Chain Wear / Cassette Wear - Miles on the clock query

[dhd.evans]

I've brought the summer bike out of storage after my off in October. Cleaned it down and started to look at stripping components for replacement where necessary.

I didn't clean the bike before it went into storage which has result in a thick, viscous layer of gunk and grime caked on the chain, cassette and chain-rings. The chain rings are nearly new so i'm going to give them a good old soak in white spirit, scrub and lube them up for usage. i'm replacing my jockey wheels on the derailleur too so that's done.

My question is about the chain and cassette. They are absolutely caked in gunk and checking in on the miles they've both had i wonder if i should save my elbow-grease and just purchase new ones. Miles below:

Chain - ~995mi
Cassette - ~2051mi

For perspective i'm putting brand new wheels on my bike.

What would others do in this position of wear and tear? I'm going to be going a full season this year (intending on my first fondo mileage in early Feb).

Edit: Cassette and Chain are Shimano 105 11-speed.

 

[Milkfloat]

I would clean it all up and take a look. If the cassette is on its first chain I would not consider a change yet. For the chain itself, I would measure it to see how worn it is. If it is fine I would not replace either. If you are getting a new cassette with the new wheels, then I would certainly get a new chain as well.

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

That’s not a lot of miles on the cassette.

I have 105 cassettes with well in excess of 10,000 miles on them and they look to have many more miles remaining.

I do keep my drive trains clean and well lubed though - so that will make a difference.

As far as the chain is concerned - check it with a chain-wear gauge. They only cost a couple of quid.

Graham

 

[dhd.evans]

That’s not a lot of miles on the cassette. I have 105 cassettes with well in excess of 10,000 miles on them and they look to have many more miles remaining.

That's grand. I'll pop it off tonight and give it a soak and scrub with the chain-rings then. If it looks in bad nick then i'll replace them.

If the cassette is on its first chain I would not consider a change yet. For the chain itself, I would measure it to see how worn it is. If it is fine I would not replace either. If you are getting a new cassette with the new wheels, then I would certainly get a new chain as well.

Second chain on this cassette. The wheels are cassette-less but I'm of the mind (which most should be) if you replace one you have to do both or you get bad meshing.

 

[Racing roadkill]

That's grand. I'll pop it off tonight and give it a soak and scrub with the chain-rings then. If it looks in bad nick then i'll replace them.



Second chain on this cassette. The wheels are cassette-less but I'm of the mind (which most should be) if you replace one you have to do both or you get bad meshing.

You should Ideally replace the cassette and chain in unison, to prevent temporary chain slip issues ( until the new chain meshes with the old cassette) but it's not strictly necessary.

 

[Will Spin]

995 miles on the chain...that's less than 2 month's cycling! Clean it up, use it, check it for wear at around 2,500 miles.

 

[byegad]

It's impossible to give a reasonable estimate of transmission component life. So much depends on working conditions and care. I get 2000-3500 miles from a chain and 2-3 chains to a cassette. I keep them lubed but am not obsessively clean. Alloy chainrings last at least two cassettes, more usually three, and then the most used ring will need replacing, on one of my trikes that's the middle one, and on the other it's the big ring. This is because they are differently geared with one set up for silly gradients and the other for general use.
When I commuted I got through chains in 2000 miles maximum and needed to replace cassettes every other chain. The steel chainrings on that bike were still good after some 20,000miles.

 

[dhd.evans]

995 miles on the chain...that's less than 2 month's cycling! Clean it up, use it, check it for wear at around 2,500 miles.

I'll post a grime-laden photo of it later to see why i was thinking "Nah, sod that for a game of soldiers"!

 

[Ajax Bay]

the chain and cassette . . are absolutely caked in gunk and checking in on the miles they've both had i wonder if i should save my elbow-grease and just purchase new ones. Miles below:
Chain - ~995mi
Cassette - ~2051mi

Replace the chain but clean and continue using the cassette.
The first chain the OP had on that cassette did 1056 miles. The gunky one's done almost the same - so not worth the OP's effort cleaning it for one ride or so. Given that the OP changed their first (on this cassette) chain promptly, the cassette should still be happy in concert with a new chain: and then replace both in another 1000 miles. If the cassette/new chain combo skips, then the OP would need to change the cassette as well. But the effort of cleaning the cassette is worth the likely advantage of another 1000 miles off it, imo. A prudent rider might buy a new cassette at the same time as the chain so, if there is skip, no rides will be missed.

 

[si_c]

Unless the chain is worn, then I'd just clean them up. Lifespan will depend on too many factors to say whether they will need replacing. I just had to change a chain and cassette, both with just under 1000mi on them, but then they were used in horrendous winter conditions with wet, gritted roads. In summer I get significantly more.