oops bad me!

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lee1980sim

Senior Member
Location
South Yorkshire
Just had the commuting bike in for service and rear wheel truing, mainly the truing as I don't have the know how to do that but a service by someone who knows what they're doing more than I do once a while doesn't hurt, anyway I'm naughty as I didn't check my chain wear and now the smallest cog on the rear is prematurely worn, his advice is to leave it be and when it's all knackered replace the lot seen as I've already passed the point of no return, any different opinions?
 

Turbo Rider

Just can't reMember
New cassette. Yes! Probably cheaper in the long run.
 

Hugh Manatee

Veteran
I am of the let everything wear out together and replace it all at the same time camp. It works for me. The old (very) XT stuff on my mountain bike lasted for ever. I never was one to push big gears and it was largely kept clean. The Chorus stuff on the road bike dates back to 1999 and still is going well.
 
Location
Loch side.
If it is only the smallest sprocket on the cassette that's worn, ask him to replace it with a used one from his bin. Most people don't wear those out because their terrain or muscle make-up don't allow it. Then fit a new chain and learn how to measure your chain so that this doesn't happen again.
 
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lee1980sim

lee1980sim

Senior Member
Location
South Yorkshire
If it is only the smallest sprocket on the cassette that's worn, ask him to replace it with a used one from his bin. Most people don't wear those out because their terrain or muscle make-up don't allow it. Then fit a new chain and learn how to measure your chain so that this doesn't happen again.

I shall ask him that when I go down to pick up the chain wear tool he suggested I buy
 
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lee1980sim

lee1980sim

Senior Member
Location
South Yorkshire
The smallest has worn most as that's the one I use most, how do you mean properly, I use what gear is comfortable for me at the time rarely going more than 3 sprockets up unless it's a long hill or an average hill but riding with my friend which means a slower than normal pace

Does it help make sense that the front is a triple? And there's 8 on the back the gears I use most are middle and largest at front and smallest to 3rd / 4th smallest at the back
 
Last edited:
Location
Loch side.
The smallest has worn most as that's the one I use most, how do you mean properly, I use what gear is comfortable for me and the time rarely going more than 3 sprockets up unless it's a long hill or an average hill but riding with my friend which means a slower than normal pace

Does it help make sense that the front is a triple? And there's 8 on the back the gears I use most are middle and largest at front and smallest to 3rd / 4th smallest at the back
It is rather unusual to find someone who wears out the smallest sprockets first. However, your description of that gear being the most comfortable for you suggests your have a different make-up of fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles in your glutes and quadriceps, than most of the population. You are quite lucky cycling-wise in that you wear out the sprockets that the rest of us never use and you can easily harvest throw-away sprockets and seldom buy an entire cassette.

Trained coaches and of course doctors, know about this and I'm sure there are others on here that can elaborate. I only came across it in my bicycle mechanic days when presented by bikes that skipped in the smallest sprocket. My most confusing case of this was a female customer and I stubbornly refused to accept the evidence and searched for the cause of the skating chain elsewhere. Eventually I asked her to come for a ride whilst I observed by riding alongside and I discovered that she easily pedals an 11 sprocket up a hill where I felt comfortable in a 28. That's when the penny dropped and I investigated the issue.
 
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lee1980sim

lee1980sim

Senior Member
Location
South Yorkshire
It is rather unusual to find someone who wears out the smallest sprockets first. However, your description of that gear being the most comfortable for you suggests your have a different make-up of fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles in your glutes and quadriceps, than most of the population. You are quite lucky cycling-wise in that you wear out the sprockets that the rest of us never use and you can easily harvest throw-away sprockets and seldom buy an entire cassette.

Trained coaches and of course doctors, know about this and I'm sure there are others on here that can elaborate. I only came across it in my bicycle mechanic days when presented by bikes that skipped in the smallest sprocket. My most confusing case of this was a female customer and I stubbornly refused to accept the evidence and searched for the cause of the skating chain elsewhere. Eventually I asked her to come for a ride whilst I observed by riding alongside and I discovered that she easily pedals an 11 sprocket up a hill where I felt comfortable in a 28. That's when the penny dropped and I investigated the issue.

I always knew I was different :o)
 

Custom24

Über Member
Location
Oxfordshire
I suspect that many people ride with too low a cadence, putting strain on a sprocket that's already "disadvantaged" by having fewer teeth. That's what I used to do, and this was made worse by the MTB I was riding having "low" gearing.

What I don't get is : if it's expected that a cyclist riding normally would wear out the middle sprockets first, how come most casettes only allow the few smallest sprockets to be replaced (the rest are a single unit), and it's only those sprockets that you can easily buy new separately?
 
Location
Loch side.
What I don't get is : if it's expected that a cyclist riding normally would wear out the middle sprockets first, how come most casettes only allow the few smallest sprockets to be replaced (the rest are a single unit), and it's only those sprockets that you can easily buy new separately?

As far as I know there is only brand which still sells individual sprockets. Miche, I think. Someone will help me out and confirm. None of the big brands sell individual sprockets and haven't done so since the early 1990s. In days gone by we could even reverse the sprockets and use up the other side. Now there's none of that anymore.
 

Custom24

Über Member
Location
Oxfordshire
As far as I know there is only brand which still sells individual sprockets. Miche, I think. Someone will help me out and confirm. None of the big brands sell individual sprockets and haven't done so since the early 1990s. In days gone by we could even reverse the sprockets and use up the other side. Now there's none of that anymore.
I bought an 11 tooth sprocket off eBay last year, it seems fine, haven't ridden it much though. So I thought they were fairly easily available, but you are right, they are not.
 
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