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That time a shop mechanic told me my chain was too tight and I thought he was wrong
I've been doing my own bike maintenance for about three years now, mostly just basic stuff like cleaning the drivetrain and swapping brake pads. Last month I took my old Trek into a shop in Columbus to get the wheels trued because I don't have a stand. The mechanic glanced at my chain and said 'you're running that way too tight, you're gonna wear out your cassette in no time.' I kinda brushed it off because I always thought a tight chain meant better shifting. Well I went home and looked up the actual spec for my model, turns out I had maybe a quarter inch of slack where I should have had three quarters. I backed it off the next day and honestly the shifting felt smoother on my commute that week. How much chain slack do you guys run on a 1x setup without it dropping off? I'm still second guessing myself.
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cameron_palmer4d ago
Ngl I used to run my 1x chain exactly like you described, practically guitar string tight, until I trashed a rear hub on my gravel bike. You want about a half inch to an inch of play at the midpoint between your chainring and cassette. I measure it by pushing up from the bottom run of the chain, if it moves freely without binding you're good. I've been running about 3/4 inch of slack on my Sram setup for two years now and never dropped a chain even on bumpy singletrack. Easiest way to check is just spin the cranks backwards and watch for tight spots, if it goes through the whole rotation smooth you're set.
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