Replacing the chain

iain_j

For the sake of ease of getting the chain on and off, and to save buying new link pins, I'd like to replace the Shimano chain on my bike with a SRAM Powerlink. I've had the bike about a year now and done just over 1000 miles, I've measured the chain with a 12" ruler and it's showing no wear, so would it be safe to just replace the chain without replacing the cassette too?

giant_man

Ooh tough call. My rule is to always replace both at the same time.

andrewgturnbull

giant mancp wrote:

Ooh tough call. My rule is to always replace both at the same time.

Hi there.

No you don't need to replace the chain and cassette on a road bike after 1000 miles!

And no, you don't always need to replace the cassette when you change the chain. If you renew your chain as soon as your measurements indicate you need a new the cassette will outlast quite a few chains.

Wear depends a lot on the kind of weather your ride through (and if you ride off road), but as a ball-park figure for a road bike I'd be looking at at least 5000miles for the chain.

Cheers, Andy.

neeb

Wear depends a lot on the kind of weather your ride through (and if you ride off road), but as a ball-park figure for a road bike I'd be looking at at least 5000miles for the chain.

Unfortunately I seem to get 0.75% wear on 10 speed Campagnolo chains after about half of that distance, and I'm not even riding much in wet weather... I suspect it's because I'm using a compact and staying on the big ring 95% of the time, so I'm crossing the chain over from the 50T chainring to the larger sprockets quite a lot.

One thing I've wondered about - when you put a new chain on a cassette that's already seen 1 or 2 chains it wears faster initially (as you'd expect because the chain is wearing to fit the slightly worn cogs). But I guess after that initial period of accelerated wear the chain will wear less quickly. How much do you find that the life of a second or third chain is shortened by being used on the same sprockets, assuming you always change at 0.75% wear?

andrewgturnbull

neeb wrote:

One thing I've wondered about - when you put a new chain on a cassette that's already seen 1 or 2 chains it wears faster initially (as you'd expect because the chain is wearing to fit the slightly worn cogs). But I guess after that initial period of accelerated wear the chain will wear less quickly. How much do you find that the life of a second or third chain is shortened by being used on the same sprockets, assuming you always change at 0.75% wear?

Hi there.

I have to say I've never used a chain checker.

Since I moved everything to 10 speed about 4 years ago I've also never chucked out a road cassette. I do have about, er 7 different rear wheels used over 3 bikes. The cx bike alwasys gets a new chain at the end of the winter, and the other two bikes will probably get a new chain every year.

Cheers, Andy

neeb

Hi, thanks for that. I guess if you are rotating wheels all of the time calculating cassette wear using chain wear becomes a bit complicated...

iain_j

Thanks for the replies folks. I had another idea: is it possible to replace a take a link out of my Shimano chain and replace it with a powerlink? It would save replacing the whole chain when there's plenty of life left in it yet.

salsarider79

Yes. I've done it loads. Just make sure you get the right link 8,9 or 10 speed. The 10speed might be hard to get hold of though...

iain_j

Excellent. That'll save a few £££