Bent chain

[Tyjay]

Hopefully in right section

Yesterday my sram axs started skipping and basically crunching gears from about 5-9 cogs like it wanted to change gear
No amount of micro shift fixed it

So today tried everything derellieur hanger tool perfectly straight
Did notice that UDH wasn’t tight so sorted that but still the same
Did a new setup but still rubbish shifting
Tried everything then noticed the chain is twisted. How I spotted it is beyond belief
Anyway I’m assume that’s what is causing the problem?
I’ll pick a new chain up tomorrow and sort it and hopefully be ok

Just wanted to know if anyone has had a similar issue it’s the first time I’ve ever noticed chain. Is twisted must of hit some serious rock I guess to cause it

Picture dosent quite show how must its bent/twisted

 

[Mik3F]

My lads is doing the exact same thing on the bottom cog, will check his chain to see if its bent too

 

[Tyjay]

My lads is doing the exact same thing on the bottom cog, will check his chain to see if its bent too

Hopefully it’s an easy fix it deffo moves when the bent bit on the cassette certainly never had this problem before

 

[Tony4wd]

Sticks occasionally bend my derailleur cage but I've never thought to check the chain for bends - learn something every day

 

[mustclime]

lol axis owners…. That’s $95 dollars for a new chain please. May I suggest you take a carful look at your cassette. One my buddies with a transition repeater bent a chain with a high load shift but it also bent a cog in the cog stack. He tried to straighten it but ended up dropping $300 for a new axis cassette. One miss shift equals $400 bucks, that axis life. if you did bend it with an impact, why aren’t you using a bash guard?

 

[Astro66]

I run Shimano 12S Deore Cassette, with deore Chain and Di2 XT derailleur. My LBS carries the chain for AUD$30, which is about USD$20. And the cassette for AUD$110. I also keep a spare Hanger that I got on Aliexpress for AUD$12. (I fitted it to test it, and keep the original as a spare)

I also have 2 spare XT cages for the derailleur, from old XT derailleurs I snapped.

I also bought a Hanger Aligner from Aliexpress for AUD$28. I check hanger alignment even when I fit a new hanger, and after I experience or see any impact strikes on the derailleur, after a ride.

Smooth, fast, clean shifting is the most important thing to me on an EMTB. So I find the Shimano setup, far more practical than the SRAM. You can easily and cheaply diagnose any shift issue by swapping out parts, when those parts don't cost an arm and a leg.

The most expensive part is the XT Di2 Electronic Derailleur at AUD$400. But at least I can try changing everything else cheaply, before changing the derailleur, if it's not an obvious fault in the derailleur.

SRAM is an excellent transmission. But if it's quite expensive to keep in perfect condition, you tend to live with minor issues. When the system is much cheaper to fault find minor issues, you tend to not ignore them. And EMTBs transmission take a beating on Technical Trails.

My 2 cents anyway.

Oh BTW. Regarding the OP's question. I wipe down my chain after every ride, and dry lube with "Squirt" about every 200km. So I would pick up chain damage immediately after a ride and at $AUD30. I would replace it, regardless of how minor the twisting is. As I said. I consider a n EMTB's transmission as one of the most important components.

 

[steve_sordy]

Before every ride, I wipe the chain by running it through an old towel held in my hand. I'm doing it to clean it before lubing. but I'm 100% confident that I would pick up any irregularities in the chain such as the one you reported.

 

[James_C]

Why not just stick a quick link on it and slightly shorten the chain. A new chain might not work at all if the cassette is already worn

 

[Tyjay]

Why not just stick a quick link on it and slightly shorten the chain. A new chain might not work at all if the cassette is already worn

I did think of that but a new chain is only £20 next to wear I work
Plus it’s due a new one pretty soon anyway
Plus I’m gonna pick up the new peaty grips when I’m there. They feel so much nicer than the death grips I’ve been using for year

Thinking back on Wednesday when I was out I think I put to much power through the pedals when trying a hill start in the wrong gear. I reckon that’s when it twisted not from a rock strike on Monday at glentress

 

[Paulquattro]

Bent chain , someone has done a full power gear shift

 

[Tyjay]

Bent chain , someone has done a full power gear shift

Can’t possibly comment

Well thinking back probably

 

[mustclime]

I did think of that but a new chain is only £20 next to wear I work
Plus it’s due a new one pretty soon anyway
Plus I’m gonna pick up the new peaty grips when I’m there. They feel so much nicer than the death grips I’ve been using for year

Thinking back on Wednesday when I was out I think I put to much power through the pedals when trying a hill start in the wrong gear. I reckon that’s when it twisted not from a rock strike on Monday at glentress

Axs/ flat top chains cost more. Do not replace an axs chain with a regular chain. The rollers are a different size.

 

[Tepi]

Toivottavasti oikealla jaksolla

Eilen sram-kirveeni alkoivat hypätä ja pohjimmiltaan murskaa vaihteita noin 5-9 hammaspyörästä kuin se olisi halunnut vaihtaa vaihdetta
Mikään mikrovuoro ei korjannut sitä

Joten tänään kokeilin kaikkea derellieur ripustintyökalua täydellisesti suoraan
Huomasin, että UDH ei ollut niin tiukka, että se oli, mutta silti sama
Tehtiin uudet asetukset, mutta silti roskat siirrot
Kaikkea kokeiltu ja sitten huomasin että ketju on vääntynyt. Miten huomasin sen, on uskomatonta
Joka tapauksessa oletan, että se aiheuttaa ongelman?
Haen huomenna uuden ketjun ja lajittelen sen ja toivottavasti on kunnossa

Halusin vain tietää, onko jollain ollut vastaavaa ongelmaa, tämä on ensimmäinen kerta, kun huomaan ketjun. Kierretty on osuma johonkin vakavaan kiveen luulisin aiheuttavan sen

Kuvassa ei näy oikein miten sen täytyy vääntyä/kiertyä

View attachment 146022

Ei voi mitenkään kommentoida

No, luultavasti ajattelee taaksepäin

Ajaminen opettaa ,suurin virhe vaihtaa kuormituksessa takana isommalle.

 

[Tyjay]

Ajaminen opettaa ,suurin virhe vaihtaa kuormituksessa takana isommalle.

I barely speak engrish let alone finnish

unfortunatley my cassette is XD
I thought it HG making new cassette £89 or cheaper
was surprised it was XD when I removed it tbh

 

[Tepi]

Puhun tuskin englantia, puhumattakaan suomesta

Sori en minäkään puhu Kiinaa.

 

[Tyjay]

Anyway new chain fitted and still was skipping in middle gears
turns out after even closer inspection that a couple of teeth were slightly bent
after consultation with Google straigtened the offending teeth now flawless again with the help of microshift
I’ll pick up a new cassette at some point from Amazon, seem cheapest at £149

 

[Tepi]

Joka tapauksessa uusi ketju asennettu ja silti hyppäsi keskivaihteilla
vielä tarkemman tarkastelun jälkeen käy ilmi, että pari hammasta oli hieman vääntynyt
kuultuaan Googlen kanssa rikotut hampaat on nyt taas virheettömät microshiftin avulla
Haen jossain vaiheessa uuden kasetin Amazonista, näyttää halvimmalta 149 puntaa

Hampaita voi oikaista pihdeillä,muilla työkaluilla. Harvoin katkeavat ,onnea siihen.

 

[Tyjay]

Hampaita voi oikaista pihdeillä,muilla työkaluilla. Harvoin katkeavat ,onnea siihen.

Yeah already sorted it thanks

 

[16Rally]

Hopefully in right section

Yesterday my sram axs started skipping and basically crunching gears from about 5-9 cogs like it wanted to change gear
No amount of micro shift fixed it

So today tried everything derellieur hanger tool perfectly straight
Did notice that UDH wasn’t tight so sorted that but still the same
Did a new setup but still rubbish shifting
Tried everything then noticed the chain is twisted. How I spotted it is beyond belief
Anyway I’m assume that’s what is causing the problem?
I’ll pick a new chain up tomorrow and sort it and hopefully be ok

Just wanted to know if anyone has had a similar issue it’s the first time I’ve ever noticed chain. Is twisted must of hit some serious rock I guess to cause it

Picture dosent quite show how must its bent/twisted

View attachment 146022

I was having similar problems with the NX chain on my Gen3 Levo after about 900 miles.
Chain was well maintained and not abused.
Kept on cleaning, relubing, readjusting everything but the problem persisted.
One day the chain broke in the middle of a climb. I repleced the broken link with a spare master link just to get home but got lazy and didn't replace the chain.
Another link broke a coup[le of days later so I took the chain off, deep cleaned it, and examined under magnification. The following photos will tell the story quite well:


Replaced with an X01 chain about 2300 miles ago and haven't had any chain related issues since.

 

[James_C]

thats crazy. Might start inspecting mine with a magnifying glass regularly!

 

[Tyjay]

I was having similar problems with the NX chain on my Gen3 Levo after about 900 miles.
Chain was well maintained and not abused.
Kept on cleaning, relubing, readjusting everything but the problem persisted.
One day the chain broke in the middle of a climb. I repleced the broken link with a spare master link just to get home but got lazy and didn't replace the chain.
Another link broke a coup[le of days later so I took the chain off, deep cleaned it, and examined under magnification. The following photos will tell the story quite well:

View attachment 146156 View attachment 146157 View attachment 146158
Replace with an X01 chain about 2300 miles ago and haven't had any chain related issues since.

Think I’ll have a look at the chain I removed tomorrow out of curiosity

 

[Husky430]

I was having similar problems with the NX chain on my Gen3 Levo after about 900 miles.
Chain was well maintained and not abused.
Kept on cleaning, relubing, readjusting everything but the problem persisted.
One day the chain broke in the middle of a climb. I repleced the broken link with a spare master link just to get home but got lazy and didn't replace the chain.
Another link broke a coup[le of days later so I took the chain off, deep cleaned it, and examined under magnification. The following photos will tell the story quite well:

View attachment 146156 View attachment 146157 View attachment 146158
Replace with an X01 chain about 2300 miles ago and haven't had any chain related issues since.

Wow who would have thought... Sram Eagle... maybe something off ebay from China with no name but that is ridiculous!

 

[Husky430]

Hopefully in right section

Yesterday my sram axs started skipping and basically crunching gears from about 5-9 cogs like it wanted to change gear
No amount of micro shift fixed it

So today tried everything derellieur hanger tool perfectly straight
Did notice that UDH wasn’t tight so sorted that but still the same
Did a new setup but still rubbish shifting
Tried everything then noticed the chain is twisted. How I spotted it is beyond belief
Anyway I’m assume that’s what is causing the problem?
I’ll pick a new chain up tomorrow and sort it and hopefully be ok

Just wanted to know if anyone has had a similar issue it’s the first time I’ve ever noticed chain. Is twisted must of hit some serious rock I guess to cause it

Picture dosent quite show how must its bent/twisted

View attachment 146022

Had a stick do that before too

 

[Tepi]

Sain kepin tehdä niin ennenkin

Ketju-kasetti vauriossa pitää huomioida Bensionruuvin säätö.Bension ruuvi on yksi takavaihtajan kolmesta säätöruuvista. ketju on vaihdettu alkuperäisen lyhytmmäksi,voi kasetti tarttua takavaihtajan pieneen rissaan.Vaihteen ollessa isolla kasetin rattaalla , vaihtajan pienen rattaan väli pitää noin 10mm,. . Bension säädöllä on vaihteiston toimintaan suuri merkitys. Siis uusitun ketjun pituudella on merkitys vaihteen toimintaan.

 

[Bndit]

I was having similar problems with the NX chain on my Gen3 Levo after about 900 miles.
Chain was well maintained and not abused.
Kept on cleaning, relubing, readjusting everything but the problem persisted.
One day the chain broke in the middle of a climb. I repleced the broken link with a spare master link just to get home but got lazy and didn't replace the chain.
Another link broke a coup[le of days later so I took the chain off, deep cleaned it, and examined under magnification. The following photos will tell the story quite well:

View attachment 146156 View attachment 146157 View attachment 146158
Replace with an X01 chain about 2300 miles ago and haven't had any chain related issues since.

That`s huge milage for such a shit chain …I mean NX…

 

[RustyIron]

The following photos will tell the story quite well:

Shazam! That's wild. If I recall correctly, I've seen one cracked plate on an otherwise intact chain in all my years of riding. That many cracked plates on one chain is just absurd.

I wonder if your chain is actually SRAM, or some knockoff made by rat bastards who are known for stealing technology and trademarks.

Aside from the cracking I find the malformed letters in the stamping to be curious. The pictures on the SRAM web page show deep, consistent lettering without a lot of cratering. Maybe they just pick out the prettiest chain they can find for the photo shoot.

Have you contacted SRAM and asked for their thoughts?

 

[16Rally]

Shazam! That's wild. If I recall correctly, I've seen one cracked plate on an otherwise intact chain in all my years of riding. That many cracked plates on one chain is just absurd.

I wonder if your chain is actually SRAM, or some knockoff made by rat bastards who are known for stealing technology and trademarks.

Aside from the cracking I find the malformed letters in the stamping to be curious. The pictures on the SRAM web page show deep, consistent lettering without a lot of cratering. Maybe they just pick out the prettiest chain they can find for the photo shoot.

Have you contacted SRAM and asked for their thoughts?

That was the chain that came on my Gen3 Levo straight from the Specialized assembly line.
If you think cheap counterfeits can somehow find their way into Specialized's supply chain, then may be it was a fake.
However, before you question the quality or authenticity of those markings, take a look at your own under magnification.
You will be amazed how much more detail you can see with a little help.

 

[RustyIron]

before you question the quality or authenticity of those markings, take a look at your own under magnification.

Umm... it's not personal, man. You asked for help, and I just threw it out there as a possibility. I was trying to help, and to be fair, you didn't say anything about where you got the chain. So at your request, I just went out and checked my chains while wearing my magnifying loupe. They all have more consistent stamping. But my chains are either X01 or GX. I don't run NX. I'm glad the X01 has worked out well for you. If we can conclude anything from this story, it's "don't buy lower tier components."

 

[Bones]

I think the NX box will last longer than the chain!
X01 is fit and forget on my Shitmano cassette for about 3k miles.

 

[markloch]

Trek gave me a loaner while my Rail was awaiting a new motor, the loaner had the SRAM AXS setup, chain got bent, I was told that I probably shifted while the chain (and cassette) were not moving, that the motor/gearing in the derailleur generate huge force, enough to bend a link.

Just recently I upgraded my Orbea Urrun with a (wired) Di2 derailleur and shifter. CUES derailleur is about 1/2 the price of an AXS or Shimano’s XT-level Di2 derailleur. As one would expect, it’s well-integrated with the Shimano motor. Freeshift is a feature (alongside but not dependent on Autoshift) that spins the chainring if you shift while coasting and not pedaling), or if Autoshift is enabled, it will up- or-downshift as your speed changes while coasting (or, of course, while pedaling).

Whether in Manual or Autoshift, the Linkglide system apparently waits to shift until the chain/link is positioned on the cassette to engage the ramp up to the next (larger) cog. That said, in never occurred to me whether index-shifting to a smaller cog utilizes ramps or not …).

I haven’t tested whether if it “buffers” the shifts when the bike is stationary - say you downshift to a lower gear when at a standstill - and then executes the shifts once the rear wheel starts spinning, which would prevent the derailleur from shoving the chain towards the next cog until it was able to successfully shift. Will give it a try.