Chain/Cassette Question

[Alouette3]

11 hours ago, love2fly said:

Was working perfectly with my old KMC chain but it was past worn according to chain guage. Spare cassette same result. Blades all good.

How many KM on the cassette? If it was past worn on your gauge, the cassette is possibly past the point of you can swap a new chain.

Put the old chain on and ride it till it's dead, then go new chain, cassette and ring. 

If you swap chains, it should be done before it indicates past worn on the gauge.

You cant visually check for wear on a cassette or ring... not accurately at least. When you can see it, its well worn

[love2fly]

17 minutes ago, Alouette3 said:

How many KM on the cassette? If it was past worn on your gauge, the cassette is possibly past the point of you can swap a new chain.

Put the old chain on and ride it till it's dead, then go new chain, cassette and ring. 

If you swap chains, it should be done before it indicates past worn on the gauge.

You cant visually check for wear on a cassette or ring... not accurately at least. When you can see it, its well worn

As I said, spare cassette same issue. Current cassette high mileage but they last and last and I know my spare cassette is fine.

[Alouette3]

1 minute ago, love2fly said:

As I said, spare cassette same issue. Current cassette high mileage but they last and last and I know my spare cassette is fine.

Is the spare cassette new? Did you adjust your derailleur settings after swapping cassettes?

Derailleurs can be a dark art sometimes

Other thing to check, that is often overlooked is straightness of the derailleur hanger.

[Robbie Stewart]

Whenever my chain starts crawling up the rings when I pedal backwards that's normally a clue that my rear axle is loose. For some reason my Stumpy has the propensity to unwind the rear axle if I don't regularly check on it and then it immediately messes with the chain line.

[love2fly]

Replying to both the above,:

Cassette isn't new but rides 99,% the same.

Axle tight and no need to play with RD.

Im going to get a chain from Rapide as per a previous post and will report back.

[JoeMerida]

On 5/19/2025 at 8:40 AM, love2fly said:

Replying to both the above,:

Cassette isn't new but rides 99,% the same.

Axle tight and no need to play with RD.

Im going to get a chain from Rapide as per a previous post and will report back.

Chainring Could be Worn.

[Mook]

On 5/19/2025 at 8:40 AM, love2fly said:

Replying to both the above,:

Cassette isn't new but rides 99,% the same.

Axle tight and no need to play with RD.

Im going to get a chain from Rapide as per a previous post and will report back.

My apologies if I've missed this in the thread, but have you checked your RD hanger for alignment?

I have used SLX and XT chains on my 10 spd roadbike without any issues.

Interesting one this .......

[DieselnDust]

On 5/17/2025 at 2:08 PM, erikt123 said:

Hi, with your chain in the smallest casette sprocket, you need to line up the jockey wheels in the center of the fist casette sprocket using the the outside limit screw on your rear deraileur. Once this is lined up you will have to check if your gears are correct, going up and down the casette and adjusting the cable accordingly, then you should be able to free wheel anti clock with out any issues. Hope you come right, kind regards

Correction, you want to start with a straight chainline so best to pick a chainring and sprocket that gives a straight chain line. Then eyeball the guide pulley alignment to the bottom of the sprocket it’s under and work your way from there. If it shifts well but climbs up or down with a straight chainline then derailleur hanger is out of alignment. Repeat in the big ring. If the big ring delivers skipping or gears wanting to climb then the hanger could be out of alignment. This happens easily on flimsy road bike derailleur hangers.

With KMC chains always record chain length from new and Monitor with a chain checker. I’ve had them chains out of the packaging with 0,25% elongation. 
 

when last were the chainrings replaced?

I have also found with Shimano chainrings when back-pedalling there is a tendency to drop the chain into the inner ring. This is due to the shift gate teeth and pins in the ring.

Edited 15 hours ago by DieselnDust

[love2fly]

3 hours ago, JoeMerida said:

Chainring Could be Worn.

Chain getting caught up in cassette, has no bearing on chainring, which is fine. Verified by trying now removed chain and not having it on chainring, still catches. I'm going by the packaging having an MTB on it and should not have taken CL techies advice. Unfortunately it was one of three guys so its he said she said or I would have returned it cos that is *** advice.

[love2fly]

2 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Correction, you want to start with a straight chainline so best to pick a chainring and sprocket that gives a straight chain line. Then eyeball the guide pulley alignment to the bottom of the sprocket it’s under and work your way from there. If it shifts well but climbs up or down with a straight chainline then derailleur hanger is out of alignment. Repeat in the big ring. If the big ring delivers skipping or gears wanting to climb then the hanger could be out of alignment. This happens easily on flimsy road bike derailleur hangers.

With KMC chains always record chain length from new and Monitor with a chain checker. I’ve had them chains out of the packaging with 0,25% elongation. 
 

when last were the chainrings replaced?

I have also found with Shimano chainrings when back-pedalling there is a tendency to drop the chain into the inner ring. This is due to the shift gate teeth and pins in the ring.

Hey Diesel, Chainrings are not the issue. Wish I hadn't binned the old Shimano chain but it was worn.

Good advice!

That KMC chain was noisy from day 1.

Just a PS, I had Rotor Qrings on the bike for about 3 years meaning even less mileage on the chainrings, plus I rode MTB for a good portion plus I was staving off prostate cancer and didn't do much mileage for 2 years.....New chain from Rapide will HOPEFULLY make it by weekend or Monday/Tuesday so we will see....

[DieselnDust]

3 hours ago, love2fly said:

Hey Diesel, Chainrings are not the issue. Wish I hadn't binned the old Shimano chain but it was worn.

Good advice!

That KMC chain was noisy from day 1.

Just a PS, I had Rotor Qrings on the bike for about 3 years meaning even less mileage on the chainrings, plus I rode MTB for a good portion plus I was staving off prostate cancer and didn't do much mileage for 2 years.....New chain from Rapide will HOPEFULLY make it by weekend or Monday/Tuesday so we will see....

If present chain is more than 0.5% I reckon thats your problem. This 0.75% nonsense is just a money making scheme so you replace the whole drivetrain

[love2fly]

6 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

If present chain is more than 0.5% I reckon thats your problem. This 0.75% nonsense is just a money making scheme so you replace the whole drivetrain

Present chain is a brand new one. My issue is the suitability to road drivetrain.

 

[DieselnDust]

4 hours ago, love2fly said:

Present chain is a brand new one. My issue is the suitability to road drivetrain.

 

No such thing. 10 speed is 10speed, Shimano, sram, kmc, Taya , road , mtb they all have roughly similar dimensions. It’s only at 12s where the Mtb vs road distinction starts to manifest. 

[love2fly]

5 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

No such thing. 10 speed is 10speed, Shimano, sram, kmc, Taya , road , mtb they all have roughly similar dimensions. It’s only at 12s where the Mtb vs road distinction starts to manifest. 

That's what I thought but replaced chain and thats what its doing immediately. Doing it on both my cassettes,one well used and my newish spare. 

I'll try the replacement chain and will report back here.

Shimano say they are different:

 

[love2fly]

16 hours ago, Mook said:

My apologies if I've missed this in the thread, but have you checked your RD hanger for alignment?

I have used SLX and XT chains on my 10 spd roadbike without any issues.

Interesting one this .......

Yip. Only started after new chain...

[MORNE]

5 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

No such thing. 10 speed is 10speed, Shimano, sram, kmc, Taya , road , mtb they all have roughly similar dimensions. It’s only at 12s where the Mtb vs road distinction starts to manifest. 

Agree. And for what it’s worth…from 11spd they realised it will be cheaper to just make one box for both😅: 

 

ps…also, 11 spd chains work better on 10spd drivetrains.

Edited 6 minutes ago by MORNE