First bike, first ride, chain off.

Another point to add: the gears got displaced by one on their own, while i was riding on a gravel road.
Now when the counter shows the seventh gear as the last gear.

catkingdom said:

Hello
I bought a bike yesterday! First bike in years. It was a Gary Fisher Tarpon at about 300.00 Question for you: on my first ride the chain fell off. I believe it happened during shifting, on uneven terrain. is this a sign of poor bike quality, inexperienced shifting or unajusted bike? Is this fixable? how do I do it, or should I see a mechanic at the store?

Bike was bought at International Bicycle in Boston.

This is a very "fixable" problem ... it is more-than-likely the result of a poorly adjusted bike -- there may be a couple of extra links in the chain which could be removed, too.

Regardless, there are a couple of chainring-rear_cog combinations which invite trouble regardless of good the drivetrain, but more so if everything isn't optimized.

You don't want the chain to be on the largest cog in the rear AND the large chainring at the same time; AND, more so, you don't want the chain to be on the smallest cog in the rear and the inner-most chainring on a triple crankset (the "granny"/third ring) ... these combinations are ill advised because of lateral stress on the chain, but the small-small also combination means that you are also asking the rear derailleur's jockey cage to maintain adequate tension on the chain to prevent it from possibly boucing off a chainring if you are not maintaining constant tension on the chain.

Sometimes, when your chain is on one of the two largest cogs in the rear and you downshift the chain from the middle chainring to the granny, the chain can come off ...

Dropping a chain when downshifting from a larger chainring to the smallest in a crankset (double OR triple) can happen on the BEST bikes if an adjustment is just a little off with regard to the front derailleur's stops ... I was passed by a rider (we were going uphill, but he would have passed me regardless) whose bike appeard to have an 11-21 rear cassette & a Dura Ace (double) crankset ... he dropped his chain when he was about 100 yards ahead of me on relatively smooth asphalt.

The easiest solution is to add a $10+ gizmo which prevents the chain from dropping onto the bottom bracket -- there are at least TWO ... I can't recall what either is called.

But, you should bring the bike back to your shop & have it adjusted ...

THAT's the briefest of explanations ... others will elaborate (probably, more clearly).

Alfeng,
I took your advice, and visited the bike store.
Information you provided is appreciated. The gizmo u mentioned, is that a specific product?

What do you think of my bike choice, GF Tarpon?

catkingdom said:

Alfeng,
I took your advice, and visited the bike store.
Information you provided is appreciated. The gizmo u mentioned, is that a specific product?

What do you think of my bike choice, GF Tarpon?

Here's the part you may want to consider:

excelsports.comnew.aspOpen ↗

[img]excelsports.comRedline%20Chain%20Keeper.jpgOpen ↗[/img]

[img]excelsports.comredline logo.gifOpen ↗[/img]

[font=Arial]Simplifying the simple. The cyclo-cross folks at Redline came up with this clamp-on chain guide that uses one integrated bolt for attachment. Great for road, mountain or cyclo-cross bikes. [/font]

[font=Arial]Use with 1 1/4 only. (oversized aluminum) [/font]

[font=Arial]Not for use wtih most steel frames. Use the [/font][font=Arial]Third Eye Chain Watcher[/font][font=Arial] for steel frames. [/font]

What do I think? Well, it's your first bike, and it's probably nicer than the first road bike I got from a bike shop way-back-when ...

It's certainly a good-enough hardtail frame for general riding ... not a bike for serious off-road riding; but, presumably a bike which will serve you well until you are ready to upgrade specific components (which can be transferred to another frame in the future) OR as a basis for determining what features you may want in a more performance oriented bike in the future, OR not.

The tires specific to the road/trail PLUS a rider's skills & knowledge of how to handle a given terrain go a long way toward how well a bike does ... as well as the frame fit.

The fork is probably so-so for "serious" MTB riding; but, forks keep evolving, and the least expensive fork is probably as good as the best fork from 8 years ago!

The attached picture is how I treated an extra hardtail frame (probably about the same as your GF Tarpon frame) that I have ... I put an extra road fork on it that I had, 700c wheels, and some OTHER extra road components ... it just needs a chain & cables ... iif I had the desire (which I don't at the present time), I could put a suspension fork and MTB components on it and turn it back into a mountain bike!

The combination of components you attach to a frame are almost "endless" ... and, NOT limited to exact replacements of the components which were on the bike when it came out of the bike shop.