Rear sprocket: when to change?

[Christopher]

hi all
When do you lot change the rear cog on your ss/fixed-wheel? I have been doing it when the teeth start looking like an inverted 'T' i.e. the sides of the teeth are getting parallel. Not had any problems doing that, can't hear any rattling or chainslap back there but I was wondering how far people let the teeth go before changing? A broken tooth would probably cause a nasty crash...

 

[mickle]

You should never need to replace a fixed sprocket if you replace your chain often enough. Like never. But if you have wrecked your sprocket by leaving a chain (or chains) on too long after they should have been replaced, there's a high certainty that the knacky old sprocket will soon muller any new chain with which it comes into contact. If/when you replace a sprocket it's best to slap a fresh chain on it.

 

[fossyant]

New chain and sprocket once a year. 4000 or more miles

 

[Pennine-Paul]

Never had to replace a sprocket ever

I'd be hard pressed to see any wear

 

[Deleted member 1258]

New chain and sprocket once a year. 4000 or more miles

Like you I change chain and sprocket once a year, plus I change the chairing every two years, I'm covering between three thousand and three thousand five hundred miles a year.

 

[SS Retro]

Chain once a year, free wheel when it breaks using a sturmy archer one still going strong with 2500+ miles on it.
On my fixie I haven't changed any drive train bits.
To be honest when you look at the track and bmx chains used on ss/fixed there so robust even a chain a year is overkill for me.
The kmc on my road bike looks like tinfoil compeared to the kmc's on my SS and fixie.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Chain once a year, free wheel when it breaks using a sturmy archer one still going strong with 2500+ miles on it.
On my fixie I haven't changed any drive train bits.
To be honest when you look at the track and bmx chains used on ss/fixed there so robust even a chain a year is overkill, the kmc on my road bike looks like tinfoil compeared to the kmc's on my SS and fixie.

I usually find that the transmission tends to get noisy if I don't change it, and many years ago I had a very worn 1/8 chain break on me, fortunately under load at low speed.

 

[rb58]

I just changed the chain on my Pinarello. This might odd, but I could 'feel' the stretch through my feet when riding slowly. It just wasn't as smooth as should be. So I measured it and sure enough it had just reached the 1.0 mark on my Chain tool. Sprocket looks like new though.

 

[Old Plodder]

Change your chain when it has stretched 1/8" more than 12" over chain link pins.