[Closed] When do you replace your chain?

I'll bite. 6 weeks??. get a park tool chain gauge and stop chucking away perfectly good chains.

Every 6 weeks?

Clean and lube it after a ride and it should go for plenty more miles than that.

Get one of these [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5784&gclid=COrJ8oOcmbICFUVTfAodJiIASA ]chain wear checker[/url] whatsits and keep an eye on the wear and replace it when it gets too bad. That should (So I've been told) keep your drive train in good order.

You chuck a chain away every 6 weeks? 😯

Do you want to send them to me instead?

Do you want to send them to me instead?

Can I have second dibs? I need a new one...

I run it until it has rollers so loose you think it cant possible go on, then another month, then replace the chain, cassette & by that time usually middle ring.

I generally wait until the chain starts jumping on the rear cassette. Then I replace both. Then every second time I replace the chain I generally have to replace the front rings too.

every 6 weeks? madness

(52/6) * avg geared chain price (£15?) = £130 on chains alone in a year!

I generally run mine until they're either buggered beyond belief or I think 'hmm, probably about time I changed my chain' but then I mostly ride SS and you'd be surprised what you can get away with...

My geared bike still has the chain and cassette and rings on it from about 4 years ago, doesn't do many miles...

Clocked up several [i]years[/i] over here! Still function perfectly well...

Change them at 0.5% stretch or just before. 600mm steel rule is more accurate than any of these chain checking tools.

Is they no middle ground option?

I'd probably say ~16-28 weeks (4-7 months) on a geared drivetrain with reasonable maintenance and cleaning, dependant on the bike and amount / type of use its seeing - maybe a shade more/less...

SS bike I use 1/8" KMC chains for about a year with minimal maintenance and then bin em along with the sprocket/chainring...

Surely it depends more on the bike and its use.

I guess 6 weeks if you were constantly hammering it through muddy shitty weather every day for 5+ hours or so with little or no maintenance, then I could see it being required, but chains are a bit more durable than that generally...

Generally speaking when it snaps on me for the first time, or slips so badly I catch my knackers on the top tube. Thanks to compact geometry this isn't so much of an issue these days.

Can you explain how it is 'more accurate'?.

Good bikes I run until at .75 on chain tool, then replace with new. old chain moves to commute bike until it's at 1 on wear tool.

Cassette replace every 3 chains (again old one moves to commute bike till it's razor sharp)

New chain and sprockets every spring here. Once my local woods spits out the collection of scrap that was once my bike the previous autumn there is nothing like the feeling of a nicely overhauled drive train ready for the summer*

*Summer may not appear

Can you explain how it is 'more accurate'?.

measuring the stretch over 4 times as many links means your measuring 4 times as much stretch, if the margin of measurement error is .25mm (for example), you are getting a 4 times more accurate measurement.

However chain tools are (i assumed until right now typing this) accurately manufcatured, so more accurate than the naked eye...

#commence arguement now

Nobeerinthefridge, it's because chain tools show premature wear indication. Most (except the expensive Shimon ones) measure stretch plus the slack in one roller as they push two rollers in opposite directions. There's a very good thread on this on mtbr.

exactly, its all down to the eyesight and competence of the person who is measuring. plus, you need to take the chain off to use a 600mm steel rule.

Ideally at .75 wear on the chain checker. That was @600miles last time. Slipped on a new chain and everything is sweet.

Chains are a lot cheaper than cassettes and rings!

I reckon I can do a completely new drive train in maybe 1000 miles - one those chains start stretching the rate of wear accelerates rapidly!

They don't measure stretch, they measure wear.

Replace it every week 😆

When it snaps.

All chains stretch. They are made of rubber. ;O)

I thought Shimano ones were made of

[img] [/img]

Chains are a lot cheaper than cassettes and rings!

I reckon I can do a completely new drive train in maybe 1000 miles - one those chains start stretching the rate of wear accelerates rapidly!

Madness personally i think it is largely industry BS

My road bike has well over 10 thousand miles on the original drive train and no skipping on the turbo trainer wheel which has a new cassete]
I once had a 7 speed chain so stretched it was comical- massively worn. It still worked perfectly on a new 3 x 9 crank and chainrings that I added to the hack bike without any skipping
When these come up i ask for any evidence or proof of the need for all this change and I have yet to see any let alone anything convincing

Marketing BS in the main IMHO.

Can we at least use a measurement of chain life that actually means something? One man's six weeks is another's year - as it completely depends how much you use the bike during that time dunnit?

My last chain lasted 2,000 kms before it started to skip occasionally. At that point it was 0.75% stretch by the ruler method, and 1% by the Park CC2 chain checker. Either way, it was too late as when I put a new one on it was obvious the cassette had already worn, so I had to replace that too.

I'm now trying a new method of alternating two chains, and then replacing chains, cassette and chainwheels when they are both at 1% wear.

When it snaps.

http://forums.mtbr.com/tooltime/wear-indicator-tool-215824.html

And yes, I know chain don't "stretch". However, chain stretch is a widely used and accepted term.

Taking a chain off to check it is not that problematic with quick links. I also use a rohloff tool and only start checking with the steel rule once the rohloff tool says it's worn.

I replace at .75% wear on the chain wear tool. I check the chainrings by eye, and rarely have to replace those, but do a cassette per 3 chains at a guess, waiting 'til they skip before changing them.

I'm currently on a 3rd chain (showed as worn very quickly which I take as a sign the cassette is on its way out. Chainring is past its best too so running into the ground. Annoyed though As I would have prefered to have been doing that over winter as opposed to going into winter with a new chainset, but hey ho...

plus, you need to take the chain off to use a 600mm steel rule.

Hence why I measure 12" of chain (why on earth you'd measure one with a metric ruler when the pitch is 1/2" I have no idea). You do need more than a 12" ruler to measure that though, as you're looking to replace when 12 pairs of links measure 12 1/16" (if you're replacing at 0.5% wear, which is the point your cassette will generally still be OK).

I still assert that letting a chain wear beyond 0.5% is false economy - at that point the hard surface on the wear points has already gone and wear accelerates rapidly beyond there.

OP - maybe you should clarify your post with information on the miles you clock up in a 6 week period and what kind of conditions you ride in.

whats the best tool out there for checking wear?

thats the one im using, though to be honest, the video confuses me 😆

i know you should change if the .75 marker is on, but if the 1.0 goes in and .75 doesnt then what does that mean? i dont understand the end of the video 😆

reeeeetardo!

Slightly OT question

What's people's definitions of 'stretch' and 'wear' here?

An old chain will be longer than a new one so it has 'stretched' but is this a case of semantics?

When the connections / rollers have worn, there's more slack overall and the chain is longer, hence stretched.

Unless of course people can actually stretch the individual links of metal through sheer power

i know you should change if the .75 marker is on, but if the 1.0 goes in and .75 doesnt then what does that mean? i dont understand the end of the video

I have encountered chains SO stretched [worn] that the .75 is too short to go in anymore...

Change them at 0.5% stretch or just before. 600mm steel rule is more accurate than any of these chain checking tools.

This!

For the (Flying Spaghetti Monster knows how manieth) time all chain wear checking tools except the £50 Shimano jobby check chain roller wear too, which is completely and utterly inconsequential (there's a nifty site somewhere on the web with coloured piccies and math for those that doubt this statement).

12 1/16 ” (which is the first division of most rules) is 0.5%. You can even add an extra mark to a 12" rule. And yes, you measure the chain on it's longest run on the bike just as quickly if not quicker than using a 'chain checker tool'.

Hi

I dont reckon 6 weeks is too bad for a chain - if the OP is riding a lot of pure off road miles - I do about 130 miles a week off road ( mostly its a in a sandy grity forest - say 3 nights x 20 miles ) and weekend trips to wales / lakes / peak where i will easily do 30 miles a day.

I kill chains / cassettes and it hacks me off - I run 2/3 xtr chains or kmc and rotate them but I still wear stuff out - I run deore steel inner / middle chainrings to minimise cost and I replace my chain when it hits 0.6 on a park checker and then they go on the hack bikes....

I never snap a chain though ! I reckon I get 2 mths out of a chain - I wear bbs out a lot as well...

paul

normally replace my chain, chainrings and cassette together about a month after the chain starts to slip on the cassette under power.
running 2x8 means replace the whole lot costs about the same price as a single 10speed chain.