Chain Life

iandennis

I'm slowly building up the miles on my Secteur Elite and its now been for its first service. The mechanic highlighed that the chain was good for 1,000 miles which I thought was ok but I'm clocking up 100 miles a week so it actually isn't that long. How often does a chain need to be changed ? My commuter has only 7 speeds but having done 400 miles a month since December its still going strong and just needs a good lube every week.

Am I missing something or is a 10 speed chain a relatively short life item ?

Thanks

will3

Depends:

how often you clean it (which can have a positive or negative effect depending on how good you are at lubing after)

how well lubed you keep it

how much you cross chain

how hard you ride.

Some people change the chain at 0.75% stretch to try to avoid damaging the rest of the drive train. Others wear them till they're completely knackered and then change the lot.

anything from 1000-3000 miles seems normal.

procyclist

WD40 every day and it'll see 10,000 miles easy

CiB

Having two chains and swapping them over every 1500 miles or so seems to work nicely. Keep em clean & lightly oiled.

LeicesterLad

My Bike has had the same chain since 1986, I have owned the bike for a year, never lubed it, Sags a little, cant be arsed to keep an old raleigh pristine, its not worth the expense, but the chain still works fine

I think well looked after, on a shiney new bike, to say you get 1000 miles out of chain is a bit of a piss take, and deffinately a money grabbing scheme.

whitestar1

procyclist wrote:

WD40 every day and it'll see 10,000 miles easy

I was under the impression that you should never use WD40 on your mech/chain - check this out - http://bicycletutor.com/no-wd40-bike-chain/

marksteven

no no no not wd40 . clean with rag , put oil on chain with toothbrush (pref old 1) wipe off any excess job done . dont cross the chain to much , ie on big ring dont use 3 biggest rear cogs on small ring dont use 3 smallest cogs ,

corona

At a conservative guess I have used my current chain for 12, 000 km. (and its a second hand bike) Every few weeks run the chain through a chain bath thing with degreaser, then lightly oil. I keeep on measuring to see if needs changed. Chain has never slipped.

vorsprung

1) WD40...this moves water and also lubricants. It's great for cleaning. After using in on a chain you have to relubricate it with proper chain lube

2) You can measure chain stretch. Instructions here:
http://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html
The section "Measuring Chain Wear" has the actual numbers, the rest of the page explains what happens. To summarise you can measure the chain with a ordinary ruler and know when it needs replacing

The mileage that a chain will do before wearing out depends on the conditions and the maintenance it gets, as you might imagine. A fastidious mechanic who only rides in the dry is going to have better chain life than the average commuter bike

corona

The longevity of my chain may have something to do with the lack of rain here and the lack of hills ( i'm guessing standing up and grinding up a big hill will put strain on a chain). Back to the OP i would definitely expect more than 1000 miles from a chain

rolf_f

LeicesterLad wrote:

My Bike has had the same chain since 1986, I have owned the bike for a year, never lubed it, Sags a little, cant be arsed to keep an old raleigh pristine, its not worth the expense, but the chain still works fine

I think well looked after, on a shiney new bike, to say you get 1000 miles out of chain is a bit of a wee-wee take, and deffinately a money grabbing scheme.

Bike chains from that era are much heavier duty than current ones. Comparing eg a mid 80s 7 speed chain with a modern 10 speed chain isn't comparing like with like (more's the pity). That said, 1000 miles should easily be beatable but then the OP only said that the bike shop said 1000 more miles over and above existing mileage.

briantrumpet

I'd been wondering the same, so bought myself a cheap chain-wear measurer - the figure I've seen is to change before 1% chain wear to avoid wearing out the cassette etc. - the measurer shows 0.75% and 1% wear, and I got to 0.75% at 3,000 miles over 6 months, and changed it then.

thescouselander

I've heard those chain wear measurers can over read the amount of wear. I just checked my chain the old fashioned way (with a ruler) and its fine after 1400 miles. As long as the chain is kept clean and well lubed I would have thought it should last ages.

centimani

WD40 doesnt work IME, ive tried it to satisfy my own curiosity. New chain, almost daily lubing with WD, it wore out very fast. TBF, i know one guy who swears by it, but my experience has been very different. Apart from anything else, its hardly ecologically sound to use WD like water out the tap,

10 speed chains dont last as well as 8 speed or less, they just wear so much quicker, even with very regular oiling. (thats my experience)
My last 3 chains only got 1000/1200 miles before wearing to .75%

mrwibble

procyclist wrote:

WD40 every day and it'll see 10,000 miles easy

maybe he knows something we don't

briantrumpet

mrwibble wrote:

procyclist wrote:

WD40 every day and it'll see 10,000 miles easy

maybe he knows something we don't

That someone will believe him?

Bozman

I love a chain life post with the immense variation of life expectancy.
I have a feeling that alot of folk replace them far to often, if you look after it and you aren't getting any problems why replace it? .... The manufacturer says so! A man on the BikeRadar forum says so! I like a shiney chain! It beats burning £20 notes!

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

rolf_f

Bozman wrote:

I have a feeling that alot of folk replace them far to often, if you look after it and you aren't getting any problems why replace it?

You won't get any observable problems with a worn chain prematurely wearing the cassette and chainrings out - just a more frequent need to change the whole chainset. Just because you aren't aware of a problem doesn't mean there isn't one.

Besides, if you rotate between two or three chains, you aren't actually replacing the chain any more frequently than if you just use one at a time.

Bozman

I'd have to buy a new chain every other month if stuck to some of the mileage quotes but i loath to swap it every year because i don't have any problems at all.
I have 3 bikes with chains at different ages/mileage and they all run as well as the next, the oldest has probably done around 7000/8000miles and newest has less than a thousand miles on the chain, chainset and cassette.

alwaystoohot

Did our forefathers change their chains so frequently or have we just become part of this modern consumerism use it once and throw it away society?

vorsprung

Bozman wrote:

I'd have to buy a new chain every other month if stuck to some of the mileage quotes but i loath to swap it every year because i don't have any problems at all.
I have 3 bikes with chains at different ages/mileage and they all run as well as the next, the oldest has probably done around 7000/8000miles and newest has less than a thousand miles on the chain, chainset and cassette.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that a chain should be rotated on mileage

Measure the chain with a ruler. If it is stretched over a few percent then replace it. If you do this then the sprockets do not need replacing too. If you wait until the chain is completely worn then the sprockets will need replacing at the same time.

8000 miles on the same chain / sprocket is quite unusual. I think my 2007 PBP bike had a 5000 miles on it's original Campag C10 chain. The only trouble was that the chain eventually snapped when I was miles away on a training ride. And that sort of 10 speed chain can't be fixed with a chain tool

After this I switched to using Wipperman SX10 chains with powerlinks. I had two so I could rotate them

rolf_f

vorsprung wrote:

I don't think anyone is suggesting that a chain should be rotated on mileage

But you should rotate on mileage. What you shouldn't do is discard on mileage.

Bozman

The 7000/8000 miles is on nine speed ultegra(6500), the bike has been used as a winter hack for the last 3 yrs, the mileage could well be over that because i have no computer on that bike to record mileage on it.
A mate is now using the bike to commute over the summer months, so we'll see how it lasts but at the mo it doesn't slip or miss a gear.
I put Dura ace and Fsa slk chains on my bikes last year, they're running fine(roughly 600 miles a mth between them) and if i don't get any problems they'll stay on for now. I generally use Dura ace now because i've never had a problem with them, the FSA is unknown territory.
The chains are cleaned every other wk with "WD40"(WHAT THE!) and lubed with 3 in 1 after every other ride with the excess wiped off with a muzzy.

winterdancer

I was wondering if I was mad keeping a chain (Campag Centaur 10sp gpset) on my bike that has done over 10,000km - but it is showing NO wear either with a chain tool or with a steel ruler-12 links - 12" measurement. I keep the bike (and chain) really clean and it doesn't get ridden over the winter.

Cleaning regime?: Citrus degreaser in a Park Tools chain cleaner, rinse, dry, and lube with (very fancy!) 3-in-1 (drop on each roller), spin the chain around a few times, leave overnight, wipe off excess oil before next ride.

Just a bit worried now by previous post mentioning the Campag chain snapping on them without showing wear - but I've seen new chains go too, so maybe I'll not worry too much!

Pross

Depends on the make in my experience. Shimano chains are crap and wear out in no time (the last one I bought also came out of the packet with rust on it!). I used to use Sedis chains which seemed to last for ever and have recently shifted to SRAM on advice from my LBS.

Pross

Alwaystoohot wrote:

Did our forefathers change their chains so frequently or have we just become part of this modern consumerism use it once and throw it away society?

I doubt they did but I think that was as they were stronger. I suspect that chains are weaker now due to the obsession with weight. I don't think it is a case of "throw away society" though as keeping a worn chain will damage other components.

kettrinboy

Pross wrote:

Shimano chains are crap and wear out in no time

That will be why my Ultegra 6600 chain is still going strong at 9100 miles then, ok seems you had a bad one but its a bit of a sweeping statement to say all Shimano chains are crap.

Pross

I had the original one on the Tiagra group that lasted barely over 1,000 miles (albeit a lot of riding was in poor conditions and I'm a bit hefty) this had started to rust within a few weeks despite regular cleaning and oiling with a proper bike lube and actually snapped on my first ride with it. The replacement came rusty in the pack (online retailer). I then went to my LBS (a different one from where I bought the bike) and they told me they have stopped using Shimano chains on bike builds due to quality issues and used SRAM instead these days. I've probably had 10,000 miles plus out of all the Sedis chains I have used and the current SRAM is doing well after 2,000 miles so maybe I did just get unlucky (twice) but considering that is my only experience of Shimano chains and is backed up by the LBS I won't get another. Maybe the Ultegra and DA chains are better quality but they are also pricey. I've got nothing against Shimano in general and have always specced Shimano groups on bike builds, they just seem to be let down by their chains.

keef66

'Procyclist' has made a handful of posts, and 98% of them suggest WD40 as the solution, whatever the problem.

He / she is either a troll or on commission. Or possibly both.

flegghighsmells

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-chain-wear-tool/

TuckerUK

flegghighsmells wrote:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-chain-wear-tool/

The problem with that chain wear tool, in common with most (all in fact except the £45 jobby by Shimano), is that they measure roller wear too, and roller wear has no real bearing on anything. Use a rule.

I did try using a ruler once, but Her Majesty was busy.

Link for the disbelievers ('why would bike shops sell something that doesn't work?'). Yes, why indeed?

http://pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-004/000.htm