Changing cassette

[Monsieur Remings]

Following on from a post a few weeks ago, am wondering whether, say, 500 miles on one chain/cassette combination is likely to cause problems with the same CHAIN if I swap rear wheels, which has a brand new cassette, thus far, unused.

What do you all reckon?

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

No. [but please note what it says under my avatar]

 

[MossCommuter]

IME, best to get a new chain, keep the old chain with the old cassette so that you can pass them on, or reuse them together.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Thanks people, for someone who has no real issue with changing cassettes or chains I seem to have gotten myself into a fret about this. Didn't bother today in the end changing either but probably might end up buying a separate chain now.

However, having nothing but respect for a great many postings by the Whiskered one, it might not be necessary either. What makes me er on the side of caution is the distances I'm doing at the moment, round the block there's room for trial and error if that makes sense.

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

Very flattered Monsieur but, oh the responsibility!

I interpreted your original post as "will the old chain damage the new cassette", to which my answer is no.

My reasoning being that your chain, at 500 miles, isn't anywhere near worn enough to damage a cassette or chainrings. You can expect at least another 500 miles from it.

However, that's not to say it isn't desirable or more convenient to have one chain per wheel. You don't say why you've swapped wheels or if/how often you will be swapping back and forth.

It obviously won't cause any harm to have a second chain and, as all chains have to be replaced eventually, it's not as if you are buying something you won't get full use of; so if it puts your mind at rest get another chain, but you don't need to.

 

[Noodley]

err, 500 miles on a chain is "nothing"...

 

[Hawk]

err, 500 miles on a chain is "nothing"...

It depends on riding style, weather etc. The stock KMC chain on my TriCross was about 1-1.5% extended after 1500 miles (my bad for not checking soon enough, now replacing an expensive cassette/middle chainring combo). This would be because I rode aggressively, with lots of luggage and often in the rain and on canal towpaths etc.

A chain wear tool is less than £10 and regular checks will mean you wont have to ask people on the internet to guess whether you need a new chain :-)

 

[Noodley]

It depends on riding style, weather etc...

It also depends on whether you read and believe bullshit. I have ridden the same chain and cassette, and changed chains and not cassette, and vice versa, for many 1000s of miles...don't believe the crap you read!

And I have ridden most kinds of road/track "styles"...it makes bugger all difference unless you are a pro rider, and even then I doubt it matters, apart from psychologically.

 

[Hawk]

I agree there is an element of pure marketing hype over lots of chain "upgrades" but it's also undoubtable that what your chain is made of will affect how long it lasts.

My point was that some cyclists might have a chain last them thousands of miles, as yours does, whereas mine lasted me only a few hundred miles (admittedly mostly due to what I now understand to be bad maintenance). So instead of the OP ruining a shiny new cassette with a stretched chain (because another cyclist has said his chain lasts him much longer, therefore he 'should've been ok'), I suggested that he could buy a chain wear tool to answer his question in his own case definitively :-)

Actually Sheldon Brown has a method for determining chain wear that involves only a steel rule so no need to even buy one of those

 

[Manonabike]

It also depends on whether you read and believe bullshit. I have ridden the same chain and cassette, and changed chains and not cassette, and vice versa, for many 1000s of miles...don't believe the crap you read!

And I have ridden most kinds of road/track "styles"...it makes bugger all difference unless you are a pro rider, and even then I doubt it matters, apart from psychologically.

Strong words!!!!! but in my experience a worn out chain will for sure damage a cassette ( not all of it but the sprockets one uses the most)

Riding style, terrain and weight in my experience make a chain last a lot less. I have knackered SRAM and KCM chains in about 800 miles - I can only think that I was too heavy ( over 17 stones) the terrain was sandy too. I maintained the chain really well considering that I cleaned it every week but sand is a real killer. The cassette was knackered too, unusable with a new chain. This thing happened three times so I bought myself a chain wear measuring tool as the ruler technique needs better eyesight than mine