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What do you consider cross chaining?

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

What do you consider cross chaining?

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Old 12-10-15, 06:58 PM
  #26  
Herbie53
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Old 12-10-15, 07:03 PM
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Cross chaining isn't the big deal like it was years ago. Many systems hum along fine in extreme chain lines. Ride what makes you happy.
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Old 12-10-15, 07:03 PM
  #28  
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Rohloff , only 1 cog, 1 chainring, No problems..
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Old 12-10-15, 07:16 PM
  #29  
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I don't consider cross-chaining at all.
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Old 12-10-15, 07:21 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by datlas
Hi. My name is datlas. And I am a cross-chainer. It has been two days since I last cross chained.

Usually I do it big-big when I am on rollers and know I will only need that combo for a minute or less.
Datlas, your penance will be 10 hill repeats, 5 one minute sprints and you must wave to everyone on your next ride. We expect to see you next Sunday in your holy kit.
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Old 12-10-15, 07:24 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by Trsnrtr
Cross chaining isn't the big deal like it was years ago. Many systems hum along fine in extreme chain lines. Ride what makes you happy.

+1 I don't even think about it any more since never hear metal to metal.
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Old 12-10-15, 08:05 PM
  #32  
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If a chain gets crossed and no one hears it, did it really happen?
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Old 12-10-15, 08:20 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by Herbie53
If a chain gets crossed and no one hears it, did it really happen?
Great question.

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Old 12-10-15, 08:22 PM
  #34  
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I never cross chain, I only use my 53 chain ring with my 11,12,13 cogs up to about a 10%. When it get steeper than 10% I have to go on down to my 42 chain ring and use the 17,19,21.
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Old 12-10-15, 08:29 PM
  #35  
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I cross chain frequently. However there's only five cogs on the freewheel
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Old 12-10-15, 08:54 PM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by chipndale9
I consider it when the chain makes noise
This. Some make noise sooner than others.
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Old 12-11-15, 12:30 AM
  #37  
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Cross-chaining stresses the chain by bending it sideways ... but chains are 5000-mile consumables anyway, otherwise, cross-chaining can wear on the insides of derailleur cages---but likely not enough to do damage, and most people will shift if they hear grinding. So basically ... not much of an issue.

The problem with only sharing the middle three gears is that depending on cluster/chainrings you might have duplicate ratios in there, cutting the available rations down pretty far. On another hand, depending on terrain, it might be a lot more efficient to keep shifting the back --say, topping out a hill where the quicker rear shift is far better than the slightly slower big-small chainring shift because of the speed and momentum you would lose. (I did this exact thing a few hours ago.)

Some guy back when five-speed freehubs were brand new told some other guy, "Just share the middle three" and now it has become gospel to some folks it seems.

But really ... I don't care how others choose to do it. Interesting to hear different views---even if they are so completely wrong.

J/K of course.
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Old 12-11-15, 12:49 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by kkapdolee
On a 11 speed cassette and two chainrings, what would you consider is cross chaining?

I was thinking the following.
The smallest 4 cogs are used only for the big chainring.
The medium 3 cogs are shared between the two chainrings.
The largest 4 cogs are used only for the small chainring.

Otherwise, it's cross chaining.

Would you say this is about right or is a
3
5
3
a more like it or something else?

This picture is quite conservative, it uses just over a third of the cassette with each chainring:



You can 2/3 of the sprockets (whatever number you have at the back) with each chainring with minimal cross chaining. So with 3x6, it would mean 4, 4, 4, while with 2x11 it would mean 7, 7. Triple provides all the gear ratios with less cross chaining than a double.
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Old 12-11-15, 12:51 AM
  #39  
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I guess it varies from bike to bike. Because on my frame, the big ring to small cog has a more angled chainline than big ring to big cog. I have a 48/36 pair in the front and an 11-32 cassette, and will routinely use the 48/28 for extended periods of time (as there is no combo with the 36T that falls on that ratio.) The only no-go combos are 36/12 and 36/11. The chain gets chattery (mostly from the absurd amount of slack,) and there's really no need-- 36/12 and 48/16 are the same thing.

Oh, and if the derailleurs are adjusted properly, you should be able to shift into every cog on either front ring. Mine will, and I set it up knowing next to nothing about it, and operating by trial-and-error. As a wise man on here once said, "It's a bicycle. It's not that complicated."

Originally Posted by dksix
I never cross chain, I only use my 53 chain ring with my 11,12,13 cogs up to about a 10%.
So... you do like 16-22mph up these hypothetical 10% grades? Because that's only guessing at 50rpm. If you're powerful enough to turn the gear at all, you should be flying up those grades like a rocket. Myself, I humbly manage about 7.5mph up a 10%, turning say 50-60rpm in a 48/25 or 48/28. But I am a mere mortal.
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Old 12-11-15, 02:59 AM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by DrIsotope
So... you do like 16-22mph up these hypothetical 10% grades? Because that's only guessing at 50rpm. If you're powerful enough to turn the gear at all, you should be flying up those grades like a rocket. Myself, I humbly manage about 7.5mph up a 10%, turning say 50-60rpm in a 48/25 or 48/28. But I am a mere mortal.

I should have used emoticons, it wasn't meant to be taken seriously. I really didn't think it was possible nor believed. Sorry
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Old 12-11-15, 03:03 AM
  #41  
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Huh it's always interesting to hear you Shimano boys talk about this, and then disregard Yaw Front Derailleurs from SRAM. What a fun thread.
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Old 12-11-15, 04:34 AM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by kkapdolee
Would you say this is about right or is a
3
5
3
a more like it or something else?
I agree with you. The reason I think it's good to have a system like yours is that it's best to keep your chain as straight as possible. Your system does that. I do something similar.
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Old 12-11-15, 04:38 AM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by dksix
I should have used emoticons, it wasn't meant to be taken seriously. I really didn't think it was possible nor believed. Sorry

But seriously, I was wondering if you were just exaggerating a real tendency to keep it on the big ring when most folks drop to the small. I know a rider like that - out of the saddle a LOT....
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Old 12-11-15, 07:42 AM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by Owlex
Huh it's always interesting to hear you Shimano boys talk about this, and then disregard Yaw Front Derailleurs from SRAM. What a fun thread.
I think the discussion here was about cross chaining, not dropping a chain.
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Old 12-11-15, 08:00 AM
  #45  
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Is cross chaining like when you have a Shimano drivetrain, but use a Campy chain?
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Old 12-11-15, 08:08 AM
  #46  
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Originally Posted by silversx80
Is cross chaining like when you have a Shimano drivetrain, but use a Campy chain?
No, that is Frankenchaining.
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Old 12-11-15, 08:19 AM
  #47  
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Originally Posted by rpenmanparker
No, that is Frankenchaining.
"Frank N. Furter"-chaining?
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Old 12-11-15, 08:41 AM
  #48  
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So people actually think about these things while riding? I just use whatever is convenient at the moment.
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Old 12-11-15, 08:50 AM
  #49  
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Originally Posted by jtaylor996
I've heard that the angle of departure on compact double cranks is well within specs of the chain in every single combination possible. Something like 3deg allowable and max 1.06 deg departure in worst case. I don't have the numbers off hand. But from them I believe there is no such thing as cross chaining on modern equipment. Just use it and forget about it.
This. 1x setups are becoming more popular and they work just fine.
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Old 12-11-15, 09:09 AM
  #50  
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I NEVER cross chain [when taking a hot r not photo].
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