Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
  • How long should my cheapish road bike drive train last?
  • geoffj
    Full Member

    I’ve done about 4000 miles on it over a couple of years. There is no visible wear to the chain or rings, but being a bit of a bloater, I’d expect to be quite hard on components.
    Also the wheel bearings are original and seem fine. I keep it pretty clean and wash / lube / check quite regularly. Just seems to be lasting longer than I thought it should.
    I’m not really looking for an excuse to buy a new bike – honest!

    clubber
    Free Member

    Road bike drivetrains will do thousands of miles if kept passably clean – without mud to act as a grinding paste, wear is much lower than offroad.

    snaps
    Free Member

    Try asking on a road forum

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    GJP
    Free Member

    My first ultegra groupset was still fine after approx 12k miles riding all year round. Can’t say I looked after it too good either.

    Mister-P
    Free Member

    Nice helpful reply there snaps *roll eyes face*

    My road bike must have done over 5000 miles before I changed anything on the drivetrain and then I changed it because I needed to do a practical demonstration for my Cytec course so thought I might as well use my own bike.

    clubber
    Free Member

    Try asking on a road forum

    🙄

    Try being more open minded.

    AndyP
    Free Member

    I’d expect to get a good 25,000km out of most stuff but tend to change the chain every 10k or so.

    Gary_M
    Free Member

    Great input there snaps but there are plenty on here ride road bikes.

    From my experience I ride a road bike to/from work –

    Mavic aksium wheels and rear mech were fitted October ’07 and done about 8000 miles, both still working fine. Chainset – front ring replaced last September so maybe lasted 7000 miles, I do replace the chain and cassette regularly though. Shifters still original so done over 12k miles, still shifting fine.

    I have replaced stuff on my ‘proper’ road bike though but that was just cause I wanted to upgrade things.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    Thanks for the answers guys – I’ll think of something else to worry about now.

    Gary_M
    Free Member

    I am surprised the chain isn’t worn though, do you have a chain checker, bet it’s more than 1% worn 😉

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    I am surprised the chain isn’t worn though, do you have a chain checker, bet it’s more than 1% worn

    bet its not 😛

    I changed my chain and cassette for no realy good reason after about 15k miles. Other than the chain jumped between gears once. Hadn’t spent any money in a while and this was before prices went silly!

    got an old road bike that must be 20+ years old, original chain and cassette (well the date stamp says ’84)

    Gary_M
    Free Member

    15,000 miles out of a chain!! Anyway I would put money on a chain being more than 1% worn if it’s done 4000 miles. Around 1000 miles will see my chain wear to around the ‘replace now’ mark on the checker. If his chain isn’t worn after 4000 miles then I want to know what he’s using.

    Chain and cassette wear together so a 100 year old bike could have the originals on and still work, but if you replaced either then the chain would jump.

    aP
    Free Member

    I got 8 years out of a set of 98 Daytona (errmmm…. shuffles, looks at floor, didn’t change the chain in about 15,000 miles), still got 95 Mirage on my cross bike which did 3 full seasons of racing + about 10,000 miles of road riding, still got the original wheels as well.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    drip of oil and a wipe after each ride, washed in petrol once a month.

    New chain didnt skip, but having bought the new cassette i though best to fit it rather than letting it go rusty in the spares box/ruining my babymaker on the stem.

    barrykellett
    Free Member

    I sometimes cant be arsed cleaning mine after a salty frozen grit filled commute home in the splashing rain, and the corrosive “Salt+Fuel Vapour+Brake deposit+Worn Rubber” compound the roads are coverer in, will make the drivetrain disintegrate in about 3.5 minutes.

    If i cleaned and looked after it on these handful of times every year it would last so much longer.

    1 year of commuting for me then. About 3000 – 5000 miles at the mo

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)

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