Hi guys,

Hello Hello! I recently got into MTB and am doing a fair bit of off-road / trails riding. Singletrack seems to be the place to be… so “hi” everyone!

I just wanted to ask you guys what your experience is with chain wear. I’ve gone through 2 sets of chains in 6 months now … is that a normal rate? How often to you guys have to replace your chains?
On my old road bike I never replaced the chain … I probably bought a new bicycle before I had to change the chain and cassette.

So what can I do to make my chain last longer? Clean it more often? Lube it better? What do you guys think about these chain cleaning devices?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-chain-cleaning-kit

I know that my dad used to have one of these but we never really used it…

Well… let me know what you think.
See you on (well… off) the road!
Pete!

the bath cleaning devices are great, as long as you clean the jockey wheels and cassette with the brushes you’ll have a sinhey chain after washing.

depends on mileage/conditions off road, really – 2 in 6 months sounds more than I use (albeit I spread the load over 4 bikes) but not unreasonable. Have you changed cassette and chainrings int hat time – worn rings will accelerate wear on the chain?

My road commuter has just gone through its chain in 9 months and they def last longer (as they dont get so muddy or as much torque) so I would say that an average used MTB chain esp in muddy condition prob won’t last more than 6 months?

What I use when I can’t remove the chain with a quick link.

Cleaning and using lube regularly will increase the length of wear however I would be more concerned with the longevity of the chain set – if you can eak more time out of the chain set by replacing the chain then all the better. Some very cheap chains will wear quickly – what chains are you using?

I replaced my drivetrain at the start of this month. The cogs had done 4 years and the chain 3 years. I clean and lube my drivetrain after almost every ride. I have pics of the worn stuff somewhere against the new.

For the sake of a few quid, get a chain checker, such as this Park one

I tend to replace chains once they get close to 0.75% as the shifting starts to get a bit sketchy.

Thanks a lot for your replies…
… I did a bit of browsing around on different forums and found people doing 3-6k on their chains on roadbikes and some MTB riders doing 500miles max with a chain.
????????

3 – 6K on a road chain? Dear God, how are they doing that?

If you ride across the block, ie big front ring, big rear cog you will stretch and deform the chain quicker (guilty m’lud) and road grime in winter makes a very nice grinding paste. I think I manage around 1K on’t road bikes.

Of course cruddy off road conditions will grind moving parts even quicker.

Frequent and thorough cleaning and lubrication is the key to a lasting drivetrain IMO.

If you get your cleaning setup to be as painless as possible, you’re more likely to actually clean it.

Like Mr plow, I get good life from three chains operated in rotation so that I have enough time to properly clean and lubricate chains. I’m on 3.5 years at the moment, and expect to change the whole lot after this winter.

The other factor is when people actually define the point at which they change their running gear. Some will do it as soon as it reaches the 0.75 point, others will run it way past the 1.0 point until it starts actually causing any problems.

Slightly worn.

Last picture shows the difference in chain length. Once the chain lost a roller it was time to change it out at 3 years.

Don’t bother with a chain bath just remove the chain after each ride ( so easy with a quick link) place in a clean plastic soup container add degreaser and hot water shake.Tip out the crud and repeat till clean,rinse allow to dry overnight then place in a clean empty soup container add your lube of choice,shake again until fully lubed then wipe off excess and fit.Removing the chain allows you to give the cassette,chainset and deraillers a good clean too.Check chain with chain tool regularly and replace before it gets to the worn mark on the tool.

Hi everyone…

yer 3000-6000 km seems to be a normal number for road bikes. Check out what wikipedia says.

mr. plow: … nice .. on the first picture – is that link in the middle missing a roller? how did you manage to do that?

Chain wear: obviously chain wear will always be influenced by your riding style, strenght, weight, shifiting habbits, rain and dirt and obviously cleaning and lubrication…
… I’m not a huge fan of cleaning the bike. In my view its a tool for my hobby and I would rather spend more time out on the track than in the garage.
mmmmhhh….

Pete – not sure how the roller came off but it sealed the fate for putting on the new bits.

I run deore steel rings, reasonble cassette such as xt/shiney sram, with the cheapest 9 speed chain i can find.
Generally i’ll get 1500 miles of commuting mixed with muddy weekend riding from one chain before the shifting goes off a bit.
The rest of the components such as cassette/rings tend to give me just over 3000 miles.

mmmh that sounds about allright …
i think 3000 is possible but 6000 might be a bit excessive. need to be really OCD to get that.

Just a bit shite that chains do not last that long on a MTB and in muddy and wet conditions. Don’t really want to carry cleaning equipment with me and get of the bike after every puddle of water. :-/

I just renew the complete drivetrain every year, by which point it’s normally **** anyway. Just changed everything on the hardtail after 14months abuse, as the chian rollers were starting to ride up the jockey wheel teeth because the chain was so worn!

Here’s some of my old bits –

Bottom by mc_mtb, on Flickr
The worn chain is actually half a link shorter than the new one, but has strecthed by a nearly a full link (or two links, depending what you class as a link) compared with the new chain.

Is it worn yet? by mc_mtb, on Flickr

My road chain does 5000 miles or so easily, generally gets changed once a year (at most). My chainrings have done at least 20000 miles, admittedly the outer is rather worn, but still going. The road is so much cleaner parts last far far longer, not a meaningful comparison IMO.

Off road I’ve no idea, I tend to eek everything out for a year then replace, now started to change chains, as cassettes are so pricey. They last 3 months or so for me. You say you’ve gone through 2 chains in 6 months, why did you change them? Theoretically if you keep the whole drivetrain until it’s skipping and not really functioning then you should get a very long time out of it. IMO you should either change a chain before 0.75% wear, or keep it until it’s totally trashed and accept it’ll take everything else with it!

Hi guys,
sorry for not being more active. Have been on hols and only back this week… had to catch up with tons of stuff + weather is shite!

On another forum someone mentioned this thing here:
http://www.rohloff.de/en/products/lubmatic/index.html

What do you think? As an engineer I can see how it works but it seems to be a bit over the top?

Edit: Apparently they are not doing this anymore. However these guys have something similar:
http://www.scottoiler.com/uk/products/scottoiler-bicycle-oiler-active-fluid-system.html

I use a scottoiler on all of my bikes, except my roadbike. They are marvellous, and always open a topic for conversation. My bikes do a couple of miles each week and the chains etc seem to last twice to 3 times as long as previously.
Half the guys I ride with use them now: all racers: but they are jut as happy on commute bikes and fun bikes.
Check out the pieces on cyclist no1.
Chain maintenance
Mudproof your bike. That Santa Cruz looks familiar.

Hi blanche!
That’s interesting! I reckon it helps to prevent chainsuck?