DIY V-brake Roller Chain Tensioner Completed! - Update

Here is an update on my November 2009 post on "DIY V-brake Roller Chain Tensioner Completed!". Basically, I have added a "cage" to the roller to ensure that the chain stays on. What I discovered while riding was that there is an enormous amount of pressure exerted on the roller chain and the tensioner's roller.

Whenever the wheel comes in contact with the wooden pallets or other surfaces, the chain gets shaken intensively. This causes the chain to come off the roller and slacked, which is a VERY dangerous situation.

And so, as added security, I attached a soft tin metal plate to wrap around the chain to ensure that the chain will not derail when under heavy pressure. See the following photos of the DIY roller cage.









Up to now, I have had zero incident, where the chain would come off the roller. Lets keep it that way eh? LOL. While I was taking photos of the roller cage to update this blog, I noticed that the nut (or spacer nut?) holding the gear cog in place was completely loose! Unbelievable!





I unscrewed the nut (or is it a spacer) to take a closer look at the gear cog. Believe me, I was thankful that I noticed this now instead of later. A disaster waiting to happen. I am definitely adding this to my safety checklist before riding any bike!


I removed the chain roller so that I could get at the gear cog.


With the chain out of the way, I could tighten the nut holding the gear cog in place.


I took out my "Bike Hand" bicycle tool set to look for a tool to tighten the nut.


Heck... none of the tool could be used... LOL.


In the end, this 20 years old spanner did the job!

New And Newer Bicycle Roller Chains

Finally managed to get some time to update my blog today. Been busy running all over the place at work and at home. The kids will be starting school again in a couple of weeks. Me and the wife have been shopping for new school uniforms, shoes, text and work books for the kids.

Anyway, just to follow up on my roller chain mishaps, I managed to buy a replacement roller chain on Nov 30th. It was actually harder than I thought looking for a single-speed chain. In the end, I settled for a BMX roller chain from a bike shop in Sungei Way in Petaling Jaya.


The new BMX roller chain from Taiwan.

After installing the new roller chain on my Echo 26", I tried riding round. The roller chain kept slipping off my DIY roller chain tensioner. It was very annoying and frustrating.


The new roller chain (right) compared to the old chain.

I adjusted and re-aligned the tensioner to no avail. I continued riding, realigning and adjusting the tensioner a couple more times and decided to stop when I heard a "clink" sound, like something came off and dropped from the bike. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a piece of the roller chain link plate lying on the floor... LOL. "You have got to be kidding me," I thought.


A photo showing the link plate that came off the pins when I pedal kicked.

Apparently, the inner width between the link plates on the new roller chain were wider than the one that I had earlier, and that allowed one of the sprocket tooth to get caught in between the link plates, hence popping the link plate right off the roller chain! Scary!!!

Right after that I packed up everything and decided to call it a night. My plan was to go get a new roller chain the next day... LOL. And this time I was going to bring my old original roller chain with me for comparison.... LOL.

The next day and a couple of days later, I was just too busy with work to go looking for a new roller chain. It was only after a week later, on a Saturday (Dec 12th) that I decided to go to Kota Kemuning to look for Ah Chun of Tat Seng Bicycle Centre. I had decided to bring along my Monty 221PR to replace all the rear wheel spokes as well.

In my mind, I had thought that if anyone could help me with my bike problems, it would be Ah Chun... LOL. And sure enough, he recommended a set of roller chain that were suitable for BMX, Trials or Freestyle bikes!


The YBN roller chain.

That night, after I installed the new roller chain, everything came together perfectly! The chain was no longer coming off the tensioner sprocket and I could ride with confidence... but only after I had my eldest son, Joel, keeping an eye on the chain as I rode. I tried everything from hopping, pivoting, pedal kicking, etc. It worked great! Hahahaha. Confidence! Happiness!


Side view of the 3 roller chains, with the newest one at the bottom.


Top view of the 3 roller chains, with the newest one at the bottom. Notice the design? The bottom one is designed to be slip-proof!


The new roller chain installed on my Echo.


Closeup of the new roller chain on my Echo.

As for my Monty 221PR, I left it with Ah Chun and less than a week later, I got it back. Except for the brakes, the spokes were great! I had to re-tar the rims to maximise braking power... :-)

And now I have both bikes in good working conditions. From here on, I am back on training and riding... whoohu!

Roller Chain Snapped! Worse Nightmare Came True

After installing the V-brake chain tensioner that I DIY-ed last Thursday, I had been dying to ride my Echo!!! Unfortunately, I had to spend the weekend out of town in Johor Baru.

And so today, as soon as I had gotten back from work, I started my warm-up and practice routine on the 26". After about forty minutes, I decided to start on the pedal kick routine. That was when the roller chain snapped with a loud "crack". Freaked me out!!! One of the roller chain links broke. Thankfully, I managed to get the bike under control without any mishap!


The DIY V-brake chain tensioner. Still very solid and firm.


The broken roller chain. Check out those rust!

Ever since I had had that first experience with the roller chain snapping apart on me, I had been paranoid and wary of it happening again. And sure enough, it happened today.

When I was replacing the derailleur with my DIY chain tensioner, I was more or less aware that the roller chain was pretty rusted. In fact, after the first roller chain snapping apart experience, I had purchased a bottle of bicycle chain oil to lubricate the gears and roller chain. I had attributed the roller chain breaking to the derailleur. Now I think the rust probably played a big part.

It was very likely that I started maintaining the roller chain links way too late. Upon closer look today, certain parts of the chain links were pretty badly rusted.

So... what was the lesson learned? Constantly oil and maintain the roller chain to prevent rust from setting it!!!! Rust will weaken the metal!!! Guess I am going to shop for new bicycle roller chain tomorrow... gonna Google and see what are the best and lightest chain I can afford... LOL.

Btw, I regularly checked and maintained my pedals, brakes, wheels and stem. Mostly, I made sure that the nuts were tightened properly... :-) You should too!

DIY V-brake Roller Chain Tensioner Completed!

Today I was on leave. My goal was to go around town hunting for a longer hanger screw that I could use to mount the DIY chain tensioner to my trial bike. In my last post, I wrote about how I made two versions of a roller chain tensioner using V-brake and derailleur parts.

Finally, today, I managed to find a screw that fit the hanger and long enough to be tightened securely onto the hanger. Earlier in the day I tried a couple of hardware shops but could not find even 1 screw that could even fit the hanger.

In the end, almost giving up, I decided to try a motorbike part shop next to one of the hardware shop. Voila! Would you believe it? I found exactly what I needed at the motorbike shop. Why is it that you always find what you need from the most unexpected places. And to top it off, the proprietor was very interested in my bike. He started asking so many questions about trials, to which I explained as best I could... LOL. And during all that time, he helped me mount the chain tensioner onto the hanger... sweet!

After that, I showed him how to start basic trial training on my bike and told him that he could train with any bicycle... LOL. In the end, I gave him my business card and told him that if he really wanted to pursue this sport, to contact me... :-)


The elusive screw that got me running around town... LOL. Using 2 washers as spacers and grip, the V-brake roller chain tensioner was mounted securely on the derailleur hanger.


Another view of the screw securely holding the V-brake chain tensioner.


The V-brake chain tensioner gripping the chain firmly without any slack.


Side view of the DIY V-brake chain tensioner.


The completed DIY V-brake chain tensioner.


The completed DIY V-brake chain tensioner in action... LOL.

Updated Post:

• I have updated the chain tensioner with a "chain guard" for additional security.

DIY Roller Chain Tensioner

I feel heavy! I have not been riding trials for 3 weeks already. Heavy rain everyday, broken rear wheel spokes on the 20" and a faulty derailleur on the 26" really put a damper on things!

The 20" Monty 221PR had been good to me. I had been training and riding it almost everyday. The problem was that one of the spoke broke. I got it repaired... and before I knew it, more spokes broke. From what I understand from a friend, when 1 spoke breaks, more will break soon after and that it is best to change all the spokes. I am still deciding what to do next.

In the meantime, I started riding my Echo 26". It went well for a while, until one day, when I pedal up, the roller chain broke and shot behind me into the pallet. Luckily, I managed to recovered without any injury... phew! Sure scared the heck out of me!



In the end, I found out that the cause for the roller chain to break was due to the derailleur casing. Apparently, the casing was out of alignment and the roller chain was rubbing against the sprocket casing. My guess was that the roller chain snapped when it was caught by the misaligned sprocket casing.





Anyway, I managed to re-attach and oiled the roller chain. But... I just could not bring myself to trust the roller chain again. I had lost almost all confidence in the chain and the derailleur.

And so, I had not been riding trials for the past 3 weeks. Then I remembered what a friend (Wong Xu) told me. He said that I could make my own roller chain tensioner. The basic idea was to use a V-brake arm coupled together with a roller chain sprocket from a derailleur to make a chain tensioner. He did not go into the details.

And so, last weekend, I decided to try make a chain tensioner out of a V-brake arm and an old derailleur sprocket.





I spent about USD2.50 to purchase one side of a V-brake arm. I removed the brake pad and spring from the V-brake as I only needed the arm bracket... :-)



From my Echo bike, I removed the roller chain and took apart the old derailleur. The only thing I wanted from the derailleur was the hanger and the sprocket. My plan was that the sprocket will be attached to the V-brake arm, and the V-brake arm will be attached to the hanger and then mounted on the bike.



I removed the sprocket from the old derailleur.



I needed to find a stainless steel nut that will fit the screw holding the sprocket. Had to visit several hardware shop before I found what I wanted.



I fitted the sprocket to the V-brake arm just to get a feel to see if I was going in the right direction.

After half a day of trial and error, I managed to come up with 2 ways of mounting the sprocket on the V-brake arm. Both did not work very well because the screw on the hanger was not long enough to mount correctly.

Version 1.0 of the Chain Tensioner

I did not like the way I mounted the sprocket. It was gripping the roller chain in a manner that did not inspire confidence with me... LOL. Also, the V-brake arm was mounted on the inner side of the hanger with a hanger screw that was too short, which did not allow me to tighten it as securely as I wanted.




Video of Version 1

Version 2.0 of the Chain Tensioner.

This second version was much better. I reversed the V-brake arm then used nuts and spacers to extend the reach of the sprocket to the chain. The sprocket was gripping the chain nicely. Problem was still at the hanger. I could not find a screw long enough to fully attach the arm onto the hanger securely.








Video of Version 2 in action.

After test riding with Version two for while, the chain became slacked. Tightening the screw on the hanger did not help either. I guess it is back to the drawing board.

I will probably have to think of a way to use a spring to provide added tension and also to find a longer screw that will fit the hanger!!!

Arrrgh!!! No bike to ride!!!

Related Post:

• DIY V-brake Roller Chain Tensioner Completed!
• Roller Chain Snapped! Worse Nightmare Came True
• New And Newer Bicycle Roller Chains

Of Stems and Derailleur Hanger

When Sean and I first bought our Echo Pure trial bikes back in Mar 2008, the stems on the bikes were only temporary ones on loan to us, as ours had not arrived yet.

A couple of months later, the new stems arrived in Singapore but we could not picked them up. When Syarul was in Singapore last December for the 4th round of the Singapore National BikeTrial competition, he helped to pick them up for us; but he never had the chance to pass them over to us until that day when I was riding with him in Bukit Komanwel... LOL.

All this while, I had been training on the 20" and have not been riding the Echo. The last time I rode the 26", I broke the derailleur's hanger. I tried to hop onto a platform but slipped on the rear wheel and landed on the derailleur. Paid RM35 to get a new hanger... felt like I was ripped off... cause when I first bought the el cheapo Shimano derailleur (with the hanger), it only cost me about RM45. LOL...


The broken derailleur hanger.


The new hanger after installation.

Anyway, the stems were of different length. All this while I had been using the long 150mm stem, so I decided to try the 130mm stem (Sean's). It felt really uncomfortable and it required more strength to lift the front wheel. Pivoting backward required more effort but pivoting forward was much more easier.

The Bazooka 150mm stem on loan to me by Peng and the new 130mm for Sean.

The long awaited new 150mm Echo stem.

After changing back to the 150mm stem, it came across to me that maybe the handlebar will make a big difference in the overall feel and control of the bike. The Echo's handlebar had no "riser" and was pretty much "flat". I remembered riding a friend's 26" Monty 231 Kamel 08 model, the bike felt extremely easy to handle and control.... almost as easy as the current Monty 20" which I am riding now.

The Echo handlebar is really flat with the 150mm stem.

The older model of the Monty riser handlebar on my 20".

Hmmm... would a riser handlebar affect the handling of the bike that much? I simply have to find out! I guess I am still trying to find the perfect bike setup that's suitable for my size and weight on the Echo. When I have time, I will probably remove the Monty riser handlebar from my 20" and try it on the Echo... LOL