New Single speed chain binding

[stephenmarklay]

I put on a new fancy Izumi chain on last week and it feels like it is binding (like it is too tight) when I am really pushing hard. It does not seem to have any tight spots statically.

It had a very basic KMC Z410 which was lighter weight and more flexy.

Is the new chain just stiffer and more susceptible to drag on the gears with torsional flex?

[mktng]

How old and used is your ring and cog/freewheel?

Could require some kms to mesh that new chain to the rest of the drivetrain

[john903]

My thoughts exactly, sometimes they need a few miles to mesh together. How old is the cog and chainring?

[ColonelJLloyd]

Freewheels and chainrings are never truly perfectly round. There will be a point in the chainrings revolution where it is tightest. Same for the freewheel (spin the wheel in the stand watch the freewheel oscillate).

I'm not sure if it is the above which is your issue or if your chain actually has a tight link. But, the latter is easy to check by inspecting the chain.

[ultraman6970]

Single speed freewheels always do weird stuff, even with good old brands like regina the freewheels doesnt turn like straight either so....

as for the Chainrings, probably you have an issue there aswell, check it out if bends too much just use an adjustable wrench and try to get it straight.

Just see where the chainring gets tight and use that as a reference for the chain tension adjustments. So in the tighter area you let it slack a little and good to go. Obviously check and correct the chainrings as much as you can, if you have like 1 mm off i would not worry about it.

If you are OCD well, good luck with that because you wont be able let that perfectly fine ever, is the nature of the beast.

[stephenmarklay]

How old and used is your ring and cog/freewheel?

Could require some kms to mesh that new chain to the rest of the drivetrain

Probably about 500 miles but all pretty high tension.

The chainrings looks new and are not hooked.

[stephenmarklay]

Freewheels and chainrings are never truly perfectly round. There will be a point in the chainrings revolution where it is tightest. Same for the freewheel (spin the wheel in the stand watch the freewheel oscillate).

I'm not sure if it is the above which is your issue or if your chain actually has a tight link. But, the latter is easy to check by inspecting the chain.

I am going check for a tight link. Thank you for that thought.

[stephenmarklay]

Single speed freewheels always do weird stuff, even with good old brands like regina the freewheels doesnt turn like straight either so....

as for the Chainrings, probably you have an issue there aswell, check it out if bends too much just use an adjustable wrench and try to get it straight.

Just see where the chainring gets tight and use that as a reference for the chain tension adjustments. So in the tighter area you let it slack a little and good to go. Obviously check and correct the chainrings as much as you can, if you have like 1 mm off i would not worry about it.

If you are OCD well, good luck with that because you wont be able let that perfectly fine ever, is the nature of the beast.

Thanks! The tight spot really isn’t so tight so I don’t think that’s it. I am guess that the overall stiffness of the chain is just magnifying the no so straight rings over flex that the chain resists.

It is possible that it will loosen up. I am going check all of these ideas and then just roll with it for a bit.