[Question]How to improve longevity of rear cassette and chain?

Peck3277

Popped into the local bike shop yesterday for a quick look over the bike. I commute everyday on my bike so I was pretty sure I needed a new chain. Turns out I need a new chain and rear cassette.

It's not that expensive but is there any maintenance I should be doing on a regular basis that would increase the life span of chain/cassette? At the moment all I do is oil my chain once a week or so.

jon1981

Quick test

How often do you clean (wash, degrease and then re-oil) your chain? And how often do you visually check for wear on your chain? If you only oil the chain then this is part of the problem as you are not clearing away the grit and grime from the chain.

A ruler (or an 8euro chain wear tool) coupled with youtube will help you prevent the wear out of a cassette in the future.

Cee-Jay-Cee

How old is the bike? How far is your commute?

Peck3277

My commute is about 16-17km a day, 5 days a week. The bike is ~11 months old.

The most I do is usually once a week I take a rag to the chain and give it a quick dry off, re-oil the chain and wipe off the excess. I've never done any degreasing or anything like that.

With proper maintenance, how long should a chain/cassette last?

jon1981

Peck3277 wrote: »

My commute is about 16-17km a day, 5 days a week. The bike is ~11 months old.

The most I do is usually once a week I take a rag to the chain and give it a quick dry off, re-oil the chain and wipe off the excess. I've never done any degreasing or anything like that.

With proper maintenance, how long should a chain/cassette last?

Depends on the chain, but I tend to get about 3000 km out of mine before I replace. Though I replace the chain at the .75 stretch point which I measure using this http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/cyclo-chain-wear-indicator/rp-prod42815

once the chain goes to the 1.0 wear mark, typically the cassette needs replacing also. I'm on my 3rd chain, same cassette.

Jawgap

Peck3277 wrote: »

My commute is about 16-17km a day, 5 days a week. The bike is ~11 months old.

The most I do is usually once a week I take a rag to the chain and give it a quick dry off, re-oil the chain and wipe off the excess. I've never done any degreasing or anything like that.

With proper maintenance, how long should a chain/cassette last?

How often do you replace the chain?

I generally replace the chain on my 'commuter' about every 2,500km or so - or when the wear gets to 0.75%.

By that assessment, you should be into your second or third chain since you bought the bike.

cdaly_

Change your chain more frequently. If you do that you'll get around three chains to a single cassette. OTOH, bike shops will often want to change both because there's nothing worse than letting a customer out with a problem showing up after you've worked on their bike. In this case, a new chain will skip badly on a worn cassette.

Peck3277

I'd say realistically I've done about 3000km on the bike. The chain was fully worn out when the checked it with the tool.

So I guess the takeaway from this is, I should get a wear checking tool and check it once it wears out to .75 and also do a bit of degreasing on the chain every few weeks? A cassette should last me 2-3 chains then?

jon1981

Peck3277 wrote: »

A cassette should last me 2-3 chains then?

Or more. With regular degreasing/cleaning in our climate, it should. Mine has

stecleary

Peck3277 wrote: »

My commute is about 16-17km a day, 5 days a week. The bike is ~11 months old.

The most I do is usually once a week I take a rag to the chain and give it a quick dry off, re-oil the chain and wipe off the excess. I've never done any degreasing or anything like that.

With proper maintenance, how long should a chain/cassette last?

What on rag? Put washing up liquid on it to break down the old oil and dirt, wash the chain then let it dry, and apply oil.
Nearly a year with minimal cleaning is pretty good

07Lapierre

Jawgap wrote: »

How often do you replace the chain?

I generally replace the chain on my 'commuter' about every 2,500km or so - or when the wear gets to 0.75%.

By that assessment, you should be into your second or third chain since you bought the bike.

I don't, I just replace the chain and cassette annually. I commute about 8,000k per year.

jon1981

07Lapierre wrote: »

I don't, I just replace the chain and cassette annually. I commute about 8,000k per year.

How about the crank, do you find more wear on that due to letting the chain go to 8k?

07Lapierre

jon1981 wrote: »

How about the crank, do you find more wear on that due to letting the chain go to 8k?

No, cranks/chainrings are 5 years old (Shimano 105 Octalink)

Just to add...I do clean/degrease and lube the chain every week.

Jawgap

Peck3277 wrote: »

I'd say realistically I've done about 3000km on the bike. The chain was fully worn out when the checked it with the tool.

So I guess the takeaway from this is, I should get a wear checking tool and check it once it wears out to .75 and also do a bit of degreasing on the chain every few weeks? A cassette should last me 2-3 chains then?

...or more.

I probably replace my cassette on the commuter about once per year - usually when I think it looks like it needs replacing.

The only other advice I'd offer is that when you replace a chain don't degrease / clean it according to your normal schedule - you can leave it a bit longer as the factory lube job is usually the best.

Delboy007

Hi

I used to do the same with my chain, just wipe and reapply and I had to replce my chain and rear cassette a lot, but then got the below and use them one a week and it has saved me loads of money. I do 22km commute each day and a spin at the weekend



http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/weldtite-citrus-degreaser/rp-prod32389

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/park-tool-cyclone-chain-scrubber-cm5-2/rp-prod8207