Chain and Cassette Wear Question
nickel
Posts: 476
Hello,
I'm currently in the process of dealing with what I suspect is a faulty chain I bought from an online retailer. Upon fitting the chain it snapped within a few days, upon repairing the chain the links started to come apart from the pin on a number of links, causing the chain to (badly) mis-shift.
Having emailed the retailer they said that the problem may be due to poor fitting or excessive wear upon the cassette. I've fitted plenty of chains over the years with no problem so really can't see how I could have caused it myself. They also informed me that my casette having done 2500 miles since new was a 'massive amount' for one cassette and this was likely the cause of the problem.
Im sorry but this seems like absolute BS to me. In the past from new I'd use a chain and cassette for around 2500 miles, change the chain, get about 2000 miles out of the next chain and then change the chain once more for about 1500-2000 miles before the replacing both the chain and cassette.
The chain and cassette are on my summer best bike which has only been used in good conditions and has been regularly cleaned and maintained, so I simply cannot see how 2500 miles of use can be a 'massive amout of wear ue for one cassette'. Hell, if that were true some of my clubmates would be buying 4 cassettes a year!
I'm currently in the process of dealing with what I suspect is a faulty chain I bought from an online retailer. Upon fitting the chain it snapped within a few days, upon repairing the chain the links started to come apart from the pin on a number of links, causing the chain to (badly) mis-shift.
Having emailed the retailer they said that the problem may be due to poor fitting or excessive wear upon the cassette. I've fitted plenty of chains over the years with no problem so really can't see how I could have caused it myself. They also informed me that my casette having done 2500 miles since new was a 'massive amount' for one cassette and this was likely the cause of the problem.
Im sorry but this seems like absolute BS to me. In the past from new I'd use a chain and cassette for around 2500 miles, change the chain, get about 2000 miles out of the next chain and then change the chain once more for about 1500-2000 miles before the replacing both the chain and cassette.
The chain and cassette are on my summer best bike which has only been used in good conditions and has been regularly cleaned and maintained, so I simply cannot see how 2500 miles of use can be a 'massive amout of wear ue for one cassette'. Hell, if that were true some of my clubmates would be buying 4 cassettes a year!
0
Comments
-
They're talking BS. I got around 9000 miles out of my last cassette with steady replacement & rotation of chains every 1500 miles or so, and the Ultegra Di2 g/s with cassette that replaced it has covered about 6000 miles on 3 chains and still works like a dream. 2500 is barely run in.0
-
I thought conventional practice was to change the chain and cassette at the same time because they wear together in a unique way, and so if you replace one of the elements with a brand new part there is going to be a mismatch.
Having said that I just got ~5500 miles out of a tiagra chain & cassette.. although I'd could have probably done with changing them after 4000 miles.. but still in the grand scheme of things 2500 miles doesn't seem like that much?0 -
@ CiB yep that's what I thought!
@ALIHISGREAT, I generally go by the sheldon brown method of measuring the chain with a 12" ruler and replacing the chain before it gets past 1/16" worth of stretch. This generally insures quite a few chains worth of use to one casette0 -
I've stopped using one bike shop as every time I took the bike in, no matter what the problem, the first thing they checked was the chain and if that was worn they would tell me I had to have a new cassette or they couldn't sort the problem out. Generally the chain was 'just' worn but they never even looked at the cassette - I could have fitted a new one the previous day and they wouldn't have known. I've found modern chains do wear out ridiculously quickly and I'm lucky to get more than 1500 miles out of one which I put down partly to the chain now being thinner combined with me being heavier but the suggestion that I should replace a cassette after that distance without even looking at whether it was worn has driven me elsewhere. Providing the chain is replaced quickly once it has worn the cassette should last for several chains.0
-
+ 5. I'm still on the original 105 cassette after 5000 miles and 4 chains. And that's on a triple which can involve more cross-chaining. Ridden year round in all weathers too.
Care to name the retailer and the chain?0 -
My cassette had to be changed when chain snapped at 2500. It skipped really badly with new chain. (No chain rotation though)0
-
keef66 wrote:+ 5. I'm still on the original 105 cassette after 5000 miles and 4 chains. And that's on a triple which can involve more cross-chaining. Ridden year round in all weathers too.
Care to name the retailer and the chain?
The chain is a KMC X10-93, I really like KMC chains and have never had a problem with them before, its fitted to a 105 cassette and ultegra chainset. I won't name the retailer for the time being, I didn't start this thread to name and shame more to just get some advice so will hold back naming them until I've finished dealing with their customer services, I've replied to their email stating how 2500 miles is not much wear for a cassette and we'll see what happens.0 -
Chains bed in anyway, with a few miles use. I put a new chain on the good bike and used the part worn chain from that on another build that put my old g/s to good use, so a part worn chain on a part worn cassette from different bikes. First few miles it jumped quite badly in the middle gears but was okay on the extremes, but stinginess has its benefits and a couple of hundred miles has pretty much resolved the jumping completely.0
-
The trouble was that the chain wasn't just skipping but that it snapped completely, I repaired it and just put it down to bad luck. A few days later on the club run I noticed the chain was skipping badly, upon getting home I found that on one of the links the outer plates were coming away from the pin; Im lucky it didn't snap again! So I took the link out, replaced with some of the leftover chain which I had from shortening it and within a few days it started happening again.0
-
Nickel wrote:The trouble was that the chain wasn't just skipping but that it snapped completely, I repaired it and just put it down to bad luck. A few days later on the club run I noticed the chain was skipping badly, upon getting home I found that on one of the links the outer plates were coming away from the pin; Im lucky it didn't snap again! So I took the link out, replaced with some of the leftover chain which I had from shortening it and within a few days it started happening again.
How are you joining the chain each time?0 -
Surely for the sake of a few £'s your better off cutting your loses and an getting a new chain ? rather than risk potential damage to the frame, as the broken chain wraps itself round your RD and into the stays?
If your next chain skips/mishifts then it ll be the cassette, 2.k miles would seem low, cassettes tend to wear commonly used 1 or 2 gears not all of them.
I prefer shimano chains - kmc seem to be noisy but thats just me.0 -
I tend to do chain and cassette together since there is normally a combo deal. The wear would be reasonable for an MTB but not a road bike. 4k would be minimum for me even riding all year round. On the MTBs I would expect 2k min. Have you checked the width against your old chain?0
