First Chain and Cassette

[jimmy]

Well, after talking about doing it for a while, I finally did it!

I changed my first chain and cassette. I did the 9 speed on the commuter the other night and gave it it's first decent test this morning.

I found it to be quite easy, with the biggest challenge getting the chain length right. Surprisingly, the length I determined was shorter than what the shop put on, and I think that I have the correct length. Why, well when in small-small, the chain on the derailleur doesn't rub any more.

The only problem that I have, is that I slightly damaged the 34 tooth chain ring when I had some bad chain suck a while ago. I bent some teeth and while I straightened them, the new chain isn't as tolerant of it. I have filed out some burrs, checked the alignment of teeth, but I still get the odd bit of chain suck (usually when starting under power, never a good time).

So, the next one for me to do is the road bike.

James

[weiyun]

Surely you've changed chains before, right?

I agree with you, the chain length on my Bianchi (shop job) looked and felt loose (more chain slap etc), while my home Ridley job is significantly tighter. I guess from a shop's angle, they need to consider the possibility of people changing for a larger cassette and not find themselves caught out by a short chain. The other possibility is that the Bianchi has a triple with long RD. Not sure how much a difference this makes though.

The chain length determination I used was "big-big plus 1 link". It's simple and seemed to work pretty well on my CT setup. I had a hard time trying to understanding some of the other techniques described out there.