh and check if it goes tighter and looser. i hate setting up BMXs with the perfect tension and then you pedal half a crank turn and it's too tight to ever use.

[tomacropod]

^^ that's unlikely to be a huge problem on little machined sprockets and freewheels. It's stamped chainrings which are the bitches.

- Joel

[CoppellStereo]

tight = bad, the tighter it is, the quicker your bearing and your chain will go out. yeah, check for the "freewheel wobble", hold your hand on the chain, or push down on the tensioner and spin the cranks backwards, maybe also push the bike, and feel the tension to see if it changes along with checking the freewheel wobble. i would say if you squeeze the chain, and it touches your chainstay, the tension should be good, but if it cant get near it at all, i would add a link, or a half link

[AgrAde]

^^ that's unlikely to be a huge problem on little machined sprockets and freewheels. It's stamped chainrings which are the bitches.

- Joel

i know. but i also know that the threads on my trials cranks are so offset from the square taper that i can see my derailer go up and down quite drastically because of the changing tension. :wtc:

shitty echoeses

[CoppellStereo]

well my White Industries Trials Freewheel, and every other WI Trials Freewheel I have ridden has had some sort of wobble, and chain-tension movement. I always thought it was my BB being bent, but from 2 different frames, 3 different BBs, 2 different cranks (FFW and RFW), the same wobble is always present

[JoKeem006]

You know I noticed the same thing too. I thought it was because my BB might be bent but im not 100% sure. Also sometiems my WI Trials FW skips, making a loud clicking noiseas it skips an engagement point. Any one else have this problem?

[Acolyte]

^^rebuild your WI. Take it apart, clean it, and put it back together. Cleaning and relubricating parts does wonders.