New chain and cassette

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HaloJ

Rabid cycle nut
Location
Watford
I've loaned my 2009 Claud Butler Explorer 200 to a work collegue so that she can cycle to work. She took it into Evans on my request to get it checked over as a just in case.

I did about 1600 miles on it though autumn, winter and spring. Whilst I wasn't fastidious about cleaning I did try and maintain the chain and cassette.

Today I was told that it needed a new chain and rear cassette. Could this really be the case? The gentleman in the shop stuck a chain guide of some form into the chain and showed that it could pass through another loop but that it wouldn't on "new bike next to it".

So two questions

Did the tool show that the chain did indeed need replacing?

Should you always change the cassette at the same time as changing the chain?

Thanks

Abs
 

ChrisKH

Guru
Location
Essex
Buy yourself a Park chain tool* and teach yourself to check chain wear. It's very simple once you know how and the tool is relatively cheap.

I'm not convinced a cassette needs replacing every time (you read about people on here having a different chain for this, that and the other and cassettes being swapped all over the place........) unless the chain has been allowed to wear excessively. But no doubt someone will come along and slap me down.

* CC-3 chain wear indicator. A chain tool is for removing and putting chains back on and is not the same. They're useful too
 
OP
OP
HaloJ

HaloJ

Rabid cycle nut
Location
Watford
Thanks Chris! That is indeed the dooberry he used. I wonder if he showed us the 1% or .75 side?

If it was the .75 side then I'll happily just change the chain. 1% though and maybe I should (for peace of mind) change the cassette as well.
 

ChrisKH

Guru
Location
Essex
I think the general rule of thumb is if it gets to 0.75 that a change of chain is necessary in due course. 1% definitely change and as you say it wouldn't hurt to change the cassette.
 
OP
OP
HaloJ

HaloJ

Rabid cycle nut
Location
Watford
Time to take my cycle maintenence to the next level then. :whistle:

To order on Friday (pay day, yay!)
1 x chain tool
1 x chain wear indicator
1 x chain whip combined pedal wrench

One final and potentially really dumb question: If a wear indicator is a precision cut piece of metal that suggests that all chain links are the same size?
 
One LBS mechanic told me, once, quiet and confidential-like, that in his experience he'd seen derailleur chains needing replacing at anything between 300 miles and 10,000 miles (or more). It all depends on how well they're looked after. So 1600 miles is so-so but not ideal. (*sorry*).

I suppose if someone really is going to replace their chain after 300, it's hardly worth oiling the thing, ever. Just use the oil that came on the chain when it was bought, until it dries off :whistle::rolleyes:.
 
HaloJ said:
Time to take my cycle maintenence to the next level then. :whistle:

To order on Friday (pay day, yay!)
1 x chain tool
1 x chain wear indicator
1 x chain whip combined pedal wrench

One final and potentially really dumb question: If a wear indicator is a precision cut piece of metal that suggests that all chain links are the same size?
As far as length is concerned, yes (otherwise you'd never be able to marry up chains, cassettes and chainsets!) Of course the width of chain links varies a lot according to the type of gearing you use.

A chain whip is useful, but I manage without (in fact I also don't have a chain wear tool). I just use a length of old chain clamped between the jaws of a mole wrench (but each to their own I suppose). And to determine the wear I just hang up the old chain alongside a brand-new one with the same number of links. About half-a-link's worth of stretch over the entire length, is just about OK, not more.
 

Moodyman

Legendary Member
I personally find Sheldon's ruler method the easiest way to check for chain & ultimately, cassette wear. Everyone has a ruler in the house, and if you don't they're only about 50p. A ruler serves other purposes too.
 

Happiness Stan

Well-Known Member
If the chain is worn to .75 you can get away with just the chain, if it is worn beyond 1.0 you should really change both chain and cassette.
 

kyuss

Veteran
Location
Edinburgh
Moodyman said:
I personally find Sheldon's ruler method the easiest way to check for chain & ultimately, cassette wear. Everyone has a ruler in the house, and if you don't they're only about 50p. A ruler serves other purposes too.

+1. It's not difficult to use a ruler to measure your chain. £3-£4 will get you a decent, acurate steel rule if you don't already have one. Add what you save to your budget and get a quality chain.

You may feel free to ignore me, I am Scottish and therefore tight, but a chain wear indicator is one of those tools that is easy to live without.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
I've got the chain wear checker .. and found it much easier to use than a ruler making sure it was all lined up. End result is that I'm more likely to check it - so it was worth the few pounds to me.

I think I'm on my second chain on my bike but it could be the third - gets confusing with more than one bike. At what point do I decide to change the cassette? Its currently done about 5,500 miles.
 

RecordAceFromNew

Swinging Member
Location
West London
You can see the wear on ALL* the teeth of a worn sprocket are no longer symmetric (because the chain pulls only on one side of each tooth). The Chain and Sprocket Wear section here shows how to spot a worn sprocket.

* Some sprockets are designed with SOME teeth to be non-symmetric when new (to aid shifting).
 

adscrim

Veteran
Location
Perth
summerdays said:
End result is that I'm more likely to check it - so it was worth the few pounds to me.

+1 on this. My chain checker sit on top of my tool box. Every time I'm lubing the chain or wiping off dust I drop the chain tool in at the same time. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't check as regularly if it wasn't a 2 sec process.
 

youngoldbloke

The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
adscrim said:
+1 on this. My chain checker sit on top of my tool box. Every time I'm lubing the chain or wiping off dust I drop the chain tool in at the same time. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't check as regularly if it wasn't a 2 sec process.

Totally agree!
 
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