Full chaincase

[belgiangoth]

Plastic (light) that would work for a fixed gear. It does not appear to be a cool topic on the net, what options are there?

[Brucey]

Hebie chainglider and Hesling chaincases are worth a look.

cheers

[LuckyLuke]

Hi, I've brought a couple of Healing ones from Dutch Bike Bits over the years. I found the guides / instructions on Dutch Bike Bits site helpful. I fitted them to standard road bike steel framesets, and they went on ok with a bit of fettling. Just for info, you need to remove the BB to site a bracket between the frame BB shell & BB cup.

I had them on Nexus 8 geared bikes. I took them off after ?6 months or so as my Nexus required too regular checking of the cassette joint alignment, & I couldn't see it with the chain case fitted. You won't have this problem riding fixed.

Shame to remove it as I found it worked really well at protecting the chain. A little water gets in, so I used a wet lube. Keeping dust etc away must do a lot of good.
It didn't crack in use, which I had anticipated, it looks vulnerable to a knock from a pedal in a bike rack.
I do remember it made any drivetrain noise a bit louder though.
Best wishes,
Luke

[Bsteel]

Discussion on a DIY version of the Biologic freedrive. It sounded worth a try for the cost of some 9mm id cable conduit.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=104164

[Brucey]

the Hesling chaincases are made of ABS (as used to make motorcycle crash helmets) so are pretty strong really, for a chunk of plastic, anyway. They do gazillions of different versions (not all of which are readily available), including some that have removable section that allows you to check a cassette joint as fitted to certain IGHs eg Nexus. Some have features that are intended to allow the gear cable a smooth entry into the chaincase too.

One thing that isn't readily apparent is that a good quality chainset with a forged aluminium spider often won't work well with a Hesling chaincase; they work best with either

a) a chainset that has a chainwheel that only attaches near the centre, and has a gap of ~10mm clear between the crank and the chainring for the full length of the crank, or
b) a chainset that has a disc mounted to it that fits snugly into the opening in the chaincase.

It is best if you choose the chainset and the chaincase as a matched pair. Note also that the chainring size is constrained by the chaincase.

cheers

[LuckyLuke]

Yes, good points Brucey.
I used a Nexus 8 chainset with a 38T ring, and one of the Helsing chaincases designed for it.
Either the Excelle, Saber or Miranda models, can't remember which though:
https://www.dutchbikebits.com/mudguards ... hainguards
Cheers,
Luke

[Brucey]

the most common chaincase for use with Nexus hubs is a Hesling Excelle model. IIRC the Saber and Miranda models have bulges in the side over the RH track nut so that a toggle chain (or SRAM clickbox) can be accommodated within.

The cassette joint CS-8J20 has a 'window'; at the top which is covered by the chainscase but it also has marks on the bottom so that it can be set with the bike inverted or with such a chaincase fitted; simply remove the lower rear section of the chaincase (with a coin) and have at it. You can see the underside marks in this picture.



The Nexus model chainset has a disc fitted to it that is the correct size to fit the 97mm opening in an Excelle chaincase. IIRC the Nexus chainset is also 38T which is about the largest size that fits inside an Excelle chaincase, too. If 38/15 is a decent gear then it is OK to use this chaincase with a fixed gear too, although the chain may not run with perfectly uniform tension with a Nexus chainset (or similar) , since the chainwheel is rarely perfectly concentric.

cheers

[belgiangoth]

I had assumed that something like the chainglider would not work or be extra dangerous with a fixed gear (if the tube gets caught in the gears you crash). It does occur to me that maybe a closed chaincase would cause issues with checking chainline and tension - possibly I should just try the guards that protect the top half of the chain.

[Brucey]

I have never seen anyone running either a chainglider or a full chaincase with a fixed gear, long term, in fact (the aesthetics are contradictory even if the mechanics are not). The chain tension checking issues are similar to those when running a freewheel or IGH, but you might be more fussy with a fixed gear. My suspicion is that most chainsets that work really well with chaincases are simply not concentric enough to maintain a uniform backlash-free fixed gear setup, if that is what you want.

I'd imagine that if the chainglider were prone to causing jamming issues then you would hear of it with freewheels also; pedalling is very forceful and if the chainglider were prone to getting sucked into the workings there would be reports of it, and online images of mangled chaingliders etc. I can't say that I have looked hard for those but I have not seen them.

cheers

[Ivor Tingting]

I have used a Hebie chain glider on my Rohloff geared bike for a couple of years before I went belt drive.

Pros:
Can be adjusted to fit the chain stay length of your bike.
Fully enclosed.
Keeps chain clean and increases lifespan of chain.
Frequency of re-lubing chain greatly reduced.
Little to no risk of getting oil on you as chain completely covered
Bike stays cleaner for much longer.
Fairly easy to install and remove once you have mastered it.

Cons:
Can be fiddly to install and set up properly. I only achieved a silent chain when cycling the first time I installed it which on reflection was purely beginners luck.
Water does get in through the tiny gaps in the plastic sections that slot together as it is not waterproof creating an emulsified paste with your chain lube.
Increased friction of the chain moving through the chain glider means you have to pedal harder to achieve the same speed as riding without it on.
Can be noisy if not a perfect fit for the chain, meaning the chain clacks through it as it turns. Very annoying. Can be temporarily silenced by back pedalling a few revolutions and then continuing to pedal forwards until noise becomes unbearable again. At this point you need to stop, swear, kneel down and slightly adjust the fitting of the guard which is pretty agricultural in its adjustment.
It's like riding your bike with the back brake very slightly on so great for training and burning extra calories.
Need to keep chain adjusted fairly taut although not so tight that it prematurely wears out your front chain ring and rear sprocket. Too much chain slack will cause an infernal noise as the chain moves around inside the plastic guard as you try to pedal and drive you nutz.

Conclusion:
Great for winter riding keeping chain and bike clean. However as soon as the warmer and drier whether of summer arrives discard and cycle without it. I had a love hate relationship with mine.

[Cyril Haearn]

A transparent plastic chainguard would be best I think, is one available?

[Ugly]

Having just taken the back wheel out of my 1932 Golden Sunbeam I thought I would list the operations,

1. remove brake blocks, two bolts each block
2. disconnect gear cable
3. remove rear quadrant shaped part of chaincase
4. undo wheelnuts and remove
5. remove mudguard stays from wheel axle
6. remove wheel adjusters
7. split chain at spring link, making sure chain doesn't disappear into chaincase
8. remove mudguard, three bolts
9. remove rear wheel

in the words of Mr. Hayens of Manual fame ''reassemble following the reverse procedure''

So I'm not fitting a chain case on any of my other bikes any time soon!

[mjr]

To be fair, two of those could be solved with different mudguards, but I know what you mean and switched one bike from chaincase to chain guard to make it easier to inspect things or remove the wheel.

[Brucey]

to be fair an 85 year old bike is hardly representative of new ones, but having said that...

- normally with roller-lever brakes, the brake stirrup will pop out of the rear guides (which are slotted for this very purpose) so the stirrup can be sprung open and clear the rim and tyre. If so, there is no need to remove the brake blocks.

- it is usually not necessary to remove the mudguard to remove the rear wheel; all this is required is that the tyre is deflated. This is OK because nine out of ten times the wheel is being removed for tyre maintenance.

-Obviously it is necessary to remove the rear wheel to change the tyre or tube (assuming that you won't use Dutch pliers) but it is easiest and quickest if you just patch the tube in situ to fix a puncture.

- it is not necessary to split the chain with most chaincases, just to get the wheel out. In fact this is the very first time I have heard of anyone doing this.

- amazingly yes to get the wheel out you do need to disconnect the gear controls and fiddle with the track nuts and chain tugs...

With a typical roadster type bike, the rear wheel needs to come out of the frame about once every two or three years. If it takes fifteen minutes longer to do this (which it doesn't, it is quicker) then it would still be no big deal.

If it were a big deal and roadster type tyres didn't last that long, it would easy enough to make a special frame with a detachable LH dropout, so that the tyre can be replaced without disturbing the wheel.

cheers

[Ugly]

I must confess to a degree of sarcasm in my last post, Older Sunbeams have quite a few quirks, for instance the chaincase is structural, there is no RH chainstay. bottom brackets have adjustable cups on both sides and the lock rings are on a separate smaller thread similar to a fixed wheel lock ring. They were very well made and are nice to ride, I have a 1932 26'' Golden and a 1924 28'' model so far unknown. The older one has an other quirk the rear brake is operated by back pedalling, not a coaster hub, but a cam within the bottom bracket acts on the linkage to the rear brake.