About a year ago I purchased a spare Surly 34t chainring from someone on the MMBA Forum, just like the one I’d originally fitted to the El Mariachi after building it up as a single speed. I somewhat regretted the purchase, but figured that one day I’d find a use for it.
Today was that day.
While riding from Great Baraboo out to Metro Beach (Lake Erie Metropark), just after crossing Gratiot I pedaled and noticed that my bike was producing an odd skip. At first I thought that perhaps the jockey wheels on the derailleur were binding and causing the chain not to thread through, but eventually I noticed that the chainring was a bit bent. I dealt with the skipping and finished up the ride, then investigation at home showed that the chainring was bent a bit towards the bash guard, causing the chain to not settle on the ring at part of the pedal stroke, leading to the skipping feeling as it finally dropped in place.
Thankfully I had the spare chainring so I was able to swap that one on and have the bike ready for riding tomorrow.
This past Saturday while out on a longer ride to Richmond and back one of my chainring bolts came a bit loose and was occasionally brushing the N-Gear Jump Stop that I use to keep the chain on the bike when used as a 1×9. I tightened it up last night and confirmed that the chainring was straight (read: it hadn’t bent while one bolt was loose) and figured everything to be good. I can’t help but suspect the two are related, but as the ring wasn’t bent last night and bolts were still tight when I removed the ring today, I’m not sure how this happened. It’s also bent between the bolt holes, which implies that the bolts were snug when it happened.
My friend Roger reported bending a Surly ring on a bike with tight bolts, so maybe it’s possible for them to get loaded in just the right way for it to be a problem. I’m considering getting a Roger-recommended On-One Stainless Chainring as they look to be much more robust than the Surly rings, but for now I’ll just stick with the replacement Surly. The Salsa Ring Dinger bash guard that I’m using as an outer chain guide is also a bit beat up and slightly bent (outward) so when I get the On-One ring I’ll probably replace that with a nice BBG Bashguard.
At least things are back to working again.
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