Originally Posted by
WhyFi
I guess I just don't understand the obsession with precise tracking of gear mileage.
Are people really swapping brake pads at mile 2872 because that's how long their previous set lasted? Or riding with a squealing chain because it's not scheduled to be lubed for another 87 miles? The gear tracking that Strava provides is an easy way of having ballpark figures on some of your consumables, and that's about it. And that mileage is just a proxy, anyway - your brake pads don't care about mileage, they care about how hard you stop, how frequently you stop, the kinds of conditions that you ride in, etc - and there's always going to be a good deal of variability in those conditions that determine wear more than mileage alone. Besides, most maintenance needs are brought to your attention through other means.
The practical value of precisely tracking equipment mileage is so low that I would be upset if Strava put resources in to that before something of more value like implementing TBT instructions with their (rapidly improving) route planning or figuring out how to bring back reliable app pairing for BT HRMs, PMs, etc.
I use free Strava to track mileage for chain rotations - currently I rotate chains every ~500 miles (500 miles on, 1000 miles off) so they wear evenly - when I consider them to be well worn, I replace all three chains and the cassette as a set. The last set lasted ~12,000 miles. I buy tires as sets of three, as the rear tire wears ~2x faster than the front. I replace the rear when the threads start showing, and replace the set when it's time to replace the second rear. I track tire mileage out of curiosity. I got ~3850 miles out of my last rear.