chain breakage and such like

tapscrew

So ive had a bike for 6 months and been through 2 chains, I rear cog groupset and 1 front cog groupset, all sram. 1st chain snapped on a ride, second one became worn, as did the cogs so needed replacing. How often do you guys have replace stuff like this. I use the bike almost every day but I wasn't expecting to replace parts that often, am I being unrealistic????

sungod

either you are riding thousands of km a month in awful conditions or something is seriously amiss

change chains before they wear enough to damage the cassette, a chain will last a few thousand km depending on conditions and maintenance

cassette 10,000-20,000 km, again depending on conditions/maintenance, chainrings should last longer

Mad_Malx

What order did you swap things? Running new components with worn out will wear down the new stuff faster.
Still sounds something is seriously out of kilter though - I've been riding the same chain & cassette on commuter since October in all weathers (with weekly wipedown and lube), about 2k miles, and chainset for a year and should be good for at least another 2.

BrandonA

I assume you are regularly cleaning thechainset and applying oiling to chain afterwards?

DiscoBoy

So which will it be guys:

1) he's doing a million miles a month
2) he isn't cleaning and/or lubricating his drivechain
3) he cross chains more often than not
4) his components didn't need replacing (possibly ripped off by a bike shop)
5) the bike lives outside in the rain

I'm going with 2) and 3) along with 4) for the chainring, at least.

Monty Dog

SRAM - uses a unique alloy with the properties of cheese but also expect the OP is a masher, cross-chaining and forced shifts

desweller

DiscoBoy wrote:

So which will it be guys:

1) he's doing a million miles a month
2) he isn't cleaning and/or lubricating his drivechain
3) he cross chains more often than not
4) his components didn't need replacing (possibly ripped off by a bike shop)
5) the bike lives outside in the rain

I'm going with 2) and 3) along with 4) for the chainring, at least.

You forgot 6) OP's not measuring chain correctly and 7) LBS selling the OP a bum steer

DiscoBoy

DesWeller wrote:

DiscoBoy wrote:

So which will it be guys:

1) he's doing a million miles a month
2) he isn't cleaning and/or lubricating his drivechain
3) he cross chains more often than not
4) his components didn't need replacing (possibly ripped off by a bike shop)
5) the bike lives outside in the rain

I'm going with 2) and 3) along with 4) for the chainring, at least.

You forgot 6) OP's not measuring chain correctly and 7) LBS selling the OP a bum steer

They're both covered by #4, no?

Initialised

DiscoBoy wrote:

DesWeller wrote:

DiscoBoy wrote:

So which will it be guys:

1) he's doing a million miles a month
2) he isn't cleaning and/or lubricating his drivechain
3) he cross chains more often than not
4) his components didn't need replacing (possibly ripped off by a bike shop)
5) the bike lives outside in the rain

I'm going with 2) and 3) along with 4) for the chainring, at least.

You forgot 6) OP's not measuring chain correctly and 7) LBS selling the OP a bum steer

They're both covered by #4, no?

Agreed.

We can rule out 5 on the basis that a mate of mine leaves his bike out in the rain and still gets 2000 miles per chain with a (patent pending) mix of Vaseline and GT85 as chain lube.

chris_bass

DiscoBoy wrote:

So which will it be guys:

1) he's doing a million miles a month
2) he isn't cleaning and/or lubricating his drivechain
3) he cross chains more often than not
4) his components didn't need replacing (possibly ripped off by a bike shop)
5) the bike lives outside in the rain

I'm going with 2) and 3) along with 4) for the chainring, at least.

Yep, they get my vote too, but I think 4 is the most crucial

mudsucker

Are you shifting under heavy load? Guaranteed to break chains like that.

wannabecyclist

I suffered from number 4 when I first got in to cycling. Although number 2 didn't help.

desweller

DiscoBoy wrote:

DesWeller wrote:

DiscoBoy wrote:

So which will it be guys:

1) he's doing a million miles a month
2) he isn't cleaning and/or lubricating his drivechain
3) he cross chains more often than not
4) his components didn't need replacing (possibly ripped off by a bike shop)
5) the bike lives outside in the rain

I'm going with 2) and 3) along with 4) for the chainring, at least.

You forgot 6) OP's not measuring chain correctly and 7) LBS selling the OP a bum steer

They're both covered by #4, no?

You're right. I am tired.

BrandonA

Maybe they are throwing down power levels that the likes of you and I can only dream of.

Seriously though, I assume the OP is using the correct gears. For example dropping to a smaller gear just prior to stopping and also climbing big hills - as opposed to grinding the gears in these scenarios.

chippyk

Seriously though, I assume the OP is using the correct gears. For example dropping to a smaller gear just prior to stopping and also climbing big hills - as opposed to grinding the gears in these scenarios.[/quote]


Smaller gears prior to stopping and climbing hills? WTF?

MountainMonster

ChippyK wrote:

Seriously though, I assume the OP is using the correct gears. For example dropping to a smaller gear just prior to stopping and also climbing big hills - as opposed to grinding the gears in these scenarios.

Smaller gears prior to stopping and climbing hills? WTF?[/quote]

He means drop it down to the gear you want to be in for the climb before the climb actually starts, rather than shifting on the climb while under load. It helps quite a bit with preventing things from breaking.

darkhairedlord

the only time i've broken a chain is on a sturmey archer three speed stuck in third with a rusty chain on a steep hill. Don't blame me for the maintenance, I found the bike in a ditch by the side of the road when I got a puncture in my old LT35.

jotko

I broke a chain yesterday, first time ever in 20 odd years of cycling. Chain slipped off the front whilst changing down from big ring to small and then somehow(?) got tangled/jammed fast in the jockey wheels, causing one of the links to bend through 45 degrees. It didn't snap but I couldn't ride it and had no chain tool on me so had to do the call of shame to the Mrs (I was 5 miles from home on a 50 mile ride so could have been worse). Need to have a look tonight but quite likely the derailluer is buggered, and maybe the hanger as well. Not sure what could have caused it, it doesn't really seem possible looking at the RD, but that's what happened. Chain and cassette were both changed 500 miles ago and whilst not meticulously maintained were certainly wiped down and lubed every week or so. Ho hum.

dennisn

Firstly, I would like to know by whom and how his chains are installed. i.e. Quik link or pins? Himself or by a shop? Who decided his chain was worn?

BrandonA

ChippyK wrote:

Seriously though, I assume the OP is using the correct gears. For example dropping to a smaller gear just prior to stopping and also climbing big hills - as opposed to grinding the gears in these scenarios.

Smaller gears prior to stopping and climbing hills? WTF?[/quote]

What do you mean WTF?

Surely you can understand that if you stop at traffic lights leaving your bikein a big/high gear (big at front cog and small at the rear) then it will take a far larger amount of force to start. This force will put more pressure on the chain than would be put on it if you were to pull away in a smaller gear (small cog at the front and big at rear).

Similarly when moving along any terrain you can output the same amount of power in a variety of gears and difference cadences. The higher the gear you select the lower the cadence and again the higher the force on the chain. This can mean very large amounts of force if you are going up a steep climb with a relatively low cadence and big/high gear selection.

rjkflyer

All blunderbuss guesswork (albethem all correct) until OP comes back and gives us some context...

DiscoBoy

RJKflyer wrote:

All blunderbuss guesswork (albethem all correct) until OP comes back and gives us some context...

Not looking likely

duckson

Snapped a KMC quick link yesterday, putting the power down sprinting.



Wet/winter bike hence the chain is a bit dirty but its only done 900 miles.

awavey

Ive had three chains break over the years, first was at least when the bike was less than a month old so LBS replaced it no problem though tbf the gearing hadnt been fettled right so it was always grinding through some of the higher gears, which I think contributed to it and then the 2nd one going then the 3rd was a bit odd as Id fixed the gears by then, and it wasnt under heavy load at the time, it just snapped clean in the middle of a link and Im now on my 5th as lack of winter maintenance had stuffed up no4 and it had stretched and no matter how much cleaning, lube, gt85 it wasnt getting any better and was just making it worse frankly.

its probably a chain every 12-18months at the moment. which yeah its all down to rubbish maintenance really on my part, theyd last longer if I actually took better care of them and cleaned the chainset more often . and I wouldnt be also having to look at replacing some of the other components as theyve taken a bit of a hammering as a result by now too.

patrickf

duckson wrote:

Snapped a KMC quick link yesterday, putting the power down sprinting.



Wet/winter bike hence the chain is a bit dirty but its only done 900 miles.

I managed this too on the commute home setting off at lights on a busy road. Luckily I had a chain tool (not needed once I looked at the chain) and a spare link. I was going again in a couple of minutes.

elbowloh

I mangled a chain last year (shimano ) when my hanger snapped, putting the derailleur into the wheel and twisting the chain. I bought a new chain at nearest bike shop so I could get home, they only had SRAM chains though. About a month later I took my bike to Sicily and that chain broke 3 times in 3 days (each time a different place in the chain). Must have been a duff chain I guess. Anyway as soon as I got home I bought a new Shimano chain and haven't had any problems since.

duckson

I take it you can fit a KMC quick link to a Shimano chain? Shimano chains don't come with a link to easily remove the chain!

drlodge

Yes, you need the Shimano version of the KMC quicklink not the Campagnolo version

keef66

duckson wrote:

I take it you can fit a KMC quick link to a Shimano chain? Shimano chains don't come with a link to easily remove the chain!

All my Shimano chains are joined using KMC Missing Links; just make sure you get the right ones.