[doAZido]

I have a quick question, has anyone heard of a chronic problem with chainsuck on the Fisher sugar 4+. I just bought a new sugar 4+ 2 weeks ago..........I love the bike and it has worked perfectly so far. Then today I was reading the reviews for my bike on mtb reveiws, and several of the reveiws said they had a major problem with chainsuck. I am going to ask my LBS owner about this when I take my ride in for its first tuneup. I justed wanted to know if anyone had any thougths on this problem, do you know if fisher has corrected the problem, my 04 model has a little diferent suspension set up then last years model.

thanx

 

[Chutney]

when i was first looking into getting a fully (about a year and a half ago), i rented a sugar 4+. Im not sure if the design has changed since then (i rode a 2002 model), but that bike was chain suck city. one day of light downhill at Winter Park, and i had to break the chain 4 times. good thing i had a chaing tool. For those of you who know winter park, i only rode Mountain Goat once, and stayed mostly on the smoother single track trails.

Like i said, this was a 2002 model, and it seemed to be fairly used, but not abused. I talked to the owner of the bike shop when i brought it back, and he said that he was getting all kinds of complaints about it. He said that he mostly dismissed them as being novice riders cross-chaining. I definately was not cross chaining.

Cant comment on the '03 models though.

 

[Matt D]

The Genesis Geometry makes the chainstay shorter, which in turn makes the chainline bad, which in turns makes it easy to get chainsuck. Chainsuck is a common problem on most Fishers because of the geometry, and is increased as the bikes get cheaper because of lower quality components.

There have also been issues with the BB length that comes from the factory, which is sometimes too long, placing the crank too far outboard which increases chainsuck and dropped chains.

To be honest, most shops don't know how do deal with these issues or simply won't go through all the hassle to fix/warranty the problem. We've had some reoccuring sugars where we've replaced the entrie drivetrain (chn, bb, crank, cass, chainrings) for free to try and make the customer happy, and it worked.

The best way to fix the problem is to be on top of your stuff and know how to adjust your der.s well. I don't mean just knowing which barrel adjuster does what; you need to know a lot about the height and tail of the front derailleur to get it to work. Either you or your mechanic needs to know this.

We've had a lot of very satisfied customers on Sugars. Fisher finally has adressed the problem a little with the new Sugars (non "+" models which are all the models but the 4) by making the rear triagle adjustable side to side by 2mm.

Hopefully the shop you bought it from has a service plan that you got when you bought it from them that will allow you to bring it back for adjustments free of charge; which is very important during the "break in" period.

 

[Repack]

The main pivot forced them to go with a long BB spindle. Crappy chain line. That was as of 2002. DOn't know if its changed since.

 

[Inclag]

The problem with the Fisher bikes is a comnbination of a bad chainline and also the chainrings on the Bontrager Cranks.

I don't know what it is, or if I will ever know, but those Bontrager cranks are absolutely terrible. The chainrings BLOW. We have had much success just warrantying the cranks and BB to a shimano system which has done wonders.

I have seen this done to 5 or so bikes that utilized the Bontrager cranks, most of which were sugars, and not one has been back since.

I would just say, go to your LBS and ask if they could warranty it as Fisher knows this is a problem.