new bike , faulty ? any cyclist here

cheepskate_2

Hi

wondering if any die hard cyclists are here.

bought a expensive brand cycle Friday. Chain came off that same day, hubby fixed it back on . Next bike ride it came off, each time while cycling and changing gears.

We took it into shop who "fixed it" - adjusted some screws -

First bike ride after it got fixed it came off again, altho son did change gears this time without the wheel going round. I know you are not suppossed to change gears whil stationary ,but our old bikes the chain would not come off but sort of clunk into place again when riding started

Any bikers give me pointers , we bought a more expensive bike so we did not have problems with gears breaking after a year, but we seem to not be able to ride the bike without the chain comming off.

Could this just be a tunning problem or a more serious one.
thanks

Empty_pockets

What bike is and where did you get it from?

Who built it?

cheepskate_2

Scott MTB- got shop to build it when we purchased.
Thanks

Empty_pockets

If it's shop built they should resolve.

The chain coming off at the top or bottom of the gears its likely due to the adjustment screws not being set correctly.

If its coming off from a middle gear it may be a fault with the deraileur.

Adjustment screws should be an easy fix, takes no more than a min or two. Suggest return to the shop, request instant repair, test thoroughly before leaving.

Was it an independent shop or chain store?

PasturesNew

I had the same trouble with a Raleigh from Halfords. I couldn't change gear often without the chain falling off - and when going up small inclines and standing up the chain'd fall off and I ended up in the gutter and in pain a lot of the time. I had to keep taking the front wheel off and doing a 40 mile round trip to take it back to Halfords and it still never worked.... the man asked me to cycle so he could watch and then told me I was going too slowly for it

So I lost confidence in it and just stopped bothering. Bike's not been used now for 5 years... too scared to in case I hurt myself on it, or get stuck 20 miles from home and unable to fix it myself (wouldn't know where to start).

findingmyownway

To change gear smoothly, it needs to be done under little 'pressure'. I mean, if you wait until you're going uphill and straining on the pedals, its too late and trying to change will result in the chain dropping / getting stuck.

If you practice changing gear on the flat while pedalling easy and it changes ok (go up and down through all the options) then your deraileur is probably ok. If you still have problems then go ask the shop to "index" it and see if that helps.

Changing gear efficiently is a skill which takes practice... its not always as simple as it looks.

findingmyownway

PasturesNew wrote: »

when going up small inclines and standing up the chain'd fall off and I ended up in the gutter and in pain a lot of the time

If you're changing gear while standing up then you're almost certainly trying to do it while having too much pressure on the pedals. Try sitting down, relaxing your pedal stroke and then change gear. The key is to anticipate the hills and change smoothly and gradually before you need to.