Chain wear

padyjoe

I have my chain hanging outside, gave it a good clean. It's the KMC X9, came factory fitted, has done about 5500 kms now. I think I keep it well minded, oiled up and cleaned but had my measure tape out and it's telling me the 12 inch rather 1/16 inch more now (sorry I use metric maybe I'm wrong but 12" of chain easier to remember). Am I right better off getting a new chain soon? (Don't tell me I need a new bike! :-) I'm still happy with it!) Would be any recommendation which one to go with? I find KMC's missing link very handy. Thank you!

onthefringe

padyjoe wrote: »

I have my chain hanging outside, gave it a good clean. It's the KMC X9, came factory fitted, has done about 5500 kms now. I think I keep it well minded, oiled up and cleaned but had my measure tape out and it's telling me the 12 inch rather 1/16 inch more now (sorry I use metric maybe I'm wrong but 12" of chain easier to remember). Am I right better off getting a new chain soon? (Don't tell me I need a new bike! :-) I'm still happy with it!) Would be any recommendation which one to go with? I find KMC's missing link very handy. Thank you!

whilst it may look fine it could drop you on the side of the road or worse still over the handlebars climbing some day with that mileage on it!

a chain is cheap in the big scheme of things when you consider the work it does on your bike..
i change mine very frequently and it never fails to amaze me how much differnt ( better!) the bike feels afterwards

kmc are great chains..
followed closely by sram.
dislike shimano chains personally as the wear faster than the others

rtmie

Thanks OP for raising this, I had a similar question.
What is a reasonable time to replace chain?
My chain (5800 105) has about 3500km done -do I need to change it?
And should I go same again or is there a recommendation of a better chain at similar price?

Maidhci

rtmie wrote: »

Thanks OP for raising this, I had a similar question.
What is a reasonable time to replace chain?
My chain (5800 105) has about 3500km done -do I need to change it?
And should I go same again or is there a recommendation of a better chain at similar price?

A chain wear indicator tool is a handy piece of equipment, gives a very good indication of when to replace.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/x-tools-chain-wear-indicator/rp-prod10219

As far as I can ascertain, there are no hard and fast rules regarding kms. done, very much depends on care, maintenance, cleaning and lubing etc. etc.

Eamonnator

This is a very handy tool.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/cyclo-chain-wear-indicator/rp-prod42815

You'll always know, when your chain needs to be replaced.
There are other brands, which are cheaper and dearer and this one may be available, elsewhere at a cheaper price.

tomasrojo

padyjoe wrote: »

but had my measure tape out and it's telling me the 12 inch rather 1/16 inch more now (sorry I use metric maybe I'm wrong but 12" of chain easier to remember). Am I right better off getting a new chain soon?

As you've done, I always use the tape-measure method

Good rule of thumb here:
http://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html
If you measure 12 1/16 " it's time to change the chain. 12 1/8" means you probably have to change other parts of the drive train too.

I've never used any of the dedicated chain-measuring tools, because I've always found the tape measure works fine.


As said already, there is no reliable rule on when to change based on km travelled, as it depends on the weather, how much dirt is thrown up from the road into your chain, whether you have, say, a chain enclosure, whether the roads have been gritted, whether you clean and oil the chain often, etc.

(As for units, I hardly ever use Imperial because I find it cumbersome and don't actually understand anything but the basic units, but it's better to use it for chains, as they really are based on inches. There is no neat metric expression of chain length.)

padyjoe

Lads! I think this story has a sad ending. I fitted the new chain today (KMC X9.93) and it's slipping. I need a new cassette (silly me how could I forgot about the chain??) AFAIK my bike has the SRAM 9 speed. Is there any recommendation? No need for a fancy cassette rather a heavy duty one as at the moment I'm floating around 100 kgs so I can abuse my cogs and chain a lot. :-) Thanks!

(I wonder could I go back to the old chain until the new cassette arrives? I missed today's spin already but the weather forecast not giving good weather later this week.)

joxerjohn

Yes I would revert to your old chain while waiting for the new cassette to arrive.

Re Cassettes SRAM and Shimano are compatible for 9 speed.

In terms of replacing chains and cassettes. The general rule is often given as replace 4 chains for every one cassette. I have even read some where about someone who had four chains that they used to repeated change over every 1000 k or so the idea being to spread the wear and then to start the process again with new chains and cassette when all of the four chains had worn out. This approach is probably more applicable to higher mileage cyclists and regular commuters.

For the average leisure cyclist, if there is such a thing, the best way of knowing if the chain needs to be changed I think is definitely by using the chain wear gauge as previously mentioned, failing that it's probably a good idea to change the chain at least every year / season. Depending on the amount of Km's you do it might need to be more often.

I also agree Shimano chains seem to wear more quickly than other makes which makes its difficult to say exactly how often you should change the chain, the other issue to note is a dirty chain will wear more quickly than a regularly cleaned and maintained one.

jon1981

Mine is at the .75% mark using the park chain wear tool. Just ordered a KMC as the Shimano Ultegra wore after about 2500km on it, little disappointed it hit .75 already. i used the tool on a brand new bike and it didn't show any wear at all so confident the tool is fine. So interested to see how the KMC one lasts. Gave the cassette and chainrings a good scrub, they look good, not much wear on them.

I commute and do sportifs on the same bike so it gets varying amount of hammering and have been out in nearly everyone of the ****ty wet days we have had since March. I do degrease and lube the chain weekly , which makes me wonder if there is any point given it's at .75 at only 2500km!

onthefringe

jon1981 wrote: »

Mine is at the .75% mark using the park chain wear tool. Just ordered a KMC as the Shimano Ultegra wore after about 2500km on it, little disappointed it hit .75 already. i used the tool on a brand new bike and it didn't show any wear at all so confident the tool is fine. So interested to see how the KMC one lasts. Gave the cassette and chainrings a good scrub, they look good, not much wear on them.

I commute and do sportifs on the same bike so it gets varying amount of hammering and have been out in nearly everyone of the ****ty wet days we have had since March. I do degrease and lube the chain weekly , which makes me wonder if there is any point given it's at .75 at only 2500km!

That's shimano chains for ya - s****..
SRAM and kmc miles ahead

jon1981

I'll go mental if I end up needing a new block as well!!

padyjoe

Thank you! Went back to old chain, everything works. I have the same cassette ordered(Sram PG950), hope it gets here by Friday. My LBS didn't have any 9 speed one, I was looking for 11-32, I still need that size but I was told by the size of my legs I wouldn't need more than 11-23. :-)) Next time I try to not to forget about the chain!

Wishbone Ash

padyjoe wrote: »

..Next time I try to not to forget about the chain!

If you can afford it, try to have a new chain and cassette available in advance. Order now for your next change!

If your chain and cassette are heavily worn, you may also need a new chain ring. You''ll know if the new chain is slipping on it.

PS - I also use KMC chains on most of my bikes.

padyjoe

Now that's was the question I didn't dare to ask: chainring. But if you look at it that it has helped me to cover around 6k kms it's not a expensive. Ok, I'm paying for not paying attention. Hope it'll be ok with new chain and cassette!!