Wear and Tear

I rode round Scandinavia on two chains but the same freewheel block and chainwheels. Later on, back in England, I changed the freewheel block, and then in 2007 when I resurrected the Pedersen, I changed everything, the chain, freewheel block, cranks and chainwheels.

So far so good. I then rode here and there, and in 2013 or 2014 changed the crank and chainwheels again, then a couple of years later, when I started getting the chain jumping on the rear sprockets, fitted a new freewheel and chain.

Sometime around 2018 I changed the front chainwheels yet again, this time to get a lower small chainwheel and longer cranks. At the same time, I changed the chain and I changed the freewheel block.

In 2020 I started noting that the chain was skipping sometimes on the smaller rear sprockets. A bit of research suggested that each time I replaced the chain I should replace the freewheel block, and vice versa. I did that.

Earlier this year, I noticed the chain was yet again jumping and skipping on the smaller rear sprockets, and although I had done plenty of riding during the lockdown eras I was sure I hadn’t done anything like the distances I rode in Scandinavia. So what was going on? Were modern chains and freewheel sprockets made from inferior metal and more prone to wear?

I took both the chain and block off and started to clean them thoroughly in order to start looking for signs of wear, and immediately found what I think is the problem.

Dirt and grease had begun to build up on the freewheel block in the spaces between the cogs. The bigger gears were such that the chain was unlikely to ever contact this caked mess, but in the smallest three gears I could see that the compacted caked mess was capable of actually lifting the chain so that it wasn’t bottoming out fully in the sprockets. My cleaning method of holding an old sock around the chain and spinning the pedals backwards was working well enough to keep the chain clean, but I didn’t ever do anything to the sprockets.

I know better now. And hopefully, the next time I need to change a chain, I won’t need to change the freewheel block at the same time.