Saw Chad at his Iron Horse Outfitters shop in Conroe, yesterday...nice ride up and back-about an hour round-trip.
Had some audible noise from the rear with the bike on his lift. The rear brake rotor had a spot we could hear rotating the rear wheel, and there was some run-out in that rotor. After taking the caliper off (and discovering the caliper mounting bolts were way over-torqued to the mounting plate), we could hear more audible from the chain at the rear sprocket.
Chad thinks he chain has elongated, and maybe it has, but I can't pull it off the back of the rear sprocket at 9 o'clock, like some would suggest an elongated chain would do.
The chain looks good, and indeed, it has less than 5K miles on it as I just put on a GOOD RK chain in at the New Year. And, I run a Scott Oiler, with the dual injector now hitting the inside and the outside plates of the chain.
This new chain cost more than my previous chains have ($160.00), but my last chain, a Regina, only lasted 10K miles, while all previous Regina and D.I.D. Chains lasted 20K or better. This new chain is considerably more robust than the Regina I took off, looking to be of heavier material - it is no doubt a heavier-duty chain. The sprockets look fine, but they do have 20K on them, so I won't replace a chain gain without new sprockets, too.
But I can't believe this chain can be gone so soon. I do not believe it was run too tight, either. There is some side-to-side flex in the chain, between he bottoms of the sprockets, but, I never paid much attention to that before, so I can't say for sure that's a problem, either. Or not.
The T-Bird Sport Cush Drive Rubber was replaced probably 40K miles ago, and when the rear tire was installed last month, it was out, and looked as good as it did new.
So I'm still stumped. I was ready to replace chain, sprockets, and cush drive rubber together coming home yesterday, but when I pulled up my records and see how new that big chain is, I can't believe it's bad.
My previous chains expired when they would no longer hold an adjustment. This chain has not lost it's adjustment yet. The other old chains showed some rust, or sign the red grease had escaped the seals, especially on the inside plates, and that was all before the dual injector was deployed on the oiler. This chain exhibits none of those characteristics. Chad seemed to think it was hitting up on top of the spocket teeth instead of falling into place naturally, causing the audible we heard rolling the chain.
But I keep going back to the fact that this all started immediately with the rear tire and brake pad change.
I ride this thing a lot, and on Thursday nights, it's routine. I take the same route across town, and back. One week it's fine, then I change the tire, and the very next trip over there, and the only time I'm running 28-30 mph in second gear for any distance, and it was very obvious that something was different.
Chad felt it. Whatever it is, has to be felt at higher speeds too, but it is very, very conspicuous at 28 mph in 2nd gear, and I can not pick it up in any other gear, or at any other speed, except for the harsh buzz under all other running conditions at speed.
Stumped.
