Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • Chain – wear life and expected mileage
  • Denis99
    Free Member

    Seeing the thread on how do you clean your chain has prompted me to post a seperate thread rather than hi jack the cleaning thread.

    Since the beginning of this year , i’ve kept a bit of a ride and maintenance log (sad, I know, there must be a separate forum for people like me…..)

    Anyway, I know its dependent on a few variables like terrain, weather etc, but I’ve got the following mileages from these chains

    Izumi 8 speed – 110 miles

    another izumi 8 speed – 130 miles

    Sram 830 – 215 miles
    Sram 830 – 250 miles

    I run a rohloff hub on a Nicolai CC Helius.

    The saving grace is that the 8 speed chains are quite cheap – replaced when the park tool chain checker is at 0.75.

    Surely I should be getting a longer (more miles) chain life?

    Tempted with an 8 speed Rohloff chain, but at £45 I can buy a few SRAM 830’s

    Riding is almost all off road at Afan, which has a sandy gritty appetite for most components.

    racing_ralph
    Free Member

    i reckon 1000 peak miles is not that much for a chain

    solamanda
    Free Member

    How often do you properly degrease and lube it?

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    Denis99
    Free Member

    Yep, road chain with derailleurs last a reasonable mileage – 2,000 ish miles.

    Considering my chain isn’t derailed across drive-chain angles it seems quite low, but faced with the diary evidence quite accurate.

    Chain is cleaned when probably more times than is strictly necessary (but I’m like that), but I still don’t think this is a major factor.

    Anyone got an opinion on the expensive Rohloff chain?

    Denis99
    Free Member

    Cleaned with the Park tool chain cleaner, relubed with a variety of lube stuff – Purple Extreme added before and after every ride.

    avdave2
    Full Member

    My SRAM 8 speed running with a Rohloff dates from July 06. I commute so it’s used all the time and that commute has been off road for the last year. I think being 60kg and a spinner not a grinder might explain a lot of that. Oh and not really cleaning it very often.

    Denis99
    Free Member

    Yep, I’m 95 Kgs, and alot of time is spent each (most) weekends climbing out of Glyncorrwg up the Whites Level / Skyline climb.

    I do tend to try and spin, but I climb at a more leisurely pace (shall we say), using 38 x 16 in the lowest combinations (1,2,3)

    stuartanicholson
    Free Member

    Could it be that your sprokets are worn?

    simondbarnes
    Full Member

    Why the hell are you changing chains on a Rohloff when they get to 0.75 on a chain checker? You should get 1000’s of miles from what is essentially a singlespeed setup.

    Denis99
    Free Member

    Sprocket has been inspected and replaced when it has shown the slightest bit of hooking – these are now something like £25 ish as well……

    sq225917
    Free Member

    Stop throwing good chains away just ride them until they snap.

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    I am a bit of a chain saddo as well.
    Changing chain on the tandem at 0,75% worn is a chain every 500 or so miles, 2 or 3 chains to a cassette. 2 cassettes to a set of chain rings. so its a full drivetrain a year and several chains. thats more £ per mile than a superbike

    On the solo it about 1000 miles to change the chain.

    I am religious about cleaning an lubing chains and have recently gone to using motocross chain wax which appears to be lasting longer

    Tracker1972
    Free Member

    You have not mentioned the chainring. Could that be what is causing what does seem to be pretty rapid wear?

    avdave2
    Full Member

    As others have said stop measuring the chain it doesn’t matter. Look on the thorn forums, the consensus there is that you run it till it breaks and then reverse the sprocket and chainring and do it all again. There is a point of view though that you should check the face of the sprocket before you reverse it as it will be running against an oil seal and if it’s rough or pitted then you may damage that seal by reversing it.

    Denis99
    Free Member

    simondbarnes
    Well the reason why I don’t absolutely run the chain into the ground is

    Accelerated wear on the rear sprocket (now about £25 to £30)

    Accelerated wear on the chain ring (around £25, depending what you buy)

    Chain suck – I referred to my bike , Nicolai Helius CC (5 inch full suss) , therefore if the chain and ring wear become bad I will inevitably get chain suck issues, which is something I wouldn’t be looking forward to.

    Running the chain till it breaks (or any other component) isn’t really my style, don’t like faffing around in the dark trying to fix the bike (gets ridden on night rides a bit).

    The Thorn forum is mainly concerned with hardtail bikes, so running the chain till it dies with sprocket and chain ring isn’t too much of a concern (given that you’ll then spend say £60 replacing the lot).

    Front chain ring is fine, doesn’t wear at quite the rate as the rear sprocket. Rear sprocket wear rate is not that good. I wouldn’t go so far as to say its made of cheese, but its not fantastic either.

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    That does seem to be very low I have to say. I’m one of those who over cleans and cares for their bike. I used to keep a log of what the bikes had been through a few years back but I didn’t really get any useful data (too many variables). However, I’m running and 8 speed set up that I want to wear out before I put the 9 speed stuff on that I’ve got waiting. I just don’t seem to be able to kill it, even in the Peaks. I guess I should stop cleaning it ever ride but I just can’t live with that rough grinding noise at the start of a ride!

    snaps
    Free Member

    I run a Rohloff on a full sus with Sram PC1N chain & I’ve had nearly 6500 miles out of 4 chains, 2 rear sprockets(1 13T & 1 16T) & 2 front Middleburn D/H chainrings (only changed to alter ratios after the sprocket change)
    I’ve not had a chain snap but they are well worn when I change them but I do lube it before each ride with motorcycle chain spray grease.
    I’ve never had chain suck on it either & I never specifically clean the chain.
    I don’t use a chain wear tool but just try to pull the chain off the front chainring toward the front wheel & guage the wear by eye.

    Denis99
    Free Member

    Anyone got any feedback on using the Rohloff chain? Looks good from the manufacturers blurb, but would like some users feedback (bit pricey at £45….)

    One of the reasons I switched to the Rohloff was the sheer drive chain wear rate at Afan / Glyncorrwg , didn’t really get much more out of the conventional derailleur set up. Chains and cassettes were changed quite regularly (plus I ride in all conditions). The local terrain is very sandy / gritty, not much mud, but quite abrasive.

    Brake pads were once a problem, but this seems to have subsided now that I’ve switched to EBC sintered (or I might not be braking so much).

    Wouldn’t go back to gears (conventional), just seems that the chain wear is quite shocking.

    ted34
    Free Member

    I agree with you changing the chain at 0.75. If you do this your chainring will last for a long time. Its hard to gauge how much wear you have on the rear cog. Ive put chains onto cassettes before and had them skip a little to start with and then get fine. Its just the initial fast wearing of the chain so it matches the profile of the rear cog. The cog will wear with thechain but if replacing at 0.75 this should be minimum.

    The problem lies in the conditions you are riding in. You say its gritty and your commuting (in all weathers). I take it the bike then sits at work with grit splashed onto it and dirty and then you ride it home. Thats what will wear your drivetrain fast. I use white lightening chain cleaner as its so quick and easy with the built in roller and plastic casing on the gun:
    http://www.whitelightningco.com/products/trigger.htm

    I then put a couple of revolutions of the chain in while applying white lightening epic. I did try the older named version of clean ride which is very good but you have to have a very clean chain and for downhill it sometimes proved too much. Epic is very easy and in my opinion (and we get a lot of different lubes comeing through the shop) the best stuff out there.

    Id also reconsider your chain choice. I use to get Sram chains when they were back with names like Pc61 or Pc68 but now looking at their prices they seem very high for the mid to top end chains. I therefore started using xtr / dura ace chains as they were priced at sram mid level prices. Combine it with a sram powerlink for convience as jobs a good-un. Id also recomend going for a 9spd chain as well as 8spd ones are fairly low end as regards quality. As for the Rohloff I dont know anything about it but to hazard a guess id say its a nice chain but a fair amount of the £45 pays for the name. KMC chains are supposed to be good also.

    If this doesnt work then maybe try using a bmx 1/8″ chain

    sq225917
    Free Member

    I get a minimum of 2000 miles from a knc SL-9 regardless of whether thats on my xc bike or my road bike, both suffering from peak grit wear…

    My newish Demo 7 has 500+ on it and the chain is fine still,

    bassspine
    Free Member

    just a thought: could the ‘bending’ of the chain when shifting help clear grit out of the rollers and therefore affect chain life?
    I seem to get relatively better chain life on my geary bikes than my singlespeed – bearing in mind that optimum ratio choice on a single would naturally fall in the middle range for a geared o_O

    avdave2
    Full Member

    I’m not sure the Rohloff chain is the answer. As I understand it Rohloff were making these before the hub and they are designed to run on dérailleurs rather than hub or single speed set ups. While I’m sure the quality will be good I don’t think they’ll match a much cheaper 3 speed or a bmx chain for long life. I’ve got a cheap KMC 3 speed as recommended by charlie the bikemonger sitting in the garage for when mine finally dies. I think it might be worth trying the just keep running it method, you never going to find out if it works out cheaper and easier in the long run unless you try it. One other question is what front ring are you using. I use a thorn unramped one with full height teeth. It is worn now but still working as well as ever. It can also be reversed which makes it more economical.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    overly clean chain perhaps … ie not only the surface dirt is cleaned off but the lube inside the chain is also washed out ….

    such a thing as too clean in some cases perhaps ?

    I have noticed that i get better wear out of my hack bikes drive trains than i do out of my good bikes drive trains ..but id consider it very shoddy to turn up to an event on a dirty bike ….i have in the past done it and had issues that may have been prevented by a good wash of the bike !

    simonfbarnes
    Free Member

    When I was running my Rohloff I used my collection of old chains which were too worn to shift properly any longer with a derailleur. Each one would last me about 6 months =~ 1000 miles off road…

    mountaincarrot
    Free Member

    Hi Dennis.

    Sounds similar to what I get during winter. 0.75 by about 200 miles on KMCZ610. It slows down after the first bit, and I recon on getting the same distance again from 0.75 to 1.0. I don’t throw them out at 0.75, but keep them going and circulate them round. I normally just hang them all on a nail in the garage and re-fit the shortest every month.

    After 1.0 for me it all start’s to feel a bit funny and coggy, with a sort of unpleasant vibration because the teeth fit too badly, despite the fact(in principle)one could keep on going. After four chains at 1.0, last winter I reversed my Rohloff sprocket anyway and started again with a new set. It was do it then or possibly not get the chance, because the teeth were getting a bit thin!

    I use KMCZ610. I see KMC now do a chain they say is specifically for hub gears. I don’t know what would be difference from any other 3/32 chains.

    col642
    Free Member

    As has been mentioned, a 1/8″ chain would surely be ideal for a hub gear.
    Also, what about rotating 3 (or more) chains. This should increase sprocket life.

    Denis99
    Free Member

    Thanks for the replies, I’m pretty meticulous about most bike related things (especially a clean drive chain).

    Probably replace things a shade early rather than run them into the ground.

    Front chain ring is treated with the same scrutiny – I’ve used the Thorn one, currently using a Middleburn unramped 38T ring. The Middleburn is definitely lasting longer than the Thorn.

    Might try a better quality 9 speed chain soon, but the 8 speed SRAM’s are relatively cheap at the moment.

    I always believed that the more expensive chains were basically the same (as the cheaper chains) , but had a better plating / finish and a few more shifting cut outs to aid shifting (with conventional gears).

    Not a real problem with the chains, but it does seem too short a time / mileage – my 9 speed chain on my road tourer has been great- must be the grit and harder life due to the terrain.

    Dibbs
    Free Member

    I get between 500 & 1000 miles from a chain using a Park chain checker, if I do many more miles its new cassette (and maybe chainring time). I never clean the chains apart from hosing the worst of the grit off after every ride and then re-lube.

Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)

The topic ‘Chain – wear life and expected mileage’ is closed to new replies.