My Bicycle Crank Does Not Drive the Rear Wheel

If you are pedaling the crank feverishly, and everything looks fine, you've probably just dropped your chain. All bikes do it -- even the most expensive bikes drop the chain from their sprockets occasionally. It can happen at almost any point in your ride: everything is fine and then, no matter how much you crank, you have no power to the rear wheel. It's usually the result of a bad shift at the wrong time or shifting at the same time when you hit a bump. Whatever the cause, it's easy to fix.

Instructions

    • 1

      Get off the bike, but continue to hold it upright. Walk around to the side with the chain.

    • 2

      Crouch down and look at the bike's chain. You will see that the chain is drooping toward the ground, and that the chain is missing from the front set of gears.

    • 3

      Grab the droopy part of the chain that is closest to the ground and pull it forward. It will stretch the derailleur out. The derailleur is the small shifting mechanism hanging down from your rear gear cluster that controls your bike's shifting.

    • 4

      Pull the chain all the way forward past the front gears. Pull it up over the biggest gear and let go of it. It will spring back and land on one of the gears in front; it doesn't matter which gear.

    • 5

      Grab the pedal with your hand and begin pedaling the bike. The chain will naturally shift and go to the gear where it was before it came off. If it does not, get on the bike and pedal a few feet to seat the chain back onto the gear.