1 x 11 chain wear and replacement ?

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This topic has 11 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 5 years ago by iainc.

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1 x 11 chain wear and replacement ?
iainc
Full Member

Over the decades of doubles and triples I have always worked on the basis of ride the whole drivetrain till it’s done, then replace the chain, cassette and rings at the same time.

My oldest 1×11 setup, which is a year and a half old and on my FS is showing just at 0.75 on a chain checker tool – works perfectly, I only checked out of curiosity last night 🙂

Is the school of thought as divided on these new 1 x setups as it was on the previous 2x and 3x ? Or is there some new thinking on replacing chains regularly or not ?

Posted 5 years ago

Ecky-Thump
Free Member

It’s down to the relative replacement costs of the components.

eg. If you’ve got a £150 cassette, then you’d probably want to replace your £15 chain quite frequently as it’d be false economy to get more miles out but compromise the longevity of the cassette.

For this reason alone, I try to change chains at about 0.5

Posted 5 years ago

r8jimbob88
Free Member

I tend to replace the chain regularly to try and get maximum live out of the cassette and chainring.

That being said, I’ve got an 18 month old drivetrain on my CX bike that’s well beyond just a new chain so I’m just going to run it until it dies. It just keeps on going though….

Posted 5 years ago

FGF 701 The Hydrate Or Die Edition

mikewsmith
Free Member

On my SRAM GX11 due to some failed chain rings I think I ended up going through 4 chains in 4500km, first one got to 0.75, other 2 went (through snapping death) closer to 0.5, last one is still good and the kit is in a box as a spare since I got a new bike, reckon it’s got another 1000km in it yet

Posted 5 years ago

iainc
Full Member

interesting, thanks, may buy a new chain soon !

Posted 5 years ago

iainc
Full Member

New chain now ordered 😀

Posted 5 years ago

iainc
Full Member

Having a look online and suggestions are that for 11speed the chain should be changed at 0.5% wear. Mine is at 0.75%, so would I be better just to leave it on, and wear whole drivetrain down ? Will changing at 0.75 likely give me chainsuck (xt 8000 front ring, 32T)

Posted 5 years ago

iainc
Full Member

Well I have had a close look and it’s barely at 0.75 on my Park checker and probably more like 0.6. So, new chain fitted and pavement tested. Will see how it goes and if sucking in the mud I can put old one back on I guess.

Posted 5 years ago

mark90
Free Member

On my current 11 speed XT cassette I changed the first chain between 0.5 and 0.75, probably closer to 0.5. The second chain I let get to 0.75, inadvertently due to not checking as it only has half the miles as the first chain. Fitted a new chain last weekend, all seemed fine in the workshop changing sweetly. No so on the trail under load and skipping in certain gears. New one now back off the bike and have refitted the first chain again to see how that goes. If it’s ok I’ll run it with either of the two used chain till it’s all dead. If it’s not great I’ll run it all into the ground on the second chain. All SRAM PC1130 chains.

Posted 5 years ago

ndthornton
Free Member

My recent experience on two 1×11 bikes i own. Iv tried changing the chain in order to save expensive cassettes….a new experience for me as im used to running it all into the ground. Result in both cases was it worked with no slippage of the chain but i needed a new chainring to get rid of irritating grinding noise under hight torque. In both cases the chainring visibly looked ok. So the system is clearly sensitive to small amounts of chainring wear on new chains

Posted 5 years ago

mark90
Free Member

I had that chainring grinding with this third chain as well as the slipping. Chainring was ok with the second chain.

Posted 5 years ago

iainc
Full Member

Rode it tonight in dry and dusty stuff and it was fine, so fingers crossed….. thanks for info, helpful to know, cheers.

Posted 5 years ago