Turbo Vado 4 Chain Wear

[Marcela]

Also breaking in a chain is in my thoughts when a new one is installed. Letting the parts wear in and become familiar with plenty of lubricant is on my mind. Especially with the ebike.

 

[Sierratim]

@Sierratim: There's a small issue, and perhaps you could have an answer? The cassette in my Vado is sound. The chain is almost new and not stretched at all. The chainring is new. The only issue is the "chirping noise from the chainring" (as Nxkharra has put it) and only in the granny gear! Jacek looked at that and told me it was strange but it looked as if the chain was stiff and didn't like to be bent as much as to co-work smoothly with the chainring on the largest cassette cog. Any ideas? (It is not critical now in the Winter; I just don't use the granny gear now).

As Marcela suggests it certainly could be the brand of chain. I switched from a Shimano to a KMC with my gearing change and had to fine tune the shifting to accomadate what is probably a 'looser' chain.

Personally, I'd try the barrel adjusters on the derailleur and trigger shifter to loosen the shift cable tension a bit (try 1/4 turn at a time). This will have the effect of moving the derailleur away from the granny gear center line a bit and bring the chain a bit more into line with the front chain ring.

 

[Nxkharra]

btw. And as side note what a big difference between XT and SLX. Much more solid and smoother gear change. Good upgrade.

 

[Sierratim]

btw. And as side note what a big difference between XT and SLX. Much more solid and smoother gear change. Good upgrade.

Still the original derailleur?

 

[Nxkharra]

Still the original derailleur?

Yes. But might upgrade that too soon. What are the options for that? Will upgrade make difference in gear change? I already have XT derailleur

 

[Sierratim]

Yes. But might upgrade that too soon. What are the options for that? Will upgrade make difference in gear change? I already have XT derailleur

I assume you also have the Deore XT Shadow derailluer? This is an excellent component that is generally considered to be close in performance to the best Shimano offers, their XTR model. The XTR derailleur weighs less and is purported to be a bit more durable, esp in hard MTB riding. It also carries a premium price tag at about double the Deore XT.

After disassembling my Deore XT derailleur for a deep cleaning and the installation of the long cage arms I can attest to the quality of the build, from the ball bearings in the jockey wheels to the sealed adjustable clutch. I personally don't think it's worth the time and $ to upgrade this component. YRMV.

 

[Nxkharra]

I assume you also have the Deore XT Shadow derailluer? This is an excellent component that is generally considered to be close in performance to the best Shimano offers, their XTR model. The XTR derailleur weighs less and is purported to be a bit more durable, esp in hard MTB riding. It also carries a premium price tag at about double the Deore XT.

After disassembling my Deore XT derailleur for a deep cleaning and the installation of the long cage arms I can attest to the quality of the build, from the ball bearings in the jockey wheels to the sealed adjustable clutch. I personally don't think it's worth the time and $ to upgrade this component. YRMV.

Thanks @Sierratim. My son confirmed your recommendation also. Will keep XT derailleur.
As mentioned above XT Cassette feels much more solid and quieter than SLX when changing gear.

 

[mordase]

Update - since putting up the original post I have replaced the chain. The original factory fitted chain was a KMC e10T and I have now fitted a KMC e10ept. Everything is working fine and no chirping or other strange noises.

Reading all the various posts and doing some research I have noted the following. 1) My original chain was showing as 0.5% worn using a Park CC3.2 measuring tool. 2) After replacing my chain I used an old fashioned ruler across 24 links of the old “worn” chain and as far as my eyes could see was reading 12 inches. Normally a worn chain at 0.5% would read at least 1/16th inch longer. 3) Further research has shown that the Park CC3.2 is prone to over reading as it also measures roller wear which does not affect the pin to pin length. 4) Being interested in this I took apart a link to examine the rollers and bushing. Compared to a link from the new chain there was a bit more wear but this does not affect the length of the chain. 5) Yet more research shows that to minimise the affects of roller wear in the measurement process the Park CC4 is a better choice. 6) I borrowed a CC4 and measured the old chain. Interestingly, it was NOT showing wear at 0.5% which is what the old fashioned ruler was saying. 7) I compared the full 120 link length of the old chain to the new chain and whilst the old one was 6mm longer it was nowhere near the length had it worn by 0.5% (theoretically a 120 link chain would be 10/16ths of an inch or 15.8 mm longer if it was worn by 0.5%).

So to sum up my old chain had less wear than I thought but at 2000km it was prudent to change anyway. Be careful how you measure your chain wear as not all tools appear equal. I didn’t give a thought to tool accuracy before this episode. At least the tool was overly pessimistic and on this occasion has spared me having to get a new cassette and/or chainring. Hope this helps someone in the future.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

That's why I use a digital calliper and measure pin-to-pin distance for 10 consecutive links. I do the measurement on the bike, with the chain stretched with the crank.