Noisy Chain

Or just oil...

as it is a new bike the chain has a good covering of grease/oil on it already from the factory. from what i have read on other threads i believe this is good quality stuff not to be messed with.

Eventually it will need lube. The noise is a good indicator that the time is now.

thanks for the help. i put a little bit of chain oil on it and loosened the chain a fraction, still not totally silent but i'll give it a week and see what happens, definitely a big improvement already, cheers..

Damn you Wipperman 108, you noisy.

Just installed this chain and now I sound like an old diesel tractor. Never had an issue before with KMC chains. Anyway, guess I'll have to get a new rear cog cause the noise is stupid.

depending on what material your cog is, it will wear out faster than your chain does.
in bad weather condition alloy cogs will wear very fast.
if you dont change your chain on a regular basis, and your chain gets wider n wider over time, this will create little "hooks" in/on the teeth of your cog. as soon as you change the chain, you will get a noisy drive train cause the new chain will be caught up in the hooks.

Eventually it will need lube. The noise is a good indicator that the time is now.

Noise is not a good indicator of the need for lubrication. On chains used on the road its more a question of chain cleaning rather than lubrication. A filthy chain can, in fact, be quieter than a clean one. If a chain is making new grinding noises it can be a number of factors from mis-matched wear to grit. If its grit then LAST THING you want to to is oil the chain. Grit+oil is a combination double punch to increase wear.

When to clean and/or lube a chain?

• after a ride in heavy rain
  
• every 500 km
  
  
  

A solution that been quite popular over the past decade or so is to use a lube that really is a chain cleaner but with high lubrication properties. There are a number of products on the market . These are generally a mixture of volatile solvent and lubricant: between chain lube (oil+some solvent to get the lube to flow) and chain cleaner (A lot of solvent plus some oil).

Bit out of context there - we were talking about a new chain that had never been lubed.

Im having trouble getting rid of the noise that my chain makes. I thought initially it was the new chain and cog wearing in, and it has improved somewhat, but its still pretty far from silent, even though the chainline is near perfect.

Also, today i noticed that my chain seemed a little slacker than usual, only to find that the tension seems to vary a bit depending on the rotation of of the cranks; i.e., at 12/6 oclock, its tight, and at 3/9 its looser.
How is this even possible? Its not like ive got a biopace chainring; Ive got a (new) velosolo 1/8" chainring on miche cranks and a new miche sprocket on the back.

Chainring not correctly centered on the cranks.

http://velowoodcyclery.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/centering-a-chainring/

Posted from my phone but I think it links to the original Sheldon Brown article.

Chainring not correctly centered on the cranks.

Excellent - cheers!

Im having trouble getting rid of the noise that my chain makes. I thought initially it was the new chain and cog wearing in, and it has improved somewhat, but its still pretty far from silent, even though the chainline is near perfect.

Also, today i noticed that my chain seemed a little slacker than usual, only to find that the tension seems to vary a bit depending on the rotation of of the cranks; i.e., at 12/6 oclock, its tight, and at 3/9 its looser.
How is this even possible? Its not like ive got a biopace chainring; Ive got a (new) velosolo 1/8" chainring on miche cranks and a new miche sprocket on the back.

I have this same problem with uneven chain tension. Sheldon has an article here http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html (search page for Centering Chainrings), but it didn't do me any good.

I'm rocking a Sugino Messenger crankset / BB, Izumi chain, Surly cog, Dura Ace lockring. All 3 months old. My rear hub is fine, the BB spins perfectly and all is new. The damn chain makes a popping type sound every time is comes off the cog if I spin it. When I press down hard on the pedals i'm treated with a horrid grinding sound / feeling. I've tried all sort of different chain tensions. About the only thing I think I can do is try a different type of lube and ride it out.

W