Replacing a chain

essex-commuter

What frequency do you guys change chains at? I'm sure there are some that just run them into the ground but I'm trying to be a bit more scientific.

I've just purchased a Park Tools chain guide. Today I measured the chain on my 'Winter bike' and it's showing exactly 1mm of wear over the given distance which basically means the manufacturer recommends it to be changed. I've had that chain on for exactly 1 year and it has done 2,400 miles. I seem to remember that the rule of thumb is something like 3 chains to one cassette...or run the chain past it's usable length and really you need to buy a new cassette as well as a chain.

Anyone follow any rules on this, or does everyone just change it when it's making a noise and it won't shut up no matter how much oil you chuck at it? Ahh, but then do you buy a new cassette as well?

tgotb

My bike was new at Christmas, and I've just replaced the chain after 1000 miles (albeit pretty hard miles, with the weather we've had). I don't mind treating chains as consumables, but I'll be very disappointed if I have to buy a new cassette and chainrings every 6 months!

UndercoverElephant

Had to replace mine after about 1200 miles. I grind away at higher gears though, which apparently kills them quite quickly. Roughly 1000 miles later, the new one is showing no sign of wear at all.

iain_j

Just replaced mine (and cassette) after 2.5 years and approx 5000 miles. Still runs and shifts fairly smoothly but it's worn by over 1% according to my chain gauge and I'm paranoid of it snapping on the next steep hill I find.

TheStone

Change when it hits 0.75%. Once it's there, it'll get past 1% fairly quick.
I usually get 1500-2000 miles out of a chain.

Cassettes seem to last me well over 3 chains.

cjcp

Er, not as often as you chaps :oops:

prj45

TheStone wrote:

Cassettes seem to last me well over 3 chains.

How can you tell the cassette needs replacing though?

ride_whenever

either by experience, trial and error or by buying the rohloff sprocket wear indicator

roger_merriman

big hybrid running into the ground.

old steely I replace normally in the summer, I do clean the chain and the milage is low but it tends to get trashed though the winter.

essex-commuter

So my wear rate seems aboutr average.

I run Campagnolo 10 speed and usually buy Connex chains but they are £30 a throw even at entry level. Does anyone know if I can buy a cheaper Campag chain (Veloce) and just fit a KMC or Connex quick link to it? I like to remove a chain to clean it.

Ta!

beverick

Two answers as to how often I change the chain:

"Hack" - This depends as much on the state of the cassette as the chain but I usually change both in the spring having ground a winter's worth of salt, grit gravel and rust into them. This spring is going to be very expensive for the 'hack' as I've managed to buckle the outer chainring so, as its riveted, that needs changing as well (it's annoying as I have a spare 48T ring, I just can't use it!). I used to run the old 8 speed into the ground and only change it when the chain started jumping but as I really need reliability with the 'hack', and having upgraded to narrower 9 speed gear, it now gets changed periodically. nb, I'll no doubt do the same with the MTB but as it's only six weeks old it's too early to say.

Road bike - Occaisionally. The current chain has been on two years in April so it probably needs changing. That said, with injury, illness, bad weather and home/bike balance issues I only did about 500 last summer. In all probability, I'll no doubt give it a couple of runs in the spring to see how things are running and make a decision from there.

Bob

gert_lush

just done mine at 6300 miles which was waaaay too many and also meant i had to do the cassette and middle chainring as well (but not the large one, need to MTFU a bit!)

on the road bike I do it every 2500 and cassette lasts longer

wgwarburton

Hi,
This may not be helpful, if so... sorry...

I run older drivetrains, and havn't found I need to change as frequently. Some of the following is therefore subject to memory lapses!

I wore out two or three chains on my "good" bike (531 tourer) between the major rebuild in the early '80s and a drivetrain replacement a year or two back. There were longish periods when I didn't do much mileage on this bike, though, and I'd be hard pressed to even guess how many miles I put on it... At least three biggish tours (Orkney, W. Isles, Ireland) as well as a fair bit of utility cycling.
Since I started a longer commute, drivetrain wear has ramped up, particularly on whichever bike I'm using through the winter. I've worn out three chains over the last 4-5 years and written off a couple of sprockets and chainrings, too. I was particularly disappointed with the lifespan of a Dura-Ace 16T track cog, which was trashed on both tooth-faces inside two years. Similarly, since moving to 1/8" chain & sprockets I've found that I'm wearing my 3/32" chainring at an alarming rate!
My current thinkiing is that a fixie is quite hard on parts, since the work is all done by a single chainring/sprocket pair, so it's just as well the parts are cheap! I'm thinking about getting a Steel chainring for next winter, though, if I can do it cheaply enough (wrong BCD for my current chainsets, unfortunately).

The main thing I take from this, though, is that the two main factors in chainwear are 1) weather+cleaning and 2) drivetrain width.
1) is fairly self-explanatory- if you avoid grotty weather (not practical for a commuter) and clean & lube meticulously the drivetrain will last longer.

2) is maybe less so- but consider that a "traditional" 3/32 derailleur drivetrain has 25% less metal than a 1/8" one on the tooth-faces that transmit the load. If you move to a modern ultra-narrow drivetrain, that reduces further (look at the width of the individual sprockets in a 10-speed cassette). With the load on a smaller area, it will wear faster- the pressure is higher and there's less metal to remove.
It stands to reason that narrow drivetrains will need regular maintenance. This is the tradeoff against having lots of gears available and the natty indexed shifting that comes with them.

So- if you run narrow derailleur gears, you should be expecting to keep them clean and lubed, and will still need to replace chains frequently. If you run hub gears (or FG/SS) and a 1/8" drivetrain you can expect much longer chainlife. In between are the traditional 3/32" drivetrains, with fewer, fatter sprockets on the cluster, but I don't know how easy they are to find these days.
If you're happy to maintain a modern derailleur setup then that's cool. If you would rather have something less onerous then think about what gears you actually need and consider whether a simpler, more durable system might suit you better. There are a lot of options between a 20-30 gear derailleur setup and a fixie...

Cheers,
W.

dav1

mine last 1000-2000 miles typically depending on the time of year,

Last one I had lasted 400 miles though, and way over 1% according to my oark tool.

Back to sram me thinks...

essex-commuter

Being 10 speed I usually pay around 25 squid a chain, and that's entry level really. Just purchased 3 x Mavic 10 speed chains for £30, seems cheap but worth a try...and they come with a quick link.

gbsahne001

Changed my old steeds chain (it was creaking and making other strange noises under pressure) after approx 4,000m.

pastryboy

I changed mine when my checker said it was 0.75.

I now have no faith in the chain checker as I found the chain skipping all over the place and had to buy a cassette too :roll:

On the same topic, when checking the length the chain should be I've seen some sources say (when wrapped around biggest cogs) you should add one extra link but I've seen others that say two? When I replaced my original chain it had been done with two extra.

dav1

I always heard it was 3, but when you account for the powerlink 2 is the correct number.

I always do this and enjoy flawless shifting all the time.

will3

gbsahne wrote:

Changed my old steeds chain (it was creaking and making other strange noises under pressure) after approx 4,000m.

4km? You're kidding that's awful

Mine vary, but usually 1000-3000 miles
They seem to go from fine to +1% when I'm not looking though which is a pain.

cjcp

will3 wrote:

gbsahne wrote:

Changed my old steeds chain (it was creaking and making other strange noises under pressure) after approx 4,000m.

4km? You're kidding that's awful

Mine vary, but usually 1000-3000 miles
They seem to go from fine to +1% when I'm not looking though which is a pain.

What if, for example, and I'm just suggesting this, you didn't change the chain for, say, 5,000 miles? Purely as an example you understand...

gbsahne001

will3 wrote:

gbsahne wrote:

Changed my old steeds chain (it was creaking and making other strange noises under pressure) after approx 4,000m.

4km? You're kidding that's awful

What can I say, it was a cheap chain

gbsahne001

cjcp wrote:

will3 wrote:

gbsahne wrote:

Changed my old steeds chain (it was creaking and making other strange noises under pressure) after approx 4,000m.

What if, for example, and I'm just suggesting this, you didn't change the chain for, say, 5,000 miles? Purely as an example you understand...

I was a bit conscious of it breaking, so only changed in to avoid the 13 mile walk back home.

Somewhere towards the end of it's life I made the mistake of cleaning the chain; it sounded worse than when it was covered in gunk. I can only assume that the cra*-p was holding it together, although it was difficult to seperate the noises to say if it was the chain for sure.

After I changed the chain, front & back wheel, BB, chainset and front mech, it was weird to only hear the noise of the tyre on the road.

will3

cjcp wrote:

will3 wrote:

gbsahne wrote:

Changed my old steeds chain (it was creaking and making other strange noises under pressure) after approx 4,000m.

4km? You're kidding that's awful

Mine vary, but usually 1000-3000 miles
They seem to go from fine to +1% when I'm not looking though which is a pain.

What if, for example, and I'm just suggesting this, you didn't change the chain for, say, 5,000 miles? Purely as an example you understand...

then you'd just end up having to change more of the drive train for it all to be happy with the new chain. I'ts a perfectly valid strategy if you have a reasonably priced source of chainwheels and cassettes.

essex-commuter

cjcp wrote:

What if, for example, and I'm just suggesting this, you didn't change the chain for, say, 5,000 miles? Purely as an example you understand...

Well it wouldn't explode so not a major major issue. However, by then you may well be experiencing chain slip, skipping, or poor changing. When you do come to change it, it wouuld be likely that you would need to change the cassette as well, and in some cases even the chainrings.

Not sure if a chain weakens over time and is more likely to snap?

beverick

essex-commuter wrote:

cjcp wrote:

...

Not sure if a chain weakens over time and is more likely to snap?

They do, trust me, I know from experience.....

I also know that chain's never snap when you're free wheeling either.

Bob