I know… some people run ’em until they snap and some change them faster than their underware,
but roughly how many miles do people get to a chain,
I’ve currently done 1700 dryish miles on my road bike and it seems to be a little noisier than previously, always cleaned and lubed regularly.

It depends on what gearing you use I imagine, what your cadence is like, how much power you put down, how many times you snap it, the kind of terrain you ride on, the weather you ride in, not to mention the type of chain, and chainrings, and cassette

Buy a chain wear tool thing, or I’ll carry on.

i ride it until the chain wear tool tells me i need to replace it. if you keep riding it beyond that stage you start to wear your sprockets.

I thought that a wear tool was going to be the answer really,
what’s a recommended tool?

You can get a bikehut one for £7, should work just nicely

You can get a bikehut one for £7, should work just nicely

If you have more missing links in it than normal links, probably time to change….

£7 sounds just the job!!
will look for one on saturday as going to York cycle thing,
no missing links – chain is as supplied when I got the bike

Park do one for £10

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5784

See this article for “measuring chainwear” with a ruler/tape measure.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html

Someone told me to rotate chains so I know run 2 chains and change them over every month. Year on with minimum 40 miles a week in Woburn sand and kr*p and still both well within tolerance using a chain checker.

Someone told me to rotate chains so I know run 2 chains and change them over every month. Year on with minimum 40 miles a week in Woburn sand and kr*p and still both well within tolerance using a chain checker.

I’m sorry, but I just cant see any logic to that at all. Its not like by ‘resting’ the chain, its going to return to an unworn state.

Got about 1500 miles from my 1st 10 speed chain (Shimano, Ultegra SL?), for .75 on the Park Tool chain wear tool. Replaced with KMC X10 SL. Merlin had a deal on multibuys, still do, but not as good as it used to be.

1500 for a kmc single speed chain and about the same for a sram 9 speed chain

Someone told me to rotate chains so I know run 2 chains and change them over every month. Year on with minimum 40 miles a week in Woburn sand and kr*p and still both well within tolerance using a chain checker.

I’m sorry, but I just cant see any logic to that at all. Its not like by ‘resting’ the chain, its going to return to an unworn state.

But you’re spreading the wear between 2 chains, resulting in less wear on chainrings/sprockets surely?

it’s a few quid for a new chain. I ‘stretch’ chains massively. Every ride on any of my singlespeeds needs an extra tug. I regularly have to remove links from my SS chains. 1700 miles would be a good lifetime for a single chain for me. I’d certainly kill at least one BB and some cogs in that time.

>But you’re spreading the wear between 2 chains, resulting in less wear on chainrings/sprockets surely?<

That’s my theory – plus I let the one I’ve taken off soak in white spirit for a week, give it a good shake in the plastic bottle hang it up to dry then lube it

>Every ride on any of my singlespeeds needs an extra tug.<

LOL = crap chains, slipping tugs or very big rides 😉