New Chain Slipping.

[David Shellman]

Hello, new member here.

I'm pretty experienced when it comes to repairs and maintenance but I'd like a second opinion. I've just replaced the chain on my Boardman MHT. Due to regular use - my bikes are my exercise machines and take some hammering - I'm quite meticulous when it comes to changing the chain and every six months is the norm.
I replaced the cassette less than a year ago and recently changed the chain as it was over 75% worn.
The new chain started slipping in the highest gear. Thinking I over-lubricated, I wiped the chain clean and took it for a short drive - still slipping. I then took a link out of the chain - still slipping.
I put the old chain back on the bike and up until now there is no slipping.
Should a new chain slip on a cassette which is barely year old?
I'm now looking at leaving the old chain on the bike and running both the chain and cassette into the ground until they both need changing. Any opinions?

 

[richardfm]

Sounds like the cassette is worn.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Should a new chain slip on a cassette which is barely year old?

Just depends on wear. Wouldn't surprise me.

Run into the ground is fine. But you are likely to total the chainrings too, which can be much more pricey than a cassette.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Sounds like the cassette is worn.

OP says they are experienced in this. Thus presumably tried a new cassette to eliminate that being the issue?

 

[Alex321]

Hello, new member here.

I'm pretty experienced when it comes to repairs and maintenance but I'd like a second opinion. I've just replaced the chain on my Boardman MHT. Due to regular use - my bikes are my exercise machines and take some hammering - I'm quite meticulous when it comes to changing the chain and every six months is the norm.
I replaced the cassette less than a year ago and recently changed the chain as it was over 75% worn.
The new chain started slipping in the highest gear. Thinking I over-lubricated, I wiped the chain clean and took it for a short drive - still slipping. I then took a link out of the chain - still slipping.
I put the old chain back on the bike and up until now there is no slipping.
Should a new chain slip on a cassette which is barely year old?
I'm now looking at leaving the old chain on the bike and running both the chain and cassette into the ground until they both need changing. Any opinions?

Age of the cassette in months is almost irrelevant, it is how many miles you have done on it that matters, and how many of those miles were with a fairly worn chain. Or were winter miles wit lots of grit and gunge.

If you leave it too long to change the chain, then the cassette is much more likely to also need changing. If it slips with a new chain, but not the old, then it definitely needs changing.

As others have said, if you carry on riding it with the worn chain, you will probably also knacker the large chainring, and possibly the small one as well (assuming a 2x setup).

 

[Ajax Bay]

Age of the cassette in months is almost irrelevant, it is how many miles you have done on it that matters, and how many of those miles were with a fairly worn chain. Or were winter miles wit lots of grit and gunge.
If you leave it too long to change the chain, then the cassette is much more likely to also need changing. If it slips with a new chain, but not the old, then it definitely needs changing.

This ^^.

I replaced the cassette less than a year ago and recently changed the chain as it was over 75% worn. I'm now looking at leaving the old chain on the bike and running both the chain and cassette into the ground until they both need changing.

Well done hanging on to the old chain!
Can do this but bear in mind the extended chain will wear your chain ring faster. New cassette is the best route. You cannot determine visually the sprockets' wear at this early stage.
The fact that the new chain was slipping only(?) on the smallest sprocket suggests that you are spending a disproportionate amount of time on it. Is your chain ring big enough? Consider more teeth when you replace that.
Presumably a 1x so the cassette will not be cheap.
https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Shimano-CS...ations=colour:Silver,option:11-46t&sku=772124
https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Boardman-MHT-8-6-Mountain-Bike-2026-Hardtail-MTB_281550.htm
"a wide 11-48T cassette and a 32T chainring"

 

[David Shellman]

Thanks everyone. I suspected it was a worn cassette but I did expect it to last a little longer than a year. I guess I needed another opinion or two. Thanks.

 

[richardfm]

OP says they are experienced in this. Thus presumably tried a new cassette to eliminate that being the issue?

Never presume, or assume, anything.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Hello, new member here.

I'm pretty experienced when it comes to repairs and maintenance but I'd like a second opinion. I've just replaced the chain on my Boardman MHT. Due to regular use - my bikes are my exercise machines and take some hammering - I'm quite meticulous when it comes to changing the chain and every six months is the norm.
I replaced the cassette less than a year ago and recently changed the chain as it was over 75% worn.
The new chain started slipping in the highest gear. Thinking I over-lubricated, I wiped the chain clean and took it for a short drive - still slipping. I then took a link out of the chain - still slipping.
I put the old chain back on the bike and up until now there is no slipping.
Should a new chain slip on a cassette which is barely year old?
I'm now looking at leaving the old chain on the bike and running both the chain and cassette into the ground until they both need changing. Any opinions?

Mechanical wear isn't measured in time. It is measured in units of distance. Distance between links, distance between sprocket teeth etc

A skipping chain doesn't lie. It tells you your cassette is worn. You better believe it.

 

[katiewlx]

OP says they are experienced in this. Thus presumably tried a new cassette to eliminate that being the issue?

but theres always some wear on the cassette with the old chain, and the more wear on the old chain, the greater the wear happens on the cassette, in addition to say this time of year I expect my chains/cassette to wear quicker just because keeping on top of all the muck they collect on the roads isnt that easy. So there is always wear on drive train components.

And even if its only a year old cassette Id expect a brand new chain to slip occasionally, maybe not in the highest gear unless thats the gear used the most, because youll have got a slightly imperfect cassette worn by the old chain, with a brand new chain and they arent quite in sync yet, and the tolerances can be surprisingly critical especially on the smallest cogs, after all theres very little difference visually across a 75% worn chain to 50% one and yet one we say is ready for the trash bin, the other is ok to carry on for a bit and yet thats a 25% difference.

generally I find when I replace my chains that Ill get a bit of slip under load in the most used gears on the cassette for about 2-3 weeks of riding, and then it settles down again and usually good for another year, as the chain has worn enough to be in sync to work without slipping.

if its constantly slipping, like it wont engage at all in the highest gear then theres something wrong with the setup and you might need to go back to basics and check the chain length is correct, check the individual sprockets of the cassette for wear, the front rings, the jockey wheels etc etc.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Hello, new member here.

I'm pretty experienced when it comes to repairs and maintenance but I'd like a second opinion. I've just replaced the chain on my Boardman MHT. Due to regular use - my bikes are my exercise machines and take some hammering - I'm quite meticulous when it comes to changing the chain and every six months is the norm.
I replaced the cassette less than a year ago and recently changed the chain as it was over 75% worn.
The new chain started slipping in the highest gear. Thinking I over-lubricated, I wiped the chain clean and took it for a short drive - still slipping. I then took a link out of the chain - still slipping.
I put the old chain back on the bike and up until now there is no slipping.
Should a new chain slip on a cassette which is barely year old?
I'm now looking at leaving the old chain on the bike and running both the chain and cassette into the ground until they both need changing. Any opinions?

Exercise machine bikes and e-bikes all suffer from the same problem. The rider barely changes gears and uses on gear predominantly. Thats the one that wears. Further, the smaller the sprocket, the quicker it wears because it has fewer teetch to share the load.

You've worn your smalles sprocket to beyond it's tolerance. If it is indeed the 11, there are plenty of free 11s available in skips and bins. Find an old cassette that was used on the road and take it's perfectly good 11 off and put it on your cassette (er even vice versa i.e just use the skip cassette because the 11 will work).

Finally, the 75% worn story is nonsense even though you've read it on reputable sources and bought a tool that was "calibraded" for that reading. Search this forum and find out how to measure your chain using a rulle or better still, a modified ParkTool spoke ruler.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

but theres always some wear on the cassette with the old chain, and the more wear on the old chain, the greater the wear happens on the cassette

Correct, which is why you don’t leave changing the chain too long. Typically I’ll get through at least 3 or 4 chains before cassette needs replacing. Leave it too late, and you can easily wear a cassette to the point it needs doing same time as one chain’s worth of use.

That being said, my point was that the OP said they were experienced with this kind of maintenance, and thus will have checked to rule out worn cassette cogs being the issue (before posting).

 

[Ajax Bay]

my point was

If only those who asserted they are "pretty experienced" realised just how experienced you have to be on the 'Ming scale of experience'.
Personally I regard it as a win when a new poster actually returns to read and ack the answers to their Q posed.

 

[wafter]

Exercise machine bikes and e-bikes all suffer from the same problem. The rider barely changes gears and uses on gear predominantly. Thats the one that wears. Further, the smaller the sprocket, the quicker it wears because it has fewer teetch to share the load.

You've worn your smalles sprocket to beyond it's tolerance. If it is indeed the 11, there are plenty of free 11s available in skips and bins. Find an old cassette that was used on the road and take it's perfectly good 11 off and put it on your cassette (er even vice versa i.e just use the skip cassette because the 11 will work).

Finally, the 75% worn story is nonsense even though you've read it on reputable sources and bought a tool that was "calibraded" for that reading. Search this forum and find out how to measure your chain using a rulle or better still, a modified ParkTool spoke ruler.

Shimano chain tool checks to 0.5% and does it properly by measuring increase in pitch / discounting roller wear

 

[silva]

Starting with all drivetrain parts new, all wear together.
Pitch of chain gets bigger, its rollers then wear teeth of sprockets shorter.
All engaging rollers touch teeth, distributing the force, they "help" eachother.
Now, in this situation, a new chain so back new, original pitch, just 1 roller will touch 1 tooth, since the other teeth lost material and thus have a clearance to 'their' roller.
The force is now concentrated on 1 tooth instead of distributed.
A roller that didn't skip with its share of the distributed force, will skip with the full force.