Home Forums Bike Forum 11 speed chain wear

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  • 11 speed chain wear
  • russyh
    Free Member

    So gave my fatty and full suspension bikes a good clean and a bit of love this afternoon. Thought I would check chain wear and both chains are at 0.75 on two separate wear checkers…so basically need replacement. I can’t have 500 miles on each chain. I seem to be eating them alive. I don’t ever remember going through chains so quickly with my old 10 speed set up? Is it just me? Chain line is as it should be and everything shifts beautifully with no skipping.

    I use Sram X11 (I think) chains on shimano xt 11 speed. Is there a better lasting chain available? Any recommendations?

    Cheers

    Liftman
    Full Member

    11 speed chains are thinner and will stretch quicker.

    Buy an extra couple of chains and rotate use to extend the life of the drive chain as the chains wear out.

    orangeboy
    Free Member

    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%

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    11 speed chains are thinner and will stretch quicker.

    Chains don’t stretch they wear, the thickness of the side plates should not changes the rate of wear. Mine are lasting the about the same as 10sp in various conditions.

    mboy
    Free Member

    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!

    fifeandy
    Free Member

    Only around 500mi for me too on 9 speed and 10 speed unless weather has been unusually dry, then a bit longer.

    @mike chains do indeed stretch, the last one i took off my 29er was almost a full link longer when placed side by side with a new one

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    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

    tjagain
    Full Member

    Use a decent lube. Putoline chain wax and see chainlife increase by several times

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    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.

    twisty
    Free Member

    @mike chains do indeed stretch, the last one i took off my 29er was almost a full link longer when placed side by side with a new one

    That’s wear, the parts get thinner not longer there are gaps in the rollers etc. That’s what makes them longer.

    Yes, the chain elongated through wear, rather than the metal literally being deformed by plastic stretching. However, people generally understand what a stretched chain is, getting pedantic against the use of the word stretch is not going to generally help the conversation.

    A stretch limo is also not created by plastic stretching of a regular limo and people understand this.

    The key point here is that chain elongation is predominantly dictated by wear between the inner link plates and the pins; and, this contact point is not necessarily any smaller/more demanding for an 11spd chain than a 10/9/8/..spd chain due to the way that the chain is constructed.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    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.

    n0b0dy0ftheg0at
    Free Member

    As I wrote yesterday, I discovered my ~300-350 mile original 8-speed KMC chain on the Wazoo was technically worn at ~ 12 1/8″, [Victor Meldrew]couldn’t believe it![/Victor Meldrew]

    Sadly I only decided to check this after I had swapped wheelsets, including a new cassette, so ended up swapping back ready for this morning’s commute.

    Will have fun fitting replacement chain this week, hopefully it won’t need any links removing, simply because I’ve yet to ever use a chain tool unsupervised! 😆

    So why are our fatbikes chewing up chains so quickly?

    Am I still cross-chaining too much using my 23T (3rd sprocket of 8) with my 38T chainring, accelerating wear?

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    So why are our fatbikes chewing up chains so quickly?

    riding through shite?

    russyh
    Free Member

    So I have ordered a KMC chain as a replacement and will run another SRAM on the other bike and log mileage to see which lasts longest in a crude non scientific way. I always run a clean drive chain and use squirt rather than sticky lube. Maybe that’s part of the problem?

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I always run a clean drive chain and use squirt rather than sticky lube. Maybe that’s part of the problem?

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

    russyh
    Free Member

    Yeah nice one smart arse! I always clean my drive chain post ride!

    twisty
    Free Member

    I always run a clean drive chain and use squirt rather than sticky lube. Maybe that’s part of the problem?

    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.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    and thats the point, my chain never gets worn sat not moving in the shed/garage etc. Clean at the start helps but it’s what your riding through that makes a bigger difference.

    russyh
    Free Member

    Yes of course it does, I ride mostly the FOD so appreciate the wear that puts in a bikes components. Both bikes have had the same chain (manufacturer and series) last under 500 miles. I clean my group set after every ride and use squirt lube. I am definitely seeing chains wear quicker with 1 x 11 then 1 X 10. But I admit maybe it’s the chains I’m using, perhaps SRAM chains are more cheese like. I always used KMC on 10 speed. I will run both and see how I get on.

    Pawsy_Bear
    Free Member

    I don’t change mine until it gets to 1, I get 3 – 4 chains easy on one cassette. They measure 0.75 on my chain checker when their new. Also FoD rider.

    russyh
    Free Member

    Twisty is squirt a ptfe lube? I was on the understanding it was a dry wax based lube

    http://www.squirtlube.com

    It’s great stuff, mainly because it’s easy to keep the drive chain clean I also find it stops crap sticking to it better than some other wet or even dry lubes.

    iainc
    Full Member

    ^^^ dry lube, yes. Great in most conditions, but when it’s proper wet it does wash away and will need reapplied. It has the big benefit of not picking up grinding paste, which in itself can speed up wear on the drivetrain. I use it most of the year on my FS and around 8 months of the year on HT. The HT is the winter mud slogger though, and will be shortly going over to RnR Extreme Blue for the slop that will arrive in West of Scotland in the next few weeks !

    twisty
    Free Member

    Twisty is squirt a ptfe lube? I was on the understanding it was a dry wax based lube

    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.

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    Why have you wasted money on two new chains? Why not just keep running your existing chains until there is an actual problem rather than a perceived one?

    1000 miles each on two bikes with 11 speed chains. No issues whatsoever, no idea how stretched they are.

    The cassettes seem a bigger problem.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    1000 miles each on two bikes with 11 speed chains. No issues whatsoever, no idea how stretched they are.

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

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    Sort of, the aluminium largest sprocket seems to be my problem.

    http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/replacing-the-big-sprocket-on-a-shimano-11spd-cassette

    ghostlymachine
    Free Member

    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.

    gelert
    Free Member

    My X1 11 speed chains on XT 11-42 also needed replacing very quickly about 250 miles only.

    I replaced the X1 chain with the Sram NX 11 speed and they’re lasting much better. Only at 0.2 after 250+ mile so far.

    I’ll probably find it’s munching through my cassette instead. Keeping an eye on it regularly is a good call.

    russyh
    Free Member

    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.

    No they don’t that’s why ii clean the drive chain and re-lube every ride. With squirt you apply it twice once then leave to dry then another coating. Its great stuff in my opinion. But ranted I believe i’m going through chains too quickly so maybe its not so good? used it for a long time now and like i say only had problems since 11 speed switch.

    Why have you wasted money on two new chains? Why not just keep running your existing chains until there is an actual problem rather than a perceived one?

    1000 miles each on two bikes with 11 speed chains. No issues whatsoever, no idea how stretched they are.

    The cassettes seem a bigger problem.

    Because by the time its completely goosed the cassette will be toast as well which will start becoming very expensive! Its fairly common knowledge i believe that you should change your chain at about 0.75 stretch/wear whatever you want to call it. A chain at £20 is cheaper than a chain, chain ring and cassette!

    Agree that some chain checkers are rubbish, I have two to double check. Both measure the same as does the old steel ruler I’m afraid

    ghostlymachine
    Free Member

    Yeah, i’ve said the same on here before i think, i measure using the chain checker as a day to day check. Then when it hits 0.5 ish, i switch to a 12″ steel rule. Takes a bit longer. But hardly a chore.

    Most chain checkers double up on some of the wear. Counting it twice. SO a lot of people bin perfectly good chains.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    russyh – Member 
    so basically need replacement.

    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.

    I use Sram X11 (I think) chains on shimano xt 11 speed. Is there a better lasting chain available? Any recommendations?

    KMC

    twisty – Member 
    Yes, the chain elongated through wear, rather than the metal literally being deformed by plastic stretching. However, people generally understand what a stretched chain is, getting pedantic against the use of the word stretch is not going to generally help the conversation.

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

    The key point here is that chain elongation is predominantly dictated by wear between the inner link plates and the pins; and, this contact point is not necessarily any smaller/more demanding for an 11spd chain than a 10/9/8/..spd chain due to the way that the chain is constructed.

    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.

    n0b0dy0ftheg0at
    Free Member

    riding through shite?

    That’s the thing though, I’ve only done really mucky ride, after which the whole bike including the chain got a clean the next day before riding it again.

    All but ~10 miles of my Wazoo’s paltry 300-350 miles so far have been on the road, the Jumbo Jims inflated up to ~27/30PSI have been lovely to commute on in terms of suspension and effort (I’ve averaging ~15-17mph on the way in now, depending on wind direction and my luck at the traffic lights).

    I found an article or two last night that suggested that wear might not be quite so critical on my 8-speed setup, compared to those of you running 10+ with narrower chains and sprockets.
    But as I’m very out of the loop on such things, I didn’t want to risk killing my new cassette within a few rides by using it with what appears to technically be a worn chain.

    iainc
    Full Member

    I didn’t want to risk killing my new cassette within a few rides by using it with what appears to technically be a worn chain.

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

    devash
    Free Member

    Why have you wasted money on two new chains? Why not just keep running your existing chains until there is an actual problem rather than a perceived one?

    This. I fail to see the value of a chain wear checker. Just replace the chain at the first sign of problems.

    oscillatewildly
    Free Member

    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

Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)

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