new wheels and cassette - chain wear?

mkviken

would i be best fitting my new rear cassette to my new wheels (which will be my fair weather wheels). my new miles will be doing the most miles out of the 2 sets.

or should i remove my current cassette and fit that to my new wheels as thats what my chain has worn to? (and fit the new cassette to the old wheels)

bike has done 600 miles.

will a new cassette make much difference to the wear of a 600 mile old chain?

BikeSwan

Your chain doesn't really wear to the cassette . . . the chain just wears. If I were you i'd put the NEW cassette on the NEW wheels.

A new cassette should not slow or increase the rate of wear on an old chain, as far as I know.

mkviken

Ok thanks

With the bike being so new I wasn't sure if I would be better off primarily using the 'old' cassette or if it would cause premature wear.

It's easier for me to fit the new cassette to the new wheels too.

BikeSwan

mkviken wrote:

Ok thanks

With the bike being so new I wasn't sure if I would be better off primarily using the 'old' cassette or if it would cause premature wear.

It's easier for me to fit the new cassette to the new wheels too.

A new cassette shouldn't cause excess wear to the chain. And I definitely wouldn't want the annoyance of switched two cassettes to two different wheels.

arthur_scrimshaw

BikeSwan wrote:

Your chain doesn't really wear to the cassette . . . the chain just wears. If I were you i'd put the NEW cassette on the NEW wheels.

A new cassette should not slow or increase the rate of wear on an old chain, as far as I know.

I wouldn't worry too much but even a partly worn chain will knacker your new cassette prematurely. Just buy a new chain to use with the new cassette, they will bed in together, use the old chain with the old cassette. Won't cost much extra and will end your dilemma.

BikeSwan

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

BikeSwan wrote:

Your chain doesn't really wear to the cassette . . . the chain just wears. If I were you i'd put the NEW cassette on the NEW wheels.

A new cassette should not slow or increase the rate of wear on an old chain, as far as I know.

I wouldn't worry too much but even a partly worn chain will knacker your new cassette prematurely. Just buy a new chain to use with the new cassette, they will bed in together, use the old chain with the old cassette. Won't cost much extra and will end your dilemma.

Thats interesting to know! I've been swapping wheelsets (and hence cassettes) between bikes for years, and i've never had to replace cassettes or chains because of wear. Good to know for the future though.

arthur_scrimshaw

BikeSwan wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

BikeSwan wrote:

Your chain doesn't really wear to the cassette . . . the chain just wears. If I were you i'd put the NEW cassette on the NEW wheels.

A new cassette should not slow or increase the rate of wear on an old chain, as far as I know.

I wouldn't worry too much but even a partly worn chain will knacker your new cassette prematurely. Just buy a new chain to use with the new cassette, they will bed in together, use the old chain with the old cassette. Won't cost much extra and will end your dilemma.

Thats interesting to know! I've been swapping wheelsets (and hence cassettes) between bikes for years, and i've never had to replace cassettes or chains because of wear. Good to know for the future though.

what never? you must tell me your secret. My chains last about 3 or 4 maybe even 5k miles even with regular cleaning and lube, cassettes about every two chains maybe three if I'm lucky (or it's Summer). Maybe I've misunderstood what you mean by 'never' as in not ever? Or do you mean purely as a result of swapping between wheels/cassettes? How would you know which was responsible? My chain mileage varies as above so if I was swapping I couldn't be sure if that had caused a difference or not?
Good to see the old pulling rank 'I've been doing it for years' reply though.

BikeSwan

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

BikeSwan wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

BikeSwan wrote:

Your chain doesn't really wear to the cassette . . . the chain just wears. If I were you i'd put the NEW cassette on the NEW wheels.

A new cassette should not slow or increase the rate of wear on an old chain, as far as I know.

I wouldn't worry too much but even a partly worn chain will knacker your new cassette prematurely. Just buy a new chain to use with the new cassette, they will bed in together, use the old chain with the old cassette. Won't cost much extra and will end your dilemma.

Thats interesting to know! I've been swapping wheelsets (and hence cassettes) between bikes for years, and i've never had to replace cassettes or chains because of wear. Good to know for the future though.

what never? you must tell me your secret. My chains last about 3 or 4 maybe even 5k miles even with regular cleaning and lube, cassettes about every two chains maybe three if I'm lucky (or it's Summer). Maybe I've misunderstood what you mean by 'never' as in not ever? Or do you mean purely as a result of swapping between wheels/cassettes? How would you know which was responsible? My chain mileage varies as above so if I was swapping I couldn't be sure if that had caused a difference or not?
Good to see the old pulling rank 'I've been doing it for years' reply though.

I tend to upgrade me drivetrains every 2 or so years. And I probably only put 3000 km's a year on each drivetrain. I've had one chain break on me (mountain bike), but other than that I haven't had a problem with drivetrain wear. I've got an Shimano XTR M950 groupset on my hack bike which i've been using for many years, and I still haven't had to replace the chain, cassette, or chain rings.

I also lube the chain every other ride on the road bike, and every ride on the mountain bike.

arthur_scrimshaw

how often do you clean your chain and how? and do you clean before each lube? I would struggle to do this on my commute bike as it's used daily but maybe I'm lazy. I do it once a week (100 miles) Road bike about the same frequency as you, and indeed this has lasted 3000 miles and still hasn't hit the .5mm wear point.

badly_dubbed

Did 10k on my winter bike running bog standard shimano 2300, cleaned 10 times if your lucky!

Never had a problem with it

cakeathon

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

BikeSwan wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

BikeSwan wrote:

Your chain doesn't really wear to the cassette . . . the chain just wears. If I were you i'd put the NEW cassette on the NEW wheels.

A new cassette should not slow or increase the rate of wear on an old chain, as far as I know.

I wouldn't worry too much but even a partly worn chain will knacker your new cassette prematurely. Just buy a new chain to use with the new cassette, they will bed in together, use the old chain with the old cassette. Won't cost much extra and will end your dilemma.

Thats interesting to know! I've been swapping wheelsets (and hence cassettes) between bikes for years, and i've never had to replace cassettes or chains because of wear. Good to know for the future though.

what never? you must tell me your secret. My chains last about 3 or 4 maybe even 5k miles even with regular cleaning and lube, cassettes about every two chains maybe three if I'm lucky (or it's Summer). Maybe I've misunderstood what you mean by 'never' as in not ever? Or do you mean purely as a result of swapping between wheels/cassettes? How would you know which was responsible? My chain mileage varies as above so if I was swapping I couldn't be sure if that had caused a difference or not?
Good to see the old pulling rank 'I've been doing it for years' reply though.

Replace your chains before they wear the cassettes. Get a chain wear tool.
frequent cleaning helps prolong the life of a chain.

rolf_f

badly_dubbed wrote:

Did 10k on my winter bike running bog standard shimano 2300, cleaned 10 times if your lucky!

Never had a problem with it

How many cogs in the cassette? If it's 8 speed, they last much longer anyway. 10k seems fairly reasonable under the circumstances but you'll never know how much more you'd get if you did clean the chain!

mkviken

think this has gone of topic a little


i clean and lube my chain after every ride (60-100miles) so my bike is extremely well maintained


the issue im asking about is should i keep my 600 mile old cassette on my new wheels as these will be used mostly or with the chain being so new anyway should i just go ahead and fit the new one to the new wheels.


fitting a new chain makes sense but is this not overkill?

rolf_f

mkviken wrote:

the issue im asking about is should i keep my 600 mile old cassette on my new wheels as these will be used mostly or with the chain being so new anyway should i just go ahead and fit the new one to the new wheels.

600 miles is hardly used so don't worry about it either way. I sometimes use a low gear cassette for really tough routes and that has a much lower mileage on it than the cassettes I use more frequently - it doesn't cause a problem.

Personally, I would use the two cassettes to try to equalise their mileage as much as possible but I wouldn't lose much sleep over it either way....

Grill

You'll be fine. I've done 750 hard miles on my Foil in the last 20 days lubing once and the chain is still perfect (used chain checker). I'd say you don't need to start checking until at least 1000 miles and even then unless you race all the time it will last you at least 3x longer.

mkviken

I got my wheels today and had the old cassette fitted to the new wheels

I'm going to get a cheap 10 speed for the old wheels for bad weather

Here's the beast now

badly_dubbed

Rolf F wrote:

badly_dubbed wrote:

Did 10k on my winter bike running bog standard shimano 2300, cleaned 10 times if your lucky!

Never had a problem with it

How many cogs in the cassette? If it's 8 speed, they last much longer anyway. 10k seems fairly reasonable under the circumstances but you'll never know how much more you'd get if you did clean the chain!

Yup true, and spot on 8spd it is (2010 allez)