Following on from this thread yesterday I’ve done a little more reading on the differences between bushless and bushed chains.

Like most subjects there’s a polarisation on the views.

My last 2 bushless chains from Izumi have lasted circa 500miles each with what I think is good maintenance i.e. hosed down and cleaned with plain water after 95% of all rides and re-lubed.

Has anyone got any real world comparisons between the two types of chains?

^ mate, it doesn’t matter, just chuck the chain checker away.

where as on my alfine with a sram pc1 im at 10000kms near enough and not looking to change my chain any time soon.

it gets no real love bar a hose down once a week and is often thick with oil/grease/dirt.

^ mate, it doesn’t matter, just chuck the chain checker away. and put the hose down!

Pretty much all modern decent chains are bushless, even cheap <£5 jobbies, and I’ve never consciously used a bushed chain.

Best I’ve managed on my SS commuter is just shy of 12,000 miles (all weather) on a KMC 510 chain (bushless). It got cleaned twice in that time, and lubed infrequently, normally when the squeaking had been annoying me for a few days too many.

The chainring and freewheel were absolutely buggered and the chain was more worn than you would care to measure, but it still worked, and never skipped. I only replaced the whole lot because the teeth were so worn on the freewheel they were in danger of starting to snap off.

and when it was time to replace, a chainring is £15, another KMC 510 is about £5 and a freewheel is from £15 upwards depending how posh you want, so basically entire drivetrain for little more than the cost of a posh chain.

If you’re running SS or IGH just forget about it, lube it when it squeaks and replace it when it skips or snaps.

missed my edit window but was going to say…

Although bushed chains are likely to be stronger, and at least in theory can last longer if properly constructed and looked after, I think those arguments are pretty moot when you can get such long life out of cheap modern chains.

I had a Rohloff for three years. I was riding a lot then and fitted the cheapest not-brown singlespeed chain CRC had (about £6). I never changed the chain, just the chainring. I got maybe 10,000 offroad miles out of it. I never checked it. Nothing. Just put the chain on and leave it until its obliterated.

A new Rohloff sprocket, £6 chain and two £20 chainrings in 10,000 miles costs £72. You fitting a new £16 chain every 500 miles for 10,000 miles costs £320. Just ride them until they don’t work and ignore your chain checker.

A new Rohloff sprocket, £6 chain and two £20 chainrings in 10,000 miles costs £72. You fitting a new £16 chain every 500 miles for 10,000 miles costs £320. Just ride them until they don’t work and ignore your chain checker.

Mmmm…probably the correct way to look at it.

I suppose the only draw back to this is that the chain will stretch to a point where my sliding dropouts on the rear can no longer take up the slack.

I’m over thinking this!

I suppose the only draw back to this is that the chain will stretch to a point where my sliding dropouts on the rear can no longer take up the slack.

When/if it reaches this point, take a link out, and reset the dropouts. Or do you not have enough adjustment for a full links worth?

The SS commuter I mentioned above had a few taken out over it’s life

one thing worth checking too, are you running your chain too tight?

I’m over thinking this!

yes, yes you are 😀

then shorten the chain!

Really no point in replacing at 0.75 on single speed, unless you are rotating chains and then letting them then wear further.

Not sure cleaning with water and oiling is a good cleaning regime either.

OP, you’d be surprised just how worn a drivetrain needs to get before it will slip, this is the worst example I could find with google image search but I have seen worse IRL in the workshop:

And I’ve seen chains with several rollers missing and the remaining ones wobbling and bouncing around, but they still work, tis the beauty of SS/IGH 😀

yes, yes you are

I’ll get me coat 😳

I just responded to your other thread. I think hosing down is killing your chains! If water wasn’t so cheap and clean looking I don’t think we’d use it to clean bikes – it’s corrosive, a poor lubricant on its own and excellent at making grinding paste out of the bits it’s corroded off the components.

amadias ….

ive had them not slip even with several teeth missing – it only started to slip when one of the sharkfins folded over and lifted the chain off the remaining stubs of teeth !