Dirty chain Part2

[VinSumRox]

Hi All,
I hope you are well.
Isn't a better option to have a spare chain then just rotate them every couple of months?
Remove the dirty one, submerge it in white spirit and install the spare chain (that was cleaned last time)?
This way the bicycle maintenance window is pretty short.

Are there any counter arguments for a chain replacement more than every 1000miles (hybrid road bike).
From what I see the chain requires a deep clean at least like 4 times a year.
I mean there are people who do it every single time but this takes time.
My objective is to reduce the time spent on this task and I would prefer the chemical to do its job rather than me scrubbing it every so often but I still see that bloody dirt so I scrub it even more what turns into a compulsive activity, I clean every single link then after like 30 minutes of concentration I become the chain.

Let me know your opinion.

I am very well, I haven't become the chain, thanks.

Every few rides scrape black dirt off the chain , then run it through a rag to clean it. Then lube it.
I also use a blunt blade to scrape the black gunge off the jockey wheels , cassette rings and front chainrings. Only takes a few minutes.
Check the chain wear with a chain tool every few months and replace before its 75% worn.
Usually a chain lasts 3 to 5000 km and cassette and chainrings seem to last for a very long time.

 

[tyred]

What is this chain maintenance?

 

[All uphill]

It's a quick wipe and lubricate for my bikes. I've settled on 9 speed drive trains so replacement parts are cheap . That way I'm not putting loads of white spirit, detergents and paraffin into the environment.

 

[ColinJ]

Check the chain wear with a chain tool every few months and replace before its 75% worn.

That would be one VERY worn chain!!

Ok, 0.75%... I change chains then because my chain checker only shows 0.75% and 1.0% wear. That seems daft to me - 0.5% and 0.75% would be a lot more useful. I would change my chains when about halfway between the two.

I will have to measure a chain to find out exactly when it is at 0.60-0.65% wear and see what that looks like on my chain checker. (I guess it would be about halfway along the curved prong that gets pushed into the chain.)

 

[Dogtrousers]

That would be one VERY worn chain!!

Ok, 0.75%... I change chains then because my chain checker only shows 0.75% and 1.0% wear. That seems daft to me - 0.5% and 0.75% would be a lot more useful. I would change my chains when about halfway between the two.

I will have to measure a chain to find out exactly when it is at 0.60-0.65% wear and see what that looks like on my chain checker. (I guess it would be about halfway along the curved prong that gets pushed into the chain.)

There's a chain-wear-checking special interest group within the overall chain obsessives umbrella. Turn left just past the door marked "waxers" and continue past the filthy door marked "chainsaw-oil-fetishists" and you'll find them at the end of the corridor. It's a bit rowdy. There's a schism between steel-rule purists and chain-checker modernists.

 

[VinSumRox]

That would be one VERY worn chain!!

Ok, 0.75%... I change chains then because my chain checker only shows 0.75% and 1.0% wear. That seems daft to me - 0.5% and 0.75% would be a lot more useful. I would change my chains when about halfway between the two.

I will have to measure a chain to find out exactly when it is at 0.60-0.65% wear and see what that looks like on my chain checker. (I guess it would be about halfway along the curved prong that gets pushed into the chain.)

I meant over 0.75% worn.....

 

[MontyVeda]

There are people who enjoy obsessing about chains, and put loads of time into chain care regimes, chain rotation, keeping detailed records and so on. This all takes time.

There are people who clean the chain when it gets dirty - which takes less time.

There are people who do nothing, or next to nothing, and this takes next to no time. At least, until the chain and chainrings wear out and it all goes to hell, whereupon some time is needed.

It seems like the OP really wants to be in the first group, and wants to obsess about chain-care, but doesn't want to put in the hard yards of obsessively cleaning/rotating/doing weird chain-care things. Sorry, but if you want to join the chain-obsessives club you've got to make sacrifices.

I'm in the next to nothing group. Chain started slipping a couple of weeks ago after approximately 7 years of no maintenance. New chain, new cassette and new middle ring on my triple. I'll have another look at it the next time it starts slipping