Third Chain In A Year

[Lovacott]

Every Saturday morning at about 6am, I give my commuter bike a bit of a once over and I pop a chain checker on the chain (where else? ).

My chain checker is a 0.75% & 1% device and this morning, 0.75% goes all the way in while the 1% barely even starts going in.

Last week, the 0.75% only went in a smidgen. I've done 76 miles since then.

I've got two spare new chains so I'll pop on a replacement in an hour or so once the dragon has awoken and I'm allowed to make noise.

Last year when I needed to do my first chain change, I bought two online and waited five weeks for them to arrive. Meanwhile, I carried on with the commuting and destroyed my freewheel and crankset in the process. I replaced the entire drivetrain in June last year.

I bought the 2nd spare chain on 14th December which is the day I fitted the current chain plus another new crankset and freewheel. I've done 1350 miles since then. I've cleaned the drivetrain at least once a week and applied chain lube two or three times per week.

I don't mind swapping out a chain. It takes less than ten minutes (now that I have the proper tools and know what I am doing).

I have a couple of questions.

1. Is 1350 winter miles on country roads the natural life expectancy of a KMC Z7 chain?

2. Where can I buy a 0.5% to 0.75% chain checker?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Seems very short lived, I get between 2 and 3000 miles to a chain, What are the local conditions like?

 

[tyred]

I think the general consensus is that it's more accurate to measure a chain with a 12" steel ruler than most chain measuring tools.

 

[Big John]

If you use your chain checker every week I bet it's your chain checker that's worn and not your chain 😂

Seriously I'd double check by measuring the chain. I've got a checker but before swapping chains I measure it to be sure. Even then I've been known to wait for chain skip before changing it 🤫

 

[Blue Hills]

How many speeds is this commuter bike?

 

[Blue Hills]

If you use your chain checker every week I bet it's your chain checker that's worn and not your chain 😂

Seriously I'd double check by measuring the chain. I've got a checker but before swapping chains I measure it to be sure. Even then I've been known to wait for chain skip before changing it 🤫

can you outline your measuring system? Or provide a link to a good system?
I use a couple of chain checkers (a Park 0.75/1 and a KMC 0.8) but am aware that many question their accuracy.

 

[Lovacott]

Seems very short lived, I get between 2 and 3000 miles to a chain, What are the local conditions like?

I'm on hilly Devon country lanes. A couple of sections are used as cattle runs between the milking parlour and grazing so the bike gets very muddy.

When I did my first chain swap, it was after a week or so of chain slip.

Because the freewheel and front rings were worn, fitting a new chain didn't make any difference so I replaced the crankset and freewheel as well.

I bought the chain checker so that I can maybe avoid the drivetrain wear you get when a chain gets more than 0.75% elongated.

I really don't mind spending a tenner every three months on fitting a new chain.

I just wondered if it were anyway "normal"?

 

[Lovacott]

I think the general consensus is that it's more accurate to measure a chain with a 12" steel ruler than most chain measuring tools.

I'm happy with mine.

It doesn't go in at all on a new chain and it goes in all of the way on a worn chain.

I tells me something which I couldn't possibly see with the naked eye (that my chain is slightly elongated).

 

[Blue Hills]

Why did you replace the entire crankset?
Didn't it have replaceable rings?
(apologies if we've been here before - something rings a bell).

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Why did you replace the entire crankset?
Didn't it have replaceable rings?
(apologies if we've been here before - something rings a bell).

I was wondering that.

I'm on hilly Devon country lanes. A couple of sections are used as cattle runs between the milking parlour and grazing so the bike gets very muddy.

When I did my first chain swap, it was after a week or so of chain slip.

Because the freewheel and front rings were worn, fitting a new chain didn't make any difference so I replaced the crankset and freewheel as well.

I bought the chain checker so that I can maybe avoid the drivetrain wear you get when a chain gets more than 0.75% elongated.

I really don't mind spending a tenner every three months on fitting a new chain.

I just wondered if it were anyway "normal"?

I was wondering if the soil in you're area was sandy, gritty or otherwise abrasive and increasing the wear level.

 

[Lovacott]

can you outline your measuring system? Or provide a link to a good system?
I use a couple of chain checkers (a Park 0.75/1 and a KMC 0.8) but am aware that many question their accuracy.

I work on the basis that mine won't go in even a micron with a new chain but it will go in a bit further as the chain wears.

Once it's all the way in, I do an £8.99 ten minute chain swap.

I took this ten minutes ago.

 

[Moodyman]

Hilly area, winter salt and grime. Yep, 1350 sounds about right. I typically get 1500-1900 miles on a derailleur bike commuting in Yorkshire.

12" ruler is a good alternative for measuring chain.

 

[Blue Hills]

How many speeds @Lovacott ?

 

[Lovacott]

Why did you replace the entire crankset?
Didn't it have replaceable rings?
(apologies if we've been here before - something rings a bell).

It's a SHIMANO Fc-ty501square taper triple which costs the same a three pints of beer.

 

[Lovacott]

How many speeds @Lovacott ?

21 (3 x 7).

I do a lot of changes and over the last six months, I've got very good at being in the right ratio at the right time whilst avoiding the combinations which would increase wear (big to big, small to small).

Prior to that, I was a bit of a numpty.