Chainline

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title: "Chainline" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["bicycle-drivetrains"] topic_path: "general/bicycle-drivetrains" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainline" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Chainline_(3621138368).jpg" caption="Chainline on a [[fixed-gear bicycle"] ::

The chainline is the angle of a bicycle chain relative to the centerline of the bicycle frame. A bicycle is said to have a perfect chainline if the chain is parallel to the centerline of the frame, which means that the rear sprocket is directly behind the front chainring. Chainline can also refer to the distance between a sprocket and the centerline of the frame.

Bicycles without a straight chainline are slightly less efficient due to frictional losses incurred by running the chain at an angle between the front chainring and rear sprocket.

References

References

  1. Sheldon Brown, John Allen. (2012). "About Bicycle Chainline".
  2. Sheldon Brown. (2011-11-22). "Fixed Gear Conversions".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

bicycle-drivetrains