Gears on road bike rubbing somewhere HELPPP

Hello everybody,

Rather annoying issue has cropped up recently. My road bike which has a SRAM Rival groupset was running wonderfully well before I bought some Fulcrum quattro wheels. I swapped these onto the bike after buying the exact same cassette as before.

As the wheel is no doubt very slightly wider, the shifting was not particularly smooth and the chain didn't seem to feel quite right especially when pedaling in smaller sprockets. I took the bike for a service as it was due one, it came back from the service after having cables tightened up but the problem still exists.

I have fiddled around and indexed the gears as best as I can, but it still doesn't seem right. It shifts okay, there's no gears slipping or anything like that. It's just that in certain positions, either high up the cassette on the bigger rings or lower down when pedaling hard on the smaller sprockets that the issue arises. There is a rubbing sound coming from somewhere and it feels as though there's friction between the chain/cassette/other (can't work it out), whereas before the chain sat neatly on each of the sprockets and it ran smooth as butter.

I am not sure what could be happening, it is very annoying - does anyone have any insight? I appreciate any advice! Thanks in advance

did you replace the chain and/or the front rings when you replaced the cassette?

Hello,

No I didn't replace either. I had considered replacing the chain when swapping over to the new cassette but it was out of stock at the time so chose not to. It's done at least 5,000 miles but has been reasonably well looked after.

change the chain with 5000 miles it will be well worn. I have taken the the chain on my commutor /training bike past the wear limit in 1000 miles, I care for my chains but the way I ride and the conditions I ride in takes there toll. No matter how careful you are 5000 miles is too many for a chain. Your front rings may also need replacing as leaving a chain for that long means they will be more worn than you think.

Yes, 5000 miles is a long time to leave a chain. Do you have a chain wear indicator?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/x-tools-chain-wear-indicator/rp-prod10219?gs=1&gclid=COG9zofO68oCFVEo0wodEZMCQg&gclsrc=aw.ds

Since I got one of these I change my chain more often, and my cogs hardly ever.

(almost) always change the chain when changing the cassette

Thanks for the replies all - I'll get a new chain and see what it feels like from that.

Appreciate the help