Chain Wear – how often do you change yours?

Bought one of those x tools chain checkers. Just checked the chains on both bikes. I’ve had one since July and one since August, and probably done 50 and 30 hrs respectively on them. Apparently both chains need changed already???

Seems a bit early to be changing them, especially given I do regular maintenance.

🙁

Load of big dogs cock!

I’m running chains on bikes that are variously 3, 1, 9, 10 years old.

When they stop working is when they need changing; the chain checking thing is a carefully calculated attempt to appeal to techy types in an attempt to sell more stuff.

If it starts slipping when it’s clean and lubed its time for the bin!

As long as you are prepared to change the cassette (and maybe rings) when the chain breaks then run it into the ground!

2 choices – change chains regularly when 0.75% stretch is reached and cassettes and chanrings last a long time.
Run it into the ground and the whole lot needs to be changed when it wears out

I don’t know which is cheaper long term

i just change chains when required on my park tool. Keeps everything else running longer. I just get basic srams or similar and replace them more often.

what crikey said
I used to run a chain at about 1.5 stretch possibly more it was 7 speed.
it took a brand new 9 speed crank without issue.
Every one seems to say this rule but every time this comes up no one can post up any credible evidence of anything

i think we get told if you dont it will trash everything – they used to use chains in engines for timing without issue though it was noisy so I lean towards it being BS tbh.
my road bike is on original everything and that has done over 10 thousand miles by now and all is fine still.

I run two chains with power links, change them every couple of rides. They last forever and mean I have a nice clean chain lubed like new every week. Easy to clean when off, no faf takes a few minutes!

I’ve just replaced my chain,cassette and jockey wheels and I’ve used them twice a week for the last two years

ive put a new chain on a worn drivetrain and i could turn the pedals and not go anywhere. the chain was just skipping over the teeth of the cassette/chainring (i wasnt sure which, they were both shagged)

Same experiences ideas above and don’t know what is best in the long term. I have run chain, cassette and rings for 4 years until the rollers on the chain finally fell off then replaced the lot. One thing that was noticeable was the efficiency of the new parts over the worn stuff. If I had replaced my chain regularly and reduced cassette and rings wear then the efficiency my have been better for longer? Depends what your priority is.

good idea running two chains. Cannot be bothered though. Maybe I should.

So if you put a new chain on the cassette that had a .75 stretched chain on it won’t skip? How many times before the cassette outwears the chains?

I currently go by shifting and tooth appearance as an indicator. I’ve considered a checker but a ruler was the closest I’ve come to one.

Yeah I’d be of the mind to run the lot into the ground, but just got a new wheelset and cassette, so don’t want to put a ropey chain on it.

That said, I reckon this chain checker is crock of nonsense..didn’t even come with instructions ..

good idea running two chains

yes and swap directions 😉

what is the point it wont wear slower than using two one after the other

the idea is that it’s easier to always run a clean chain.One can be left soaking in cleaner whilst one is being ridden.

I have my doubts about the accuracy of the X-tools checker. By the time mine reads 75% worn, if I change the chain the new one skips all over the place – I’m assuming that my checker is underestimating the amount of wear.

I’ve tried the chain rotation thing but I was never organised enough to keep on top of things. So far I’m in the replace-it-when-it-all-wears-out camp. Who knows whether it’s cheaper, it’s certainly easier.

I run all mine for as long as I can out of them. Currently mech, chain rings, cassette and chain on both bikes are about 4 years old. Mech if a tad wobbly side to side on one of them, but it all works fine, no slipping gears. Nowt. Just see how much longer it all lasts as usual. I never measure the ‘stretch’ either. Someone did a few years back and said that needs changed. I never did and it’s still going a-okay.

I use a ruler, not a chain checker. Change the chain when 11 links are 11 1/16″ long, which is just over 0.5% (the original Sheldon advice is to measure 12 links, but my normal rulers won’t measure 12 1/16″). The thing is with chain wear, modern chains have a hard coating on them – once you’ve got 0.5% wear, that hard coating has already gone and the chain will wear a lot faster than when new. You get a lot less life from 0.5% to 1% than from 0 to 0.5% wear.

Given the relative price of chains, cassettes and chainrings, I’m convinced it’s better this way than running the whole lot into the ground. If you wait until 1% wear, you’re going to have to change the lot, and past that drivetrain performance suffers – given how much we spend on other aspects of our sport, why have a poorly performing gear train due to scrimping?

I would say dont run it into the ground. A newish chain will be more responsive and the gear changes crisper. Change at .75% and you can keep the same cassette. Let go to 1% and you’ll start wearing our expensive parts like chain rings.

Running it until it slips is a very false economy.

I don’thave an issue with replacing worn chains to get better life out of more expensive components like cassette and chainwheels, but I don’t trust the chain wear checker gizmos anymore.

I used a park CC2 for a while, but started to get suspicious when I was replacing chains what seemed far too often. Sure enough, when I compared an accurate measurement with a ruler to what the chain wear checker was telling me, I found out it was out by 100%, i.e. it was saying a 0.5% stretched chain was 1%.

And I don’t think I’d just got a badly calibrated one, aparrently its an inherent issue with the way these guages measure stretch, by including the natural slack between the rollers and bushings – Sheldon Brown’s web page used to have a good explanation of this issue, but it seems to have disappeared!

So, my advice is to still replace at 0.75% wear, but use a ruler to measure this!

Sheldon Brown’s web page used to have a good explanation of this issue, but it seems to have disappeared!

Maybe I was thinking of this article instead.

I keep the chain pretty well cleaned and lubed, but I just run it all into the ground and replace the chain, cassette and middle ring at the same time. In time, monetary and palaver costs it’s got to be the same as messing with multiple chains.

I did once compare the old chain to the new one. Over the same number of links, the old chain was half an inch longer…

3 chains to 1 cassette (10sp). get a park tool chain checker & replace @ .75 i’m on my 2nd chain, last chain did 1500miles (Based on SLX 10sp chain.)

I’ve used one of these for 12+ years since I worked in a shop which had one – I think it’s brilliant.

I change on the ‘A’ side as if you leave it to the ‘S’ some damage is done and the next chain wears quicker.

I’d like to try running two or more chains etc but even I am not that organised/anal.

What I have found is that the first 4/5/6 chains run sweet and last a long time… but there comes a time when the new chain wears really quickly. When this happens it’s time to run it into the ground, change the lot and start again. Problem I have with doing this is when your worn chain snaps in the back-end-of-nowhere and you end up with multiple bodged repairs to get home… as mentioned above the mechanical efficiency deteriorates and your drivetrain sounds like a commuter bike special.

Whether it’s cost effective or not I don’t know… but I like this way of doing things as I know my gears are good for long rides, and I have an excellent idea of how long things are likely to last so I can plan the timing for the purchase of spares.

Just changed my “chain” as it started slipping, it was roughly 4000 miles old. Regularly cleaned and lubed.
The job turned into a new cassette, jockey wheels and middle chain ring. Convinced this was because I was running it into the ground, the chain was “stretched” well beyond 1/8 inch.

Going to keep an eye on it now and when its up to 1/16 as Sheldon suggests, I’m going to change it. Pretty sure I’ll get a lot more miles out of the rest of the drive chain that way.

The only bonus was that I only had a 36 to replace the 32 that I took off the cranks and I think I can drop the 44 now. Wouldn’t have bothered trying it if I hadn’t been “forced” to.

I used to run into the ground using cheapish sprockets, it works out cheaper over a year or two (depends on mileage of course) because even the cheapest chain is about 20 quid.

Then I had a worn chain that broke, no biggie because I always carry split links but I almost fell of the trail as a result, 8 feet into a bone smashing boulder field…. so what I’m saying is that if you ride anywhere critical its an extra risk you don’t have to take.

This is a good read http://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html
Bit at the bottom “measuring chain wear” answers the question. All you need is a ruler.

I`m on my 4th chain,on the same cassette.I change them 1t 0.75.
With the price of XT chain rings anywhere up to £60 ,and XT cassettes at £45 a pop as they are,I`d rather spend £14 on a chain,thanks.

Some bargains on sram chains here: http://www.actionsports.de/index.php?language=gb&cat=39&filter_id=51&cPath=7_39

Sheldon Brown’s web page used to have a good explanation of this issue, but it seems to have disappeared!

http://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html ?

or maybe:

http://sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html 😉

2 choices – change chains regularly when 0.75% stretch is reached and cassettes and chanrings last a long time.
Run it into the ground and the whole lot needs to be changed when it wears out

I don’t know which is cheaper long term

I use the first method.

SRAM 951 chains are £14, and I use about four a year (two/three MTB rides per week). With this I get a year out of an XTR cassette/jockey wheels and middle Middleburn ring (the granny/outer manage two years). And, more importantly, always have dependable ‘drive’.

I measure my chains with a tape measure. Measure 12″ and this will be rivit to rivit centre to centre on a new chain. When the chains extend (chains don’t technically stretch, the pins wear on each link)to 1/16th of an inch over 12″ its time to change. This for me is about a year or so. I have never understood people running things into the ground when it is so simple and quick to check. I have never had replace sprockets but I only keep bikes for 4 years or so. I have done Mountain Mayhem solo for the last 2 years and have done a lot of milage training up to the events.

I change chains from a new block / rings when the checker says to do so (0.75)
Save the chains, then when I’ve got 4 used chains, start using them again. Use them till 1.0 and swap out again.
Put first chain on again and use for a few months, then next chain, etc.
When they have all been on 3 times, use them until they are completely knackered.
This way I get several years out of a block, rings and 4 chains.

I’ve done both, but now cassettes are so expensive I’m in the chain changing camp.

Saying that I didn’t get around to changing mine quickly enough on the MTB (fitted in July, at the most one MTB ride a week, often less) and it’s now skipping a good ‘un, so the old chain’s back on to annihilate the cassette, probably get a second season out of it.

As an aside, running 1×9, you don’t have to change the unramped singlespeed specific front ring at the same time as the chain/cassette do you?

Normally i’ve only changed middle ring/chain/cassette when the chain starts slipping badly.

Good point Scamper – since going HammerSchmidt and 1*9 I’m seeing less chain wear than when I ran a front mech.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/1×9-1×10-peoples

Come to think of it, so am I.

I’ve worn a new cassette to knackered slippage whilst changing chains at 0.75. I put a brand new XTR 8 speed cassette on the tandem then rode 4000m on it changing the drive chain 3 times when 0.75 was indicated. During the life of the last chain, it started to skip on the most used sprockets. So that’s with good chains and a good cassette.

Shame you can’t change sprokets anymore, I could have easily got 8000 miles out of the rest as it wasn’t really worn.

If you are relying on the Park Tools CC-2,
then I think you are changing chains far too frequently.

Park CC-2s are a bit rubbish in my humble opinion. The solid plate chain checkers don’t have anything to go wrong, sloppy or bent like the cc-2 has.

I run cheap chains and will swap 3 or 4 over so they wear together. That way, if one gets mangled, then there’s still a couple of spares which will match to the cassette. When the chainrings start sucking it’s time to start thinking about replacing the whole lot together. Sometimes just switching to one chain and running it to death will stop the cahinsuck too..

It’s no drama to swish the chain in the sink, stick it on the radiator and chuck the next one on the bike when it’s dry. It’s a no-brainer when it comes to cost IMO. SRAM 951s can be had for about 6 or 7 quid each.. A 990 or xt cassette plus a couple of decent chainrings is going to be at least a ton.

This may be one of those myths, but I’ve heard there’s about a 5% efficiency difference between new and worn drivetrains, so doing this means you’re spending much more time on a newish chain.