Hi,

I finally remembered to check my chain on an 11 speed gx drive chain. Its worn past 1 on the chain checker.

A)Is it worth buying a new chain to run on this cassette?

Or b) run chain and cassette to destruction?

It’s current shifting fine, but there are some creaking noises comming from the rear hub area- this might be the hub bearings which are very slightly worn.

Cheers for any suggestions.

Bit late for a.
Keep going but you will likely need a chainring too.

The chain ring is much newer as I swapped cranks

Just ride it until it slips, not much point doing owt else.

keep it going until you need to replace the lot, at which point do:

chainring(s)
chain
cassette
cables

you’re going to need a new 11spd chain anyway, why not buy one and see if it works without slipping. if not then take it back off and keep until you replace the whole drive train.

If it was me I’d get a new chain and try it. If it works, carry on, if it doesn’t then you’ve lost nothing.

+1 for give it a try with a new chain

I’ve just replaced the drivetrain on my winter MTB / Summer road machine after nearly 7 years.
Never bothered with the whole change chain before its worn malarky.
Just ride until it starts to slip.

Definitely try a new chain, people wear their bikes in different ways. I suspect if it does mesh it’ll wear more quickly than on a new cassette though!

Shame there’s no science/evidence on this stuff.

nickc – Member 
keep it going until you need to replace the lot, at which point do:
chainring(s)
chain
cassette
cables

Probably no need for chainring and certainly not cables, unless they need doing. Chainring especially if it’s 1x and narrow wide. Though you might find the chainring needs replacing earlier than the whole lot if it starts dropping the chain, but I’ve never found it needs replacing because of a new chain (unlike cassette).

Anyway, wear it to destruction. It’ll probably go on for another year or two. As said, might have to do chainring meanwhile. Depends how swiss cheese the chainring is.

Was thinking about this the other day. Not GX, but my KMC chain on XT cassette and RaceFace narrow wide has been past 0.75 for about 6 months.

Not slipped or dropped the chain once yet, and will be running the whole lot to destruction. The whole lot has now done about 3000km I think.

Have always been very much in the ‘if it’s working fine don’t touch it’ brigade.

So thats 7:4 for wearing to destruction vs try a new chain.

To Destruction it is.

Thanks

’tis the only way.

I find if you don’t change them at 0.75 you’re buggered anyway, 1.0 is way too late.

For OP: How long has it taken to get to over 1.0 from when your GX was new?

For others: How long would “to destruction” be on average?

If we’re looking at 3-5 years for “to destruction” from that point… wow. I might try it.

I change chains when 0.5 starts moving towards 0.6 and I panic change it before it hits 0.75. £11 a pop for a NX 11s chain is fine but if it’s years and years from a “to destruction” setup on a MTB I’d change chains 2 or 3 times a year per bike.

In the past, ‘to destruction’ has sometimes not been very long. But other stuff I’ve used the chain stretching has been accompanied usually with a noticeable drop in performance.

However, this XT cassette has had a pretty worn chain on it for the last 6 months, with no deterioration in shifting.

The XT cassette is weighty, but perhaps this partly explains the durability. Main thing for me is the shifting quality. Even though the chain is buggered according to the checker, I don’t care, the chain checker doesn’t ride my bike!

I would be more careful about this if I was using a posher cassette, but £100 every couple of years to replace cassette, chain and chainring seems alright to me, when compared to multiples of £15 to replace the chain for a bit more life. Plus less hassle.

Gelert

It’s an ex demo bike from Orange and I’ve done about 1000 miles, about half in gritty peak District winter mud.

Not sure how far it went as a demo, it was in great nick when I got it. I never thought to check the chain until now.

Not sure about 3-5 years, but 1 to 2+ in my experience. But then I run multiple bikes.

Got one with 2000 miles on the chain & cassette that’s been going 2 years, another with 900 miles a little under 1 year, and one just over 800 miles running for 2 years but that one is seemingly very slack but it could be the mech. Nothing slipping on any of them.

Even back with one bike, I did the multi chain per cassette attempt and apart from struggling to get more the 2 without skipping, when I ran to destruction I just realised I was wasting money on chains and cassettes as the whole lot lasted longer.

Thanks for the answers. The “to destruction” is very interesting indeed.

It would rely on me sticking to one setup for long enough and I don’t think I can do that. I like experimenting with different components too often.

First one went past 1 due to a very gritty wet holiday, replaced and ran fine, put 2 more chains on since then, you have nothing to loose by trying a new chain.

2 months and 600 miles later (total mileage 1600 from me +??? as a demo bike)

Destruction of the cassette is imminent.

There are loads of burrs on the cassette and the whole drive chain rumbles massively.

So any suggestions as for what cassette next.

Either

Gx 10- 42 for £75 or Sunrace 11-50 for £90.

The Gx is a bit faster on the road to the trails
vs
Sunrace is going to be one gear easier on the ups.

Any suggestions as to which would last longer? The Sunrace cassettes largest two sprockets are aluminum. The weight difference at 130g is negligible for me.

Its on a gx rear mech.

I don’t think Sunrace is an option because GX uses the xD driver body on the rear hub and the Sunrace cassettes are Shimano freehub compatible only.

Another GX cassette is your only option unless you can swap Freehub bodies on your hub.

I’m in the change chains regularly gang. I buy SRAM NX chains for <£11 and just swap them at 0.5-0.6 and for me that’s almost always sub 500 miles but I don’t care the chain is usually rattling around by then anyway. I keep the chains and sometimes go back and re-use them. I’ve swapped a fair few because I change my chain rings and cranks a lot and change the chain when I do so. Box it up and write on it how much use it’s had. Then re-use later.

I’ve got both shimano and xd drivers for my wheels. I thought I would go full shimano when I bought the bike, and the gx has been fine so I haven’t bothered.

At £70+ for the cassette I will be swapping £10 chains religiously 🙂

If I was already on SRAM and it worked I’d stick with it and change chains regularly 🙂

Gelert- good advice, I’ve taken it 🙂

I’d try a new chain. The GX cassette (1150) is a tough old thing, all steel unlike the expensive higher models.

A thought, if you have a Shimano fh you never intend to use now, why not flog it? You’d probably see half the price of s new cassette on it.

Edit, just seem the update re physical shape of cassette. Oh well. Knack it and replace cassette and chain together when it slips and be more careful next time! Personally I prefer monitoring chain condition and changing when appropriate rather than the old three chains and many tubs of solvent roadie nonsense. I think some people just like making things complicated…

Where is a good place for GX cassettes? Struggling to find them on the usual sites. Thanks

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/sram-xg1150-11-speed-cassette/

vincienup –

I bought the free hub intending to go for the xt 11-46 cassette.

New GX cassette bought from wiggle and arrived today 🙂

Nx chains coming from CRC as they were a couple of quid cheaper than wiggle.