Summer and Winter Wheel Strategy

Daystate

I will be getting hold of a road bike next week and have opted to get some Fulcrum 3's for Summer use and some 5's for Winter/Turbo Trainer detail (Both sets will have own cassette for ease of transfer).

My question is, how do you guys find the mixing of Summer and Winter Cassettes with the 'all year' Chain/Chain rings (i.e. reduced wear rate on cassettes due to part time usage). My question follows experience with MTB's, where I find that when I change the chain I normally require a new cassette and usually a couple of chain rings due to 'Wear' compatibility. So do you experience problems when changing the wheels over and find 'skipping' issues etc due to the difference in wear with the chain/chain rings?

Really look forward to your responses/experience with this.

Chris James

I have one bike, a steel one with mudguard clearances.

I run handbuilts (Rigida Nova on Tiagra hubs) over winter. These are fairly old and easy to maintain, so I don't mind if they see salt.

I have another pair of wheels (Shimano RS30) which I use in the summer when the mudguards are off, and also I use the back one in winter on the turbo.

The cassette on the handbuilts is on its third chain, the cassette on the RS30s is new. I change chains at about 0.75% wear. The cassettes run fine.

I think running guards reduces the winter crud build up, I try to keep on top of chini cleanliness too.

keef66

I too have only one bike, so no direct experience but I'd suggest having a chain for each set of wheels / cassette and replace them before they are too worn. Using KMC missing links makes this a lot easier than faffing with chain tools and joining pins IMO.

Chip \'oyler

Best tip is to clean your chain after every ride (particularly in the winter) and clean your cassettes as often as possible.

This gets rid of the 'paste' that can wear the chain and cassettes badly.

Chris James

keef66 wrote:

I too have only one bike, so no direct experience but I'd suggest having a chain for each set of wheels / cassette and replace them before they are too worn. Using KMC missing links makes this a lot easier than faffing with chain tools and joining pins IMO.

That is a good plan, as long as you aren't swapping wheels back and forth regularly (like I am!).

As long as the chain doesn't elongate too much then I can't see that it should wear a new cassette.

APIII

Chip \'oyler wrote:

Best tip is to clean your chain after every ride (particularly in the winter) and clean your cassettes as often as possible.

This gets rid of the 'paste' that can wear the chain and cassettes badly.

+1. A regular clean will be far less hassle than faffing around changing chains and cassettes.

Butterd2

I run 2 sets of Mavic's on my bike, usually because one or the other is broken! I have just been swapping back and forth with no problems to date. Just keep and eye on chain wear and change it before it damages the cassettes.