Front gears

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
Post Reply
keefwaddo
Posts: 39
Joined: 11 Jul 2021, 1:37pm

Front gears

Post by keefwaddo »

Does anyone know how to tell if your front gears need changing? When I am peddling now and then the chain slips. I cannot tell if it is slipping at the front or back but have a feeling it's at the front. I know nothing about bikes, I only ride.

Cheers
mattsccm
Posts: 5101
Joined: 28 Nov 2009, 9:44pm

Re: Front gears

Post by mattsccm »

Could be stacks of things. Usually the rear goes first . Well actually the chain wears first and this wears the rear before the front. I'll be cycial and guess that yoiu haven't checked the chain for wear or anything lately.
Unless the bike is near new I will guess that the chain is very worn, that will have worn the rear gears beyond any tolerances and a rear knackered chain could have worn the front as well.
You do't say how many chainrings you have (at the front) but a deraileur could be misalingned. Cables for bother ends coulkd be poorly adjusted, corroded or several other things. We really could do with a picture, taken from the chain side showing both front and rear sprockets and the chain.
roubaixtuesday
Posts: 5814
Joined: 18 Aug 2015, 7:05pm

Re: Front gears

Post by roubaixtuesday »

keefwaddo wrote: 27 Jun 2022, 4:57am Does anyone know how to tell if your front gears need changing? When I am peddling now and then the chain slips. I cannot tell if it is slipping at the front or back but have a feeling it's at the front. I know nothing about bikes, I only ride.

Cheers
It's likely that if the transmission has worn to the point of slipping that chain, cassette, jockey wheels, your most used chainring and possibly all the chainrings need replacement. In that order of likelihood.

That's *if* it's slipping due to wear. Misaligned gears can give similar symptoms.
jb
Posts: 1782
Joined: 6 Jan 2007, 12:17pm
Location: Clitheroe

Re: Front gears

Post by jb »

Find a steep hill, put the bike in the small sprocket on the back, Set off from a standing start if the front chain ring is worn (either the big one or the small one) it will slip round with the chain jumping the teeth and you can see it because you won't be going that fast.
If it is jumping check the chain for ware as noted above.
Cheers
J Bro
Jdsk
Posts: 24629
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Front gears

Post by Jdsk »

Do you want to learn how to diagnose and fix this sort of fault? Or would you rather have someone else do it?

For the former there are two great resources in addition to this forum:

Sheldon Brown:
https://sheldonbrown.com

Park Tool Repair Help:
https://www.parktool.com/en-int/blog/repair-help

Jonathan
User avatar
cycleruk
Posts: 6065
Joined: 17 Jan 2009, 9:30pm
Location: Lancashire

Re: Front gears

Post by cycleruk »

Worn chainrings tend to look like a "sharks fin". They normally last thousands of miles depending on how often you change the chain. As mentioned above it is more than likely that it is the back gears that are worn and likely to slip. Usually though it happens in the most used sprockets and not others.
Initially fit a new chain and see how you go on. Probably though new rear gears will be needed as well.
Example of worn rings:-
https://roadcyclinguk.com/how-to/mainte ... ain.html/2

On some chainrings you will find a few teeth that have a lower profile. These are meant to be like that and are that shape to aid the chain changing between rings,
You'll never know if you don't try it.
keefwaddo
Posts: 39
Joined: 11 Jul 2021, 1:37pm

Re: Front gears

Post by keefwaddo »

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention I measured the chain and it does not need replacing.
Post Reply