Skiptooth Chain noise

[SKPC]

I may chime in with my experiences with noisy old drivetrains. With the old "skip-tooth" (1" pitch) drivetrains, there can be many things contributing to the noise you hear. See above posts. After finally getting some clarity regarding your sprocket(Front), & cog(Rear) it reminded me of when I ran a new rear Ichi cog and a near new front ring with a brand new Diamond Chain. NOISY! How is that possible? I thought maybe the chain-line was bad?...nope. Maybe the front sprocket is worn? Nope. Chain stretched or worn? Nope. So what's up Doc?
Well, it went away after 100 miles. If you look closely at the unfinished tooth profile of the Ichi cog you notice it is crude and sharp-edged. There is not enough matching machine work done on this crude cog. (like they used to do with pride) If they did, it would create a smooth and rounded profile that better matches the chain curves. If they had done this, you would run silent. Just go inspect some old but unworn prewar sprockets or cogs and look how they perfectly match the chain. Smooth and round profiles that match the links and rollers....not the Ichi. Ichi is cheapy. Made from chinese pot-metal. I actually stripped out the three drive tabs on one of these cogs that mount to the hub as I was just riding along (yes it had some miles on it) and it left me stranded.
So if the new cheepy Ichi is what you have on your bike, the hard-edged, cheap pot metal junk will eventually wear down to match the profile of the chain better, so in about 100 miles it will finally quiet down. After discovering these things, I abandoned the cheap but expensive Ichi cogs and returned to grinding down every other tooth on 20 or 22 tooth Sturmey Archer sprockets....nice and quiet, easy to find, cheap, hard metal and it won't leave you stranded....some may not agree that modifying these sturmey sprockets is ideal, but I have found many reasons to not necessarily agree with that. I have had great luck with them, narrow or not. I just used Ben Franklins' decision making T-column technique.
And went back to the high-quality metal..

 

[Ernest Varney]

Does anyone have a 10 or 11 tooth cog that will work for a shimano highflange hub

 

[Balloonoob]

I'm all for high quality metal. I broke the teeth off a new modern crappy rear cog and was extremely surprised how easily they snapped off. I thought narrow teeth were bad for the skiptooth chains too which was why I trashed the cheap one with teeth snapped off and went with ichibike. The ichibike cog ran for a while... Up hills and down for many miles. Sure it's cheap Chinese junk. Yeah it'll probably break and leave me stranded. But it worked and I didn't know how to rebuild a nd model d hub yet. If I use it again and it breaks i could just replace it again. But I will grind it down. Glad i didn't learn the hard way that those could kill a precious skiptooth chain. I couldn't imagine getting into the hobby while living in the middle of nowhere with nobody to bounce ideas off of or ride vintage with.

 

[Balloonoob]

Does anyone have a 10 or 11 tooth cog that will work for a shimano highflange hub

I think ichibike does.

 

[Ernest Varney]

Ya thats fudgeed up balloonoob

 

[GTs58]

My chain makes noise too. I thought it was rubbing on the chainguard - it is not.
I think it is because the chain alignment is off between the chainring and rear cog.
I have been meaning to try taking a washer and putting it on the crank to kick out the chainring a bit but have not had time.
Got the noisy chain virus myself.
You will find a cure - not sure that red grease is the answer though.
And yes - pictures help.

See Danny D. above.

So what do they do for the misalignment on a 5 gear freewheel?

 

[Ernest Varney]

View attachment 1229494

 

[Balloonoob]

See Danny D. above.

So what do they do for the misalignment on a 5 gear freewheel?

Uhhhhhh. Add a derailer? I know nothing about a 5 gear freewheel. I try to stick to single gear. I did use an ichibike cog and stay at a holiday inn express once. Rode the Valley Metro all over Phoenix.

 

[GTs58]

Uhhhhhh. Add a derailer? I know nothing about a 5 gear freewheel. I try to stick to single gear. I did use an ichibike cog and stay at a holiday inn express once. Rode the Valley Metro all over Phoenix.

Was that before the Valley Metro Light Rail that went 26 miles from N. Phoenix to E. Mesa? Fun times bar hopping across the Valley.

10 speeds very seldom have the chain inline and the only noise is when you have the chain rubbing on the front derailleur.

 

[Balloonoob]

Was that before the Valley Metro Light Rail that went 26 miles from N. Phoenix to E. Mesa? Fun times bar hopping across the Valley.

10 speeds very seldom have the chain inline and the only noise is when you have the chain rubbing on the front derailleur.

Nah. It was the dirty valley metro. The ones drugs were sold on, people threatened you with a gun, a full bus would pull up to a full bus stop, and dang did it stank come July. The 90 Dunlap. 106 Peoria. 35 bus to metrocenter and back to the old hood on Glendale. Back in my skateboarding days it cost 60 cents to ride across town. The light Rail had just been built and didn't quite make it to Christown mall. If I was going to Tempe to get crunk with college kids we took a cab or got pigeon crap on our car while it was parked. Good times tubing the salt river in Mesa though. Maybe someday I'll learn enough about geared bikes to master 10 speed maintenance. But probably not. LOL.