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Lightly tensioned chain causes major chain slap noise

Are you experiencing chain slap on those downhill sections or sections of trail that you are not having to pedal? Doesn’t that sound get annoying to you after a while?

If you are experiencing a lot of chain slap, try moving your chain into the big ring up front. When you big ring it, you are essentially taking up more slack in the chain. By taking up some of that slack in the chain you reduce the amount of vertical movement of the chain which thereby reduces the amount of chain slap you hear.

Shift the chain to the big ring to reduce chain slap.

Just be careful when the terrain changes on you. If you are suddenly confronted with a little hill to climb don’t start dumping gears via the rear cassette. First, move the chain from the big ring to the middle chain ring up front then quickly change gears in the rear. Find the gear you need and pedal up the hill. If you immediately start dumping gears, while panicking that you won’t make it up the hill, you may reach the bottom of your cassette before you even know it and now you are cross-chaining! Ask me how I know this.

Of course, the best approach would be to plan ahead. If you see the trail heading upwards, start shifting before you reach the hill and get down into the gear you need so that you can attack the hill accordingly. Then, when it flattens out or points down again, big ring it!

Awww… Music to my ears, or is that the sound of silence?

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Is your loose chain bugging you?  Are you eccentric? Then read on…

Loose chain blues….

The Cure [not the band, sorry RL]:

1st: You put the lime in the coke… and make sure your eccentric bottom bracket’s [EBB] set screws are loose.

2nd:  Rotate the EBB to adjust the chain tension, a spanner wrench is ideal, a Tri-Y or Allen wrench can be used.  I like to rotate such that my EBB is at the lowest point that achieves proper chain tension.  This give you effectively a lower BB height.

3rd:  Tighten set screws, torque to manufactuer’s spec.  This steps invloves a lot of voodoo!  Some claim threadlocker (blue) is the only solution to ever loosening set screws, others chastise the thought of stuck bolts and proclaim anti-seize is the solution.  I follow the “a dab ‘ll do ya” school of thought and use a touch of grease [ I also check my bike before every ride, Mtnbikeriders makes no claim that this is the perfect 100% solution and shall not be held responsible for personal injury, embarassment, weight loss, nausea, poor gas mileage or even death resulting from use of said Tech Tip].

A quick and akward video of today’s tech tip:

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I’m a cost conscious shopper. In this economy, shouldn’t we all be? To help make your dollar, or whatever currency you use, go farther we’ve talked about a few different things you can do. We’ve previously discussed purchasing gently used equipment and also mentioned buying parts through other countries if the dollar is stronger than the other country’s currency.

Another little secret that I’ve stumbled upon is for buying new parts. Sometimes you have no choice but to buy new parts for your bike. A philosophy I’ve adopted based on the wisdom of fellow mountain bikers is to buy new drivetrain parts because by doing so I can prevent weird wear patterns and premature wear on those parts, but there is no reason to buy those parts at full cost!

Many times bike parts don’t change too much from year to year. Because of this it is always a good practice to be on the lookout for bike shops or websites that will sell you the 2008 part at a discount. Most bike shops have inventory that has been languishing on their shelves for a few months but you can guess how many times I’ve been told that what I bought was a previous year’s model… the answer rhymes with “hero”.

2008 model at over 20% discount from their original price.

With regards to websites I like how easy Pricepoint makes it to see the 2008 model. When I went to pricepoint.com last week I typed in “Sram 991” which is a popular chain. Up popped 6 versions of the chain with three of them being 2008 models that were discounted from their previous prices. Since the chain hasn’t changed much, if at all, from 2008 to 2009, I had no qualms purchasing the 2008 model for over 20% discount.

Looking for discounted 2008 parts, click here.

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Goodie but oldie, should I get it used or brand new?

As I gather parts for my frame build up I continually have to address the question: should I buy used or should I buy new? Unless you have an unlimited budget I’m sure you’ve probably asked yourself the same question.

Much of this answer will be determined by how much your build budget will allow and what level, or weight, you’re hoping to achieve. In my situation the bike I’m building up is a full suspension 29er and my budget is “really small” while also shooting for durable, weight conscious (not weight weenie) bike.

Sounds like an oxymoron right? Finding parts that are durable and weight conscious but are light on the budget are typically not compatible features in bike parts. But, I think it can be done or maybe I just hope it can be done. To help along this process, I had to consider buying used equipment. But what should I buy used and what should I buy new?

Durable and weight conscious, too bad it’s not cheap

For some advice on this, I turned to a friend who enjoys shopping for bike parts and asked for his thoughts. His rule for his bikes, of which he has many, is that drivetrain stuff like cranks/cassette/chain should be purchased new as to avoid weird wear patterns from prior usage. Control stuff like handlebars, stems, saddle, seatpost, can be bought used as long as they’re not too used.

Practical advice. Another piece of advice that I’ve learned is to be patient. A major factor I have on my side is time. I am not in a rush to build this bike up because I have access to other bikes. This gives me the option to wait for great deals to come along or to search the classifieds.

Score! Time permitted me to wait and I was able to nab this for cheap!

Having time allowed me to score a great deal on some gently used Easton Monkey Lite XC bars. Initially I had set my sites on any brand’s high end aluminum handlebars as this fit my “durable and weight conscious but also wallet friendly” budget. I figured that a manufacturer’s top of the line aluminum bars would be light weight and durable but not as expensive as carbon fiber bars. However, since I had time I was also keeping my eyes peeled on the used market which turned out pretty well, if I say so myself.

In the case of these bars I was able to achieve all of the parameters previously outlined for the build. Will this happen for all the bike parts? Probably not. But a man can hope, right?

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