Chain came off: Vado SL 4

J

Jay Gee

New Member
Region
Canada
City
Winnipeg
My Vado SL 4, with about 520 km on the odo, has been trouble-free, until my last ride. I was on a soft, wood chip path, in my granny gear (i.e., 42T rear cog). FWIW, I was in Sport mode. When the path turned to mud, I dismounted and turned the bike around by lifting the front wheel off the ground and pivoting on the rear wheel.

When I got back on the bike and started to pedal, the chain immediately came off the chainwheel and lodged between the crank arm and bottom bracket. I was able to get the chain back on the chainwheel, but when I started to ride, it came off again. I manually moved the chain down two cogs (and clicked the shifter twice) before putting it back on the chainwheel. This time, the chain stayed on, and there were no further issues. When I got home, put the bike on the repair stand, spun the cranks with the chain on the 42T cog and everything was fine.

I've had bikes with 1x drive trains and never had the a chain come off the chainwheel. Any hypotheses about what may have happened this time?


Assiniboine Forest 3.jpg
 
Jay Gee said:
My Vado SL 4, with about 520 km on the odo, has been trouble-free, until my last ride. I was on a soft, wood chip path, in my granny gear (i.e., 42T rear cog). FWIW, I was in Sport mode. When the path turned to mud, I dismounted and turned the bike around by lifting the front wheel off the ground and pivoting on the rear wheel.

When I got back on the bike and started to pedal, the chain immediately came off the chainwheel and lodged between the crank arm and bottom bracket. I was able to get the chain back on the chainwheel, but when I started to ride, it came off again. I manually moved the chain down two cogs (and clicked the shifter twice) before putting it back on the chainwheel. This time, the chain stayed on, and there were no further issues. When I got home, put the bike on the repair stand, spun the cranks with the chain on the 42T cog and everything was fine.

I've had bikes with 1x drive trains and never had the a chain come off the chainwheel. Any hypotheses about what may have happened this time?


View attachment 180313
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I have had it randomly it was really bad on our e-tandem. so I started using narrow-wide chainrings now it never happens.
 
Jay Gee said:
Any hypotheses about what may have happened this time?
Click to expand...
I would guess debris caused the first issue and then you didn't line up the narrow/wide crank teeth with the chain when you first put it back, leading to a quick chain drop.
 
Jay Gee said:
Any hypotheses about what may have happened this time?
Click to expand...
A misaligned derailleur or a bent derailleur hanger. In case of a Shimano derailleur, it could be the derailleur clutch not engaged. The chain not aligned with the WAVE (narrow-wide) pattern of the Praxis chainring. Or, the chain too long.

If none of the above is the fact, and your drivetrain is SRAM, we have the use case of @mfgrep who was experiencing similar issues. As far as I can remember, Jason has replaced the chainring with a Garbaruk one.
 
As has been mentioned...I had a strikingly similar issue with my Vado SL. As you already know...dropping the chain on the Vado SL is an ordeal because the chain lodges between the motor housing and the chain ring....requiring some modest surgery to free the chain. I did consult with my capable LBS and they had not received any complaints from other owners and found no clear resolution.

I never did definitively determine the cause of my (somewhat frequent) chain drops but I might be able to shed some light. My derailleur was NOT bent and my Vado SL was/is in a good state of maintenance. As already stated that Praxis chain-ring DOES require that you install the chain in a specific orientation, however, I found that this was NOT the issue causing my chain drops. My bike is a SRAM NX bike and thus having the clutch engaged was NOT the issue. I don't believe that debris was the issue.

I can say that each/every time that I had a chain drop I was riding with the motor engaged. I never once dropped a chain while riding without motor assistance. I have some routes that I ride frequently and found a high degree of likelihood that the chain would drop in cases where (a) motor was engaged while (b) riding an incline and (c) where I was required to slow and/or stop during the midst of that incline prior to re-starting while motor assist remained turned on.

The chain drop became VERY frustrating for me and I found myself having to ride 'carefully' to avoid the issue. I finally ordered a Garbaruk BCD Round (42T) which I received on March 1st. I have not had one single chain drop since replacing the chain ring.

SO I cannot reliably inform you as to why that Praxis ring fails to keep the chain on the ring.....but I can tell you that you are not alone and that your problem may not be a symptom of other issues with your Vado SL. I can tell you that given an otherwise well maintained and fully operational Vado SL....an appropriate and good quality narrow/wide chain ring very well might fix your issue.
 
Last edited:
Ben J said:
I would guess debris caused the first issue and then you didn't line up the narrow/wide crank teeth with the chain when you first put it back, leading to a quick chain drop.
Click to expand...
I think you've put your finger on it. The chain was very dirty when the incident(s) occurred, so maybe that was why the chain came off. I wasn't aware (until now) of the design of the Praxis chainring, so paid no attention to that when putting the chain back. It seems likely that on my third try, I lucked into the correct procedure.

I've been conscientious about cleaning and lubing chains on my analogue bikes, but must confess that I neglected those tasks on the Vado SL. It is easy to notice a noisy chain on an analogue bike, but the Vado SL's motor does mask chain noise (also overcomes the friction caused by a dry/dirty chain). That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. I promise to do better from now on.☺️
 
Jay Gee said:
I think you've put your finger on it. The chain was very dirty when the incident(s) occurred, so maybe that was why the chain came off. I wasn't aware (until now) of the design of the Praxis chainring, so paid no attention to that when putting the chain back. It seems likely that on my third try, I lucked into the correct procedure.

I've been conscientious about cleaning and lubing chains on my analogue bikes, but must confess that I neglected those tasks on the Vado SL. It is easy to notice a noisy chain on an analogue bike, but the Vado SL's motor does mask chain noise (also overcomes the friction caused by a dry/dirty chain). That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. I promise to do better from now on.☺️
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I hope that you are right but I have my doubts. Remember if this keeps happening you can simply change to a good quality narrow wide ring and be done with it. I have always been fastidious about cleaning and lubing my chain yet I still continued to drop while using the Praxis.
 
mfgrep said:
I hope that you are right but I have my doubts. Remember if this keeps happening you can simply change to a good quality narrow wide ring and be done with it. I have always been fastidious about cleaning and lubing my chain yet I still continued to drop while using the Praxis.
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I'll keep your suggestion in mind, should this become a recurrent problem.
 
I have just changed my chain, cassette and put on a new Wolftooth chain ring. I have over a 100 miles on the new chain ring, but I think it has solved the problem. I changed the chain and the cassette, because I had almost 3 years of use from them. My friend only changed the chain ring and that solved the Dropped chain problem.
 
Spokes609 said:
I have just changed my chain, cassette and put on a new Wolftooth chain ring. I have over a 100 miles on the new chain ring, but I think it has solved the problem. I changed the chain and the cassette, because I had almost 3 years of use from them. My friend only changed the chain ring and that solved the Dropped chain problem.
Click to expand...

My hot take: That Praxis chain-ring on the Vado SL1 was a piece of junk....or it somehow wasn't jiving with the rest of the motor/drivetrain for some reason. Normally the chain-ring is a silent hero. It either works or it doesn't.
Obviously the chain drop problem is not occurring on everyone's Vado SL....but it was a FREQUENT occurrence on my bike and I grew to hate that chain-ring. On some of my frequent routes I could actually tell my riding partner in advance that my chain will drop at a certain point on the route.....and it did.
Not only did it drop the chain....but the chain would then lodge between the back-side of the chain ring and against the bike frame's aluminum motor housing. Not an easy fix when out on a ride!...requiring chain ring removal to reaffix the chain! The Garbaruk 104BCD round 42T replacement chain-ring has been the silent hero ever since without a single drop. I'd expect the same from the Wolftooth. I couldn't find the right Wolftooth ring size/teeth/configuration at the time (I looked).

How many miles do you have on your bike? I'm still running the original equipment except for the chain-ring but including original cassette/chain. My chain gauge still shows that the chain is all good. My cassette still looks very good...like new to my old eyes. 3000+ miles. I am meticulous about drive-train maintenance and use Rock-n-Roll Lube Extra Dry (the red stuff) approximately every 100 miles. I am fairly certain that my obsessive lubrication and maintenance have prolonged the life of my bike bits and it certainly keeps everything smooth & quiet.
 
I had the same problem with a Vado 3.0, it was fine up to about 400 miles, then would drop the chain every time I hit a bumpy section of track if I stopped pedaling as I went over it, with the chain jamming between the chainring and the motor housing. I was even able to repeat the drop in one location.

The dealer originally replaced the chain and chainring and it was fine for another 400 miles or so... Then it wasn't.

After much back-and-fourth and a *lot* of complaining from me they replaced the derailleur with a clutched CUES U6000 and I've not had a chain drop in 2500 miles.
 
mfgrep said:
My hot take: That Praxis chain-ring on the Vado SL1 was a piece of junk....or it somehow wasn't jiving with the rest of the motor/drivetrain for some reason. Normally the chain-ring is a silent hero. It either works or it doesn't.
Obviously the chain drop problem is not occurring on everyone's Vado SL....but it was a FREQUENT occurrence on my bike and I grew to hate that chain-ring. On some of my frequent routes I could actually tell my riding partner in advance that my chain will drop at a certain point on the route.....and it did.
Not only did it drop the chain....but the chain would then lodge between the back-side of the chain ring and against the bike frame's aluminum motor housing. Not an easy fix when out on a ride!...requiring chain ring removal to reaffix the chain! The Garbaruk 104BCD round 42T replacement chain-ring has been the silent hero ever since without a single drop. I'd expect the same from the Wolftooth. I couldn't find the right Wolftooth ring size/teeth/configuration at the time (I looked).

How many miles do you have on your bike? I'm still running the original equipment except for the chain-ring but including original cassette/chain. My chain gauge still shows that the chain is all good. My cassette still looks very good...like new to my old eyes. 3000+ miles. I am meticulous about drive-train maintenance and use Rock-n-Roll Lube Extra Dry (the red stuff) approximately every 100 miles. I am fairly certain that my obsessive lubrication and maintenance have prolonged the life of my bike bits and it certainly keeps everything smooth & quiet.
Click to expand...
 
Spokes609 said:
I have about 7000 miles on the bike before I changed the chain, chain ring and cassette.
Click to expand...

I suspect that most folks with more typical "e-bikes" would be astonished to hear that a chain could last 7000 miles on a Vado SL.
I check my chain stretch about every 90 days +/- and have seen no obvious wear whatsoever to this point.
 
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