Rotating chains to reduce drivetrain wear

I think that pre-xmas meltdown I read on here about buying 3 chains and rotating them every few months/miles to reduce the wear on the drivetrain. Does anyone do this and with any success?

The are two types of wear on the drive train; one is generic wear that is caused by just riding it (essentially the teeth are getting smaller), and the other is caused by elongation of the (aging) chain, and results in the hollows in the teeth getting elongated and deformed to match the elongation of the chain. If the latter is allowed to get beyond certain limit then fitting a new chain will cause chainsuck.

Instead of randomly rotating three chains, I would get one of those tools for measuring chain stretch (about £2), and when it reaches 1% fit a new chain; at that point the wear on the drive train should not be as bad as causing chain suck yet. How many times you can do that depends on the type of riding you do, the components you use, etc.

Having said that, in my experience by far most effective way of prolonging drive train life is by keeping the drive train clean; riding in the perpetual Scottish muck makes this difficult, and in this regard the Scottoiler is the best piece of kit ever. It looks sh!t, but it does the job like nothing else (the lube is water based, so the muck comes completely off without the need for degreaser); I have been using one for about 14 months now, and consider that the best spent £20 quid on the bike ever.

I rotate my chains on my turner the last lot of drivetrain ie mech chains casstte, rings lasted well over 4 years the D2D finished of the rear mech and casstte, I just change the chain every 2 or 3 rides or more if its really muddy. The rides i have done are loads of merida/dyfi enduro/ D2D/ south downs way in a day/ numerous lake district trips etc. So i reckon its good idea i also use a short cage rear mech xtr so there is less chain flapping about and it keeps it taut so that the chain is tight on the casstte etc

and when it reaches 1% fit a new chain;

the thing is, I’ve observed that worn rings will work with an old chain and not with a new one, and I guesstimate that the rings wear about 3 times more slowly than the chain, so by using 3 chains you obtain the maximum useful life from the lot. Throwing away 1% worn chains is wasteful 🙁

Where do I get a tool for measuring chain stretch?

Throwing away 1% worn chains is wasteful

Not particularly, given chain wear accelerates after you’ve worn off the hardened surface layer, so you don’t actually get much more life by waiting until the chain is even more worn. If you replace chains often enough then the cassette and rings will last a lot longer. The 3 chains method may be a bit better, but I’m not convinced it has enough advantages to be worth the hassle.

Where do I get a tool for measuring chain stretch?

WHSmiths. 11 double links measure 11" with a brand new chain. 11 1/16" is ~0.5% wear (the point I’d change to avoid wearing the cassette and chainrings) 11 1/8" is ~1% wear.

so you don’t actually get much more life by waiting until the chain is even more worn

when I had the Rohloff (perfect chain line), I found chains which were too worn to run with a derailleur would still work for another 6 months!

OK, I’m off to WH Smith to buy a chain measuring device

I just replace the cassette middle ring, and chain in one lump, normally 12-18 months depending on the weather.

I rotate two chains every couple of weeks or so, seems to work ok. Forgot about it for a couple of months and it took a week for the "new" chain to get to the same stretch as the "old" one. Other than that it’s been fine and I reckon it is prolonging the life of the drivetrain.

Stu.

I can’t be bothered with stuff like that, I just keep the drivetrain clean and lubed and check the chain periodically. Never had any problems so far and I don’t seem to have any issues with components dying early.