Lightning Rods Kit - chain rubbing on adjuster bolt

[Remus]

Hi all,

Am working through some issues with the Lightning Rods (small block) installation on my bike.

My lightning rods kit has 2 final drive chain rings.

I've just discovered that the final drive chain is rubbing on one of the locking bolts for the #219 chain, when the chain is on the small chain ring.

Would I be better off adding another BB spacer (and trying to re adjuster the front derailleur, and the #219 chain jack shaft, and anything else that ends up out of alignment ), or remove one of the two washers on the locking and grinding a bit off the top of the bolt ?

Thanks.

 

[r3volved]

I have at least one bolt head ground down <=1mm right under the chainring and I'm pretty sure an extra spacer at the bb.

 

[givitago]

Not sure if this is the same issue as I can't quite follow which bolt you are referring to (in the smaller sprocket, the bike chain is not near the 219 chain).

Anyway, initially, I had clearance issues with the kit bolts hitting the chain in the smaller sprockets. I added two spacers to make it work and had numerous problems adjusting my derailleurs. Then a few weeks back I had perfectly adjusted my derailleur when my bike fell over on the stand and all of a sudden it was way out of adjustment again. I tapped the BB with a hammer and noticed that it slid back and forth. After a year with the kit I finally figured out that you cannot use spacers or you will not be locking the BB in a fixed position. Maybe that should have been obvious but I am no mechanical wizard.

I ended up reversing the BB as it is asymmetrical so that the right was on the left (cups stay on the same side). Now I have plenty of clearance, and an excellent chainline to the higher gears where it counts the most so no more high speed chain skipping. I have given up on using the largest cogs on the rear clusters. With dual chainrings, the lowest gear is a overkill anyway.

 

[r3volved]

I ground down the bolt highlighted in the image below. It was interfering with my chain. I also have a bb spacer on the chainring side and no play or looseness at all in the bb(68mm)

 

[givitago]

Looks like we are talking about the same thing.

My BB wasn't loose to the point of being obvious. It is a very tight friction fit. But with a sharp smack with a hammer (or an unintended bail which is pretty common for me), it did move. I have a 68 mm BB too but with the sheets, you add a few mm. With two spacers, I added a few more mm. It ended up so that the BB cups did not butt up to the stoppers when tightened. Anyhow, at least this BB does not use fixed cups so if you want a fairly large shift to the right, reversing it is an option.

 

[Remus]

Yep, we are all talking about the same thing.

Accurate pic r3volved

 

[Remus]

The part of the motor ment to clamp onto the downtube with hose clamps does not touch the frame cause the down tube has a curve near the crank. The motor was actually hard against the down tube and I could not move the chain adjuster. By rotating the motor about 3 cm away from the frame. The motor clears the curve and the chain adjuster works now. I am looking for some rubber block to bridge the gap between the frame and frame mount on the motor. Then I'll put the crank back on and see if rotating the motor has cleared the bolt and chain contact.

 

[r3volved]

You probably should have ordered the extended lower mount Mike made for those curved downtube-to-bb frames.

What are you thinking of using as a block between?

 

[Remus]

I'll head over to local hardware bunnings today and see what they have. Maybe a rubber block. Sanding block. Door stop...

I've been trying to email mike to order the extension bb sheet but have not gotten a response. He was having trouble with overseas emails a few weeks ago. Im in Australia.

 

[Remus]

Its official, using a stack of 2 rubber low friction furniture sliders does not work.

I also tried some door stoppers. This seemed like a good idea, but had to go back for different size hose clamps, and under compression these things do not stay put.

I will order some lower sheet extensions from Mike.

 

[r3volved]

Bummer
At least you gave it a shot

 

[LightningRods]

 

[spinningmagnets]

Awesome improvement! I've always liked the look of chamfer-head allen bolts. Here's a pic from Sept 2013:

 

[Remus]

Absolutely awesome improvement !!!

I will email these pics to the local nuts and bolts specialist and see if they have anything like them in stock.

Mike, can you post specs for these bolts ?

 

[Remus]

I will try to get my hands on some of these bolts

They look to be worth trying out.

US website : http://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302280540/

I've had no luck finding Australian supplier, may have to try ordering from overseas... If they will sell me just a few of them.

In the mean time, I'll try grinding down the head of the bolt.

 

[Remus]

I've got my chainring/crank off to get the lower sheets adjuster bolts off for some grinding, and found something interesting.

I payed a bike mechanic to mount the motor to the bike, and to modify the original chain ring assembly from 1 chain ring to 2 chain rings final drive for me.

The chain ring bolt/nut is very tight, but there is still a gap between the small chain ring and the chain ring nut. And so the small chainring is loose on the assembly... Looks to be about 1 or 2 mm.

 

[Remus]

Chainring nuts a bit to long and does not allow proper clamping to take place. Easily fixed with a shim in the right place.

 

[Remus]

I'll sort out the frame curve and the chain rubbing on the slide adjuster bolts with some custom parts from Mike.

In the mean time, I've cut (20mm x 20mm x 1.6mm) steel tube into 2 x 40mm lengths, and drilled some bolt holes in them to mate up with the holes already in the hanger plate. Once this steel tube is bolted onto the hanger plate this gives me a firm spacer to solve the motor hitting the bikes curved frame. I now have full slide adjuster motion. BUT - I'm using tiny M3 hex socket bolts to hold the steel tube on... not sure if it would actually survive a ride in the bush, perhaps with lock tight. this is not a long term solution, I'm just staying busy with it till the LR parts turn up.

I have 3 spacers separating my 2 chain rings on the drive crank assembly. A guy suggested I could create space between the slide adjuster bolt heads and the chain by only using 2 spacers instead of three. I voiced a concern that perhaps this would make the chainrings so close together that the chain might not engage. He mentioned that with the evolution of increasing number of gears on rear cassettes, that thinner stronger chains are on the market. Has anyone else heard of this ?