Why does...

[anonymous-user]

[redacted]

[RCBRG]

sounds like your gears are in need of adjustment to me

[Benmac]

Also worth checking your freehub is spinning, erm, freely. If it is sticking a bit then it'll slacken the chain a touch as you start to pedal backwards which would help it drop off.

[Big Rod]

I had something similar to this and found there was excessive play in my bottom bracket.

New bracket = no more problem.

It only lasted 700 miles too but I'm advised it's a consumable item. :-/

[louiebaby]

Benmac said:

Also worth checking your freehub is spinning, erm, freely. If it is sticking a bit then it'll slacken the chain a touch as you start to pedal backwards which would help it drop off.

Also worth making sure the jockey wheels aren't gunked up, especially at this time of the year...

[okgo]

Poor indexing more than likely, and/or possible limit screw adjustment needed.

[E65Ross]

Big Rod said:

I had something similar to this and found there was excessive play in my bottom bracket.

New bracket = no more problem.

It only lasted 700 miles too but I'm advised it's a consumable item. :-/

Consumable, yes....but I reckon I got well over 10x that out of my last BB.

[WestyCarl]

If it only happens when pedaling backwards, check the read mech isn't bent inwards towards the wheel

[okgo]

E65Ross said:

Consumable, yes....but I reckon I got well over 10x that out of my last BB.

Mine has done nearly 20,000 miles. Still fine.

[toast boy]

Sounds like your gears need adjustment... although this also happened to me a while ago and I found that I had one slightly bent link in my chain. It was fine going forwards but going backwards it would throw the chain off.

[Eddh]

Big Rod said:

I had something similar to this and found there was excessive play in my bottom bracket.

New bracket = no more problem.

It only lasted 700 miles too but I'm advised it's a consumable item. :-/

If it is a SRAM one you'd do well to get 70 miles out of it...

[Big Rod]

Eddh said:

Big Rod said:

I had something similar to this and found there was excessive play in my bottom bracket.

New bracket = no more problem.

It only lasted 700 miles too but I'm advised it's a consumable item. :-/

If it is a SRAM one you'd do well to get 70 miles out of it...

It was on an inexpensive Cross bike and it cost something like £35 to have a decent one installed so I'm not losing sleep over it.

[Stiggolas]

If the chain otherwise moves freely backwards, it points to a chain line problem. If the BB is too wide, the chain will do this (unlikely if its too narrow) so that's where I'd start. I once had a spare BB lying around and fitted it to a mountain bike. It was 3mm too wide and gave exactly the symptoms you describe.

[gazza285]

Try pedalling forwards, it's like magic...

[Daveyraveygravey]

gazza285 said:

Try pedalling forwards, it's like magic...

I was thinking that!

[citizenmtb]

I've been curious, is this the same for rolling a bike backwards?

I always thought it was cheap gear, but even my DI2 Ultegra does it.

[anonymous-user]

Sounds like your mech isn't aligned and the tail is pushing the chain onto the inner ring when you pedal backwards

[SoliD]

Benmac said:

Also worth checking your freehub is spinning, erm, freely. If it is sticking a bit then it'll slacken the chain a touch as you start to pedal backwards which would help it drop off.

This, noticed my single chainring CX bike wasn't spinning well backwards the other day, just a loose freehub, quick grease and tighten and all sorted.

[Herman Toothrot]

Poor chainline. Lots of people who swap mountain bikes to single ring setups complain about this, it's not an issue if the right parts with correct offsets are used.

[Kell]

Stiggolas said:

If the chain otherwise moves freely backwards, it points to a chain line problem. If the BB is too wide, the chain will do this (unlikely if its too narrow) so that's where I'd start. I once had a spare BB lying around and fitted it to a mountain bike. It was 3mm too wide and gave exactly the symptoms you describe.

Genuine question...

If the BB is too wide, wouldn't the chain be pushed off the big ring to the outside rather than off the little one on the inside.