Rad mini Chain rubbing rear tire.

[Rad Mini Jeremy]

Hi all

I’ve just noticed that when I’m in the lowest gear on my mini the bottom part of the chain is rubbing against the rear tire. The derailer looks awfully close to the rim as well. I just got the bike in December and not sure if it was always like this or if it got hit causing this problem.

Anyone experience anything like this before. I’m a little hesitant to adjust the derailer on my own and was thinking of calling Velofix for a tuneup.
What are your thoughts?
Thanks

 

[trainman]

I own two Rad Mini's and our rear chain clears the tire by about 1/8" maybe a little more. I would think this could be corrected by adjusting the derailer as it could be adjusted a little to far to the other side. It never hurts to have someone check this and why they are at it check the spokes for proper tightness. I would probably first adjust the stop screew for that side of the derailer and see if you don't get any clicking all should be ok, it's worth a try.

 

[ElevenAD]

Your derailer is bent, just grab it and bend it back until its straight.

 

[rich c]

Is the tire centered in the chain stays? If a nut loosened, the tire may be twisted on the bike.

 

[Radycle]

Either you derailleur or your derailleur holder is bent. If you are not comfortable diagnosing and fixing this, you should take it to a bike mechanic or shop for repair.

 

[ElevenAD]

If it was the derailleur, would it be the same though?

I found it extremely hard to bend the metal back and make it completely straight.

Also, even he did, I think the strength / rigidity will be compromised.

Its best to take it to a bike shop, I'm just shocked your chain doesn't jump behind the lowest gear with that derailleur pushed so far in, if the bikes still under warranty rad should send you a new one if this can't be adjusted.

 

[mrgold35]

I have two 2016 radrovers and one derailleur was bent and the chain was rubbing the tire on arrival. Rad just told me to bend it back into place and it has stayed put for +3700 miles.

 

[awestover89]

Not trying to steal the thread, but this looks really similar to my bike that was delivered today.

Not the best picture, but the dangling part is kind of curved inward towards the spokes. I think that's the derailleur?

This one it's out of focus, but was trying to show how the bottom of the chain is out of line (closer to the tire) than the top chain. The chain is pretty much touching the tire directly. I went to my preferred LBS but they can't work on e-bikes, and the one they recommended I go to for e-bike work is only doing repairs Monday through Thursday due to Covid-19. If these pictures are good enough, could somebody confirm if this is in fact a bent derailleur?

 

[ElevenAD]

I have two 2016 radrovers and one derailleur was bent and the chain was rubbing the tire on arrival. Rad just told me to bend it back into place and it has stayed put for +3700 miles.

My Biktrix came with a deraileure bent from shipping, I also just grabbed it and bent it back,end of problem. still I think rads CS has improved since 2016 maybe they will send him a new one, worst that could happen is they say no

 

[awestover89]

That looks like derailleur hanger...

This piece on your derailleur, is it straight?
If you hit something, it will bend. Perhaps it was bent during shipping?

Yeah, that part is definitely not straight. I ended up just taking it into an LBS this morning to let them take a look and straighten it if they can. They've got a bit of a backlog due to more people biking during lockdown.

 

[harryS]

First ebike, I forgot to bring my hitch carrier, so we took off the front wheel and laid it on its side in the back of the wagon for a 200 mile drive home. Laid it on the wrong side, and it bent the derailleur on the bumps coming home.

Took out my 12" crescent wrench and bent it straight again. Of course, I had a couple of old bikes to look at for role models.