Ginger bicky anyone.

Just keep riding till it slips then replace it all , seems to work out about the same money and with the current changing kit not a bad a thing

Next time you fit a new chain , measure it it won’t measure 0%

Less than 500 miles for me too. Longest has lasted just over 400 in fact, shortest not much over 300 miles! So far 2x SRAM PCX1 chains and a Connex.

My experience with 10spd both on and off road is that KMC chains seem to last longer, so will be fitting KMC chains from now on.

Just gone 12spd on my Full sus though, will see how that fares too!

That’s wear, the parts get thinner not longer there are gaps in the rollers etc. That’s what makes them longer.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html#stretch
and first GX chain did 1800km, current one at 740km on the same cassette

I’ve only just started recording mileage against part replacement so can’t give you figures for previous 9 and 10 speed chains but I’ve recently changed a Shimano 11 speed on a MTB at 1,200 miles.

I reckon there will be quitested a difference between 2x and 1x systems.

The reason for generally explaining the difference is understanding what is going on with the chain when it wears, which also makes distance a crap measure as depending on where you live summer and winter could be 2/3/4x different. Turning a clean well lubed chain will let it run for a long time, hauling a crud caked chain through grinding paste pudles will kill it no matter how many speed it is.

riding through shite?

How do you keep your drivetrain clean all through the ride?

My reading is that he sets out with a chain that has been cleaned and lubed with squirty dry lube. Two points a) I generally don’t like squirty PTFE stuff, don’t know why, it just doesn’t seem to set on the chain as well as the dry lube dripped from a bottle b)any lube that has a volatile carrier is much better applied several hours before riding, preferably with the chain shifted into small spockets, so there isn’t much load on the bearing faces. This is so that any solvent to evaporates and the lube sets on the bearing faces where it is required before being loaded.

But taking the keeping the chain clean thing to heart, how about this.

http://www.squirtlube.com
Never heard of it :-) I thought you meant that you were squirting on lube from an aerosol, ironically squirt lube doesn’t seem to sell any lube like this. Anyway, all dry lubes have a carrier that evaporates away (apart from the type that is heated up and then sets by cooling) and they generally don’t last too long in wet conditions.

The cassettes seem a bigger problem.
hmmmmmm does this mean you are running chains longer and trashing cassettes?

Maybe if you’d tracked your chain wear you wouldn’t have trashed an expensive cassette……..

and either use a steel rule or a decent chain checker to measure wear.

90+% of the chain checkers on the market are shit.

Or it doesn’t. Run to destruction or replace chains when Park Tools tells you to, either way through testing both methods on two bikes, I get the same duration of cassette, if not longer run to destruction. I however save a lot of money on chains as I’m not binning perfectly good chains frequently.

The only issue is if you do decide to replace the chain you must do it before the wear mark on the checker else new chain won’t mesh with a slightly worn cassette. It’s perfectly fine running the slightly worn chain though with slightly worn cassette and it will go on for several thousand miles, in my experience.

KMC

It’s not pedantic though, it’s very relevant, as you go on to say…

To put it another way, the side plates don’t stretch and that’s ultimately the difference between 10 and 11 speed chains, just the thickness of them.

They may however snap more easily. Not seen many people snap them, any more than 10, which to be honest is rare these days. Partly may be because most people I know run KMC which seems more durable but may more likely be down to 1x drivetrains. There’s no side force any more from front mechs that may possibly be wearing the chain during shifting. Although arguably the wider range of cassette and single ring causes more lateral bend, but not experiencing issues myself any more than 2x/3x. Less in my experience.

If the chain works without skipping on a new cassette then it isn’t worn to any great extent….

yep as above, when gears start slipping change at the very first sign, thats the conclusion ive come to, as with the ‘chain checkers’ on my 11speed stuff it says its almost worn after about 5 rides!

so If I start to get weird shifting noises and and slipping I just change the chanin first, 9 times out of 10 a new chain cures it, and if it doesn’t then its time for a new cassette

for reference I got through 3 chains on my last sram 11 speed cassette, all in peak district/welsh grit etc