Changing Chains ?

[J4CKO]

My poor bike is taking a battering due to the salty horrible roads, treated it to a good clean and noticed via my chain tool that the chain is stretched, was ok last time about two months ago but suddenly it seems to have gone from being ok to knackered, the bike is running fine
so the question is should I just live with it now and replace the lot when it starts misbehaving or put an new one on now ?

Will it just make things worse now its stretched putting a new one on ?

Any tips ?

 

[HaloJ]

Depends how stretched it is. I normally replace mine at .75 if it's over that then it could start knackering the cassette. If it's already well past that and the cassette has been chewed a new chain will then get chewed by the cassette. Could you hold off replacing until the more clement weather arrives?

Abs

 

[J4CKO]

Depends how stretched it is. I normally replace mine at .75 if it's over that then it could start knackering the cassette. If it's already well past that and the cassette has been chewed a new chain will then get chewed by the cassette. Could you hold off replacing until the more clement weather arrives?

Abs

Cheers, that is part of my thinking, get it through the crap weather then do the lot, does seem mad to put all new stuff on only to get it showered in crap. the 1mm side of the chain tool fitted easily so guess its bollocksed the cassette, was wondering whether the big chain ring needs replacing as well as its pretty much always on there, like 99 percent of the time.

 

[mcshroom]

I'd be surprised if the chainring has gone, they usually last a lot longer than cassettes and chains.

If the chainring is wearing then the the teeth will look like shark fins with that sort of swept back shape

 

[Theseus]

What do the teeth look like? Are they nice and symetrical or are they starting to look a bit like shark fins or have dents on one side?

ETA: like wot he said

 

[J4CKO]

Will take a look tonight, potentially it is quite an expensive job !

 

[Davidc]

Take a look at the cassette teeth, and if you have one compare old with new.

If the chain's well past it, or been worn out for several hundred miles replace chain and cassette before the chainrings get damaged (see posts above).

If you use an 8 speed rear then it's worth sticking a £10 to £15 chain on - provided the cassette and chainring are OK (if not the chain will jump when you push hard on the pedals).

If the cassette, chainring and chain have all worn together you'll usually get another 1000 miles from them if you leave evrything as it is, but at the end of that you'll need to change the lot together. There could also be problems with the chain snapping although it's not happened to me on the few occasions I've run transmissions into the ground.

 

[J4CKO]

What milage have you got out of a chain out of interest ?

 

[Davidc]

To a measured rather than completely knackered end the best I can remember was just over 6000 miles, but that was on a 10 speed Peugeot bike with one of the rather heavier chains than most of us use now.

The Shimano and SRAM 8 speed ones I now use seem to sometimes do 3500 and 5000 respectively but sometimes as little as 1500. I have no real idea why they vary as they all get treated the same, with the same maintenance and use. The tourer is the bike that goes through them faster, possibly because I go up hills more.

Cassettes seem to last about 3 chains, chainrings are a bit less predictable and as yet I haven't replaced any on my present bikes.