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Rerailleur
Puts the chain back on the gears when it falls off. | |
Sometimes a bicycle chain falls off the gears and the bicycle ceases to work. This is an easy problem to fix, however it can be a greasy, dirty task lifting the derailleur to slacken the chain, and then place the chain back on the gears.
A Rerailleur is a simple mechanical device that attaches
to the frame of a bicycle. It consists of an arm that rests at the base of the crankset which catches a fallen chain. There is a lever attached that when pulled, cleanly lifts the chain back onto the gears.
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I am proud to be the first to vote for this wonderful idea. Impractical, yes, but wonderful. |
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I don't think I have ever bunned without an anno. But this idea is so good, it needs no annotating. Bun and go is enough. So this time I'll make an exception and bun it without an annotation blathering on about it unnecessarily. Pretend all this isn't even here, OK? |
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I am skeptical that a simple mechanical device would do this so easily. To grab the chain means putting your fingers inside the loop or pinching the chain. The lever would need to constantly reside within the loop of the chain. Pinching is too delicate for a simple device and it would be difficult for the lever to loop under the chain, if not already in place, due to all the stuff in the way. |
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So the lever has to pull the chain up and forward to make contact with the front gears (the ones it always falls off of). Then the lever would need to run over the gears with the chain to make the connection. It would then loop around back into place? |
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Perhaps the lever could have the same fulcrum as the front gears. But activating it would require something other than a pull chain, I think. |
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Can you try to think this through more? It's your idea and I've had a day. |
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Why not just prevent the chain from coming off in the first place? |
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It could be done surrounding the area where the chain is in contact with the gear with some kind of plate or cover or shield or cage. |
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Or it could be done by placing a spring loaded idler wheel where it would be in contact with the 'loose' part of the chain, keeping it taught. |
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Or a combination of the two methods. |
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This, in my opinion, is a perfectly half-baked idea. [jscottpete] and [BS]'s points are exactly what make it impractically half baked, without making it absolutely impossible. And a gently humorous title to boot. I wish I had a bigger bun. |
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I agree. This always happens to me. And, on every bike I've owned, it seems to be specifically designed to pinch and hold the chain after it has fallen off. |
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I have had a bike with a chain guide that effectively kept the front chain on the sprocket. So that idea is out there and working, if anyone wanted to implement it. The problem was that it was made out of plastic, and after I abused my bike, it broke. But while it was on, I never had it derail once. |
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[BJS] Your second idea with the spring loaded idler wheel -- huh? all derailures have that already... normally things get derailed when something pushes that spring backwards (even if just a bad tooth on the 'idler wheel') That would just get pushed back as well. |
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[-] A well-adjusted bike should never lose its chain, and I don't want a bit of mechanics attached to my bike which adds to the weight of the bike and which might only get used very infrequently. |
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If a chain comes off I can usually get the chain back onto the cogs using the derailer lever itself; the trick is to gently up-shift before the chain becomes pinched between the frame and the crank. |
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I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a TdF rider slipping a chain. Breaking one, yes, but never slipping one off in normal rding. |
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I like complex mechanical bits and whatnot - mmm, whatnot - but couldn't this need be met by a couple of simple flanges at the extremes of the sprockets? Then the chain couldn't fall off because it there would be no "off" to fall to. |
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Of course, it winds up looking like training wheels for your gearset... |
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[UnaBubba] That's because they have highly maintained, expensive bikes. |
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For the rest of us, who own bikes that will, if you accidentally try to downshift from 1st, throw off the chain, this would be a good idea. Many bikes are lightly maintained, and cheap. Sprockets will get lightly bent from hitting a curb or being knocked over in the garage, or cable tension will be changed and throw off the synchronization of the gears (such as when a highly frayed shifter cable slips a bit from the clamp) and voila, a recipe for things falling apart. |
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This idea would be better for people who don't have sophisticated bikes and sophisticated riding techniques. |
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Although with that said I guess a rerailleur would just introduce more parts to be made out of cheap metal and break. |
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I think my vote is for chain training wheels. |
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