High chain wear

mustol

I've had my Specialized Allez 24 (my first ever 'decent' bike) for just over 9 months and 1200 miles, I have cleaned and lubed the chain on a regular basis - not after every ride, but I certainly haven't neglected it. However, I checked the chain yesterday for stretching and it has stretched noticeably - I can easily pull the chain off the front of the large chainring and it measures more than 12 1/8 inch between links. This seems like excessive wear and I could understand it if I hadn't looked after it. Anyway, I'm going to cycle to my LBS this evening to get a new chain and show them the chainrings, because there is definitely some wear to the teeth, mainly on the large chainring. The chain isn't skipping though and the rear sprockets look fine. I certainly plan to wipe down the new chain and lube it after every ride!

Any ideas why the chain has worn so quickly? I spend a lot of time riding around Devon's country lanes - is it just the amount of grit etc that I'm picking up? I'm wondering if it has been like it for quite a while, as my gear changing has never been perfect, as much as I try to adjust the indexing etc.

Also, sorry if this is a dumb question, will the new chain come in the right length for my bike or will I have to remove link(s) to fit?

Wooliferkins

Could well be, I used to eat chains and cassettes when I lived in a sandy bit of east anglia. Devon is also reasonably hilly so I would expect a bit more wear than in say Cambridgeshire. There are odten a couple of links to be trimmed off a chain i use the method SRAM describe here page 22

Wooliferkins

AL1 Pg23

keef66

It's certainly possible to wear out a chain in that distance with a combination of sand and hills (though I'd have thought your 8 speed one would be a bit more robust than the current crop of ultra narrow 10 and 11 speed)

Maybe Specialized shaved a few pence off the price by using a budget chain??

Yes, you'll probably have to lop a couple of links off the end of a new chain; if the original worked fine, just cut the new one to the same length.

Before you start complaining about chainring wear, have a close look at a new one. They do have several teeth with different profiles which can have the appearance of chipped or broken ones. This is purely to aid up / down shifting.

mustol

Keef66 - thanks - yes Spesh used a budget KMC chain and I have now seen a photo of new chainset and the teeth do have different profiles - so I don't think there's any noticeable wear. Will get a decent chain and improve my chain maintenance regime!

keef66

KMC are decent chains, reccommended a gazillion times on the forum.

It's clear you've worn it out using quad power alone .

mustol

It wasn't a criticism of KMC chains in general - just that it's a budget KMC chain - about £5 on the internet. I think you're probably right about my quad power - might explain the smoke rising from the chain as I power over the top of every hill that dares to cross my path!

ian_s

If you rode it over the winter, that will have contributed to chain wear with all the much that gets thrown up -its just a fact of life.

Treat it as a consumable and change it in good time to avoid need to replace your cassette as well - some would argue you should change both at the same time, but I think this is overkill unless the chain is very worn and has taken its toll on the cassette. You will soon know when you put a new chain on - if its jumping around under load , you'll need a new cassette.

FWIW I get my (KMC) chains from Ribble. They do require shortening by a few links depending on your setup, but come with the powerlink (or whatever its called..).

nicklouse

mustol wrote:

improve my chain maintenance regime!

what is your current one?

ror3h

I bought a Tricross in january, and checked the chain after 800 miles and it was already shot (with regular cleaning & lubing). It'd worn the cassette enough for a new chain to slip too, so it was quite costly!

I think the chains that come with the lower end Specialized bikes must be made of tin or something!