? about amount of chain clearance to rear tire?

[sylarbrodie]

Hi everyone. I have a Schwinn road bike that looks like a mountain bike kind of. Keep in mind I'm still kind of new to all this. I just got a brand new rear wheel and tire and am having slight issues with the chain being a lil too close to my tire for my liking. I have a manic mechanic sprocket adapter for my rear sprocket which is chained to the EZ Qmatic. I would say i have about 1/4" clearance from the edge of the chain to the tire. Is that way too close or is that ok? I can take some washers and use them as spacers on the adapter to move it from the tire but then i run into the problem that the chain will now be about 1/4" from the seat post. If you guys have any ideas please share. I'm kinda freakin out a lil in the inside since i just dropped a ton of money into all of this. well..... i guess we all have... but any help would be very cool. oh.. i have a couple of ideas through alll the research i've been doing. please let me know what you think.

1. use washer to move chain away from tire.. ok cool.. check.

2. i heard that whizzer i believe cuts groves in the seat post to allow a little more clearance. has anyone heard about that? and would that be a good or bad idea?

3. some people said they would create an aluminum plate to protect tire.

4. or i'm thinking just buy a brand new frame so i have clearance no matter what.. but that entails a lot more money AHHHHHH!!!!!!

5. i have an arch chain tensioner.. so can i have the wheel of the tensioner pushing down on the top part of the chain since i have tons of room on the lowest part of the seat post area.

Thank you all for your time.

Brodie

 

[CTripps]

I don't know what engine you're using, so it's hard to think of possible solutions for your problems. If you can post a pic of the frame it will help, too.

I know nothing about Whizzers. All I can say is cutting material out of a stuctural support is a bad idea. Even replacing previously removed material can leave a weak zone.

The tensioner should be on the bottom run under the chain (if needed). The top run is under tension being pulled to the motor, it's the bottom run that will have any slack while rolling.

 

[tim turbo]

If your chain is staying on, then I would say 1/4 inch is really good clearance.

 

[lenny9651]

are there any signs of rub marks on the tire from the chain? is the chain chipping the paint from the seat post? if you answered no to both of these questions then you should be ok on chain clearence.

 

[sylarbrodie]

hey guys thank you for posting. what i ended up doing is taking my GF's car jack and very carefully spreading the seat stays/back drop I believe the technical term is called. it ended up widening that area to give me very nice clearance on both sides of the chain. Oh and I ended up putting 3 washers on the Hub adapter between the 3 posts and the sprocket. That def helped a lot. Gave me about 1/8" extra room.

@tim turbo..... thank you so much. I now have just a bit over 1/4" so seeing you say a 1/4" is really good really takes a load off.
@lenny9651.... i've been doing a lot of riding and I'm very stoked to say there has been no tire rubbing. which makes me very happy because i just spent a bunch of money on new rims, spokes, hub and bontager h2 tires.

Thank you very much guys for the help. It's very appreciated.