I recently removed and cleaned the rear 10 speed cassette on my Ultegra geared/American Classic 350 sprint rim equipped roadbike.
The American Classic rear rim is mated to a large flange rear hub. With the cassette removed, it exposes a large rubber/soft plastic washer/seal that the cassette rides against.
I wiped all of the grease off of the plastic washer/seal and ever since then, no matter how lightly I tighten the cassette lock-ring, the friction between the two is enough to pull the chain forward, and down on the frame when I’m coasting. The faster I’m going when I’m coasting, the more it drags the chain down.
I’ve removed the cassette and regreased the washer/seal surface a couple of times, and tightened the cassette lock ring just enough to make sure it’s engaged. But when I’m in the smaller cogs and coasting, the friction is still enough to drag the chain forward and down.
Has anyone else encountered a similar problem? Any fixes?
thanks, Don
don, did you happen to spray
don, did you happen to spray degreeser on your freehub. It sounds like the freehub is dragging and pulling your cassett around instead of coasting. This would pull your chain down like your refering to. i haven't ever had the freehub apart on a AC wheel but i'm sure they are paws and springs. Maybe clean and lube those bad boys up with something like pedro's road rage (fine slick oil lube) and see if it goes away.
http://www.amclassic.com/tech
http://www.amclassic.com/technology.html
which black seal are you refering two. There is one at the iner most part of the freehub (cassette body) and there is one that is down below the "cam" that drives the paws. If it is the one on the free hub its the freehub dragging, but if its the other one, they really shouldn't be hitting one another. Maybe a spacer would fix that if it was???
Nick, thanks for the info,
Nick, thanks for the info, especially about the spacer.
I just called American Classic, and they informed me that most likely I'm missing a .5mm spacer that goes on before the cassette.
I'll take it to a LBS and see what they have to say about it.
Note- on my last couple of rides, I really had to pay attention to insure the chain didn't droop down and possibly get caught in the spokes, or between the tire/frame, not a good situation!
thanks, Don
Stopped by the local bike
Stopped by the local bike shop last night, and sure enough, the culprit was one very small and very thin aluminum shim. Everything is now back to normal, and on future cassettee removals/cleaning, I will keep an eye out to make sure the first item going back into place is the spacer!