SlinkyWizard

When do you take your bike in for a full service and possible replacement parts? I'm going in for a full clean, and service, I'm 4,000km in, the back tire has lost a lot of tread, so am thinking rear tire replacement is necessary, but what about the chain, chain ring and cassette? Do hybrid drive trains wear out at similar rates to road bike or mountain bikes?

manthe

A chain is a chain - a cassette is a cassette - etc. regardless of the type of bike they're on, wear is the same. It has to do with how much you ride, how 'powerful' of a rider you, what type of terrain you ride, how much climbing you do, etc. In a lot of cases, after 4000k it should at least be time for a chain - but you can have your local shop do a quick measurement with a chain measurement tool to see if it's past tolerance (or you can order one from an online bike shop or Amazon for very cheap and measure yourself as well - it's dead simple to do and there are hundreds of videos on YouTube showing you how). As for you front and rear cogs - that would most likely come down to an assessment of 2 things - visual wear on the teeth and shifting/power transfer performance. Do the teeth on your most used casette cogs and chainring(s) look worn down? Are your shifts 'off', hard/abrupt - do you miss-shift or get ghost-shifting? Are you dropping your chain? If so, it may be time to consider replacement. Even if you're not - a good mechanic should be able to tell you if they're close to end-of-life. Also, at that mileage - it's prob. close to time for new cabling (shift cabling and housing - and brake cabling/housing if you don't have hydraulic). Also, it's definitely time to at least have your hubs and bottom bracket (all bearings) inspected.

There me are a lot of these maintenance and replacement tasks that I do myself and some that I leave to a pro - but either way I personally have our bikes done AT LEAST once a year. For some things, twice per year or more. We usually put ~3800-4500 miles per year on our bikes (my wife and I). I change tires approx 3 times in a year, new cassettes every 6 months or so, new chains every 1000-1400 miles, chain rings as needed, shift cabling and housing every 6 months or so, etc. I also 'upgrade' our wheelsets, hubs, bottom brackets, etc. with higher-end, lower maintenance, more robust components in order to both improve performance and reduce necessary maintenance. Sometimes these things are overkill and sometimes I replace items that aren't necessarily fully at the end of their lives - but we ride a lot and riding is very important to us so we are perhaps a little 'aggressive' in our maintenance routines. But (knock wood) so far this has served us very well. We've never had more than a flat tire to deal with while 'out'. This is all, of course just my opinion and what what works for me. Hopefully others will give you different views on this and you can weigh them all and find a routine that works for you. Good luck!

DorkDisk

Chains should be replaced before they stretch. Get a ruler and place it along the bottom of the chain on the bike (taut.) Measure a 12" segment from center of rivet to center of rivet. if you have more than 1/16" its time for a replacement. Replacing the chain before it stretches too much extends the life of the cogs and chainrings.

Cogs last a longer while than chains. Chainrings can last many many years. The larger the cog/ring the longer they last, smaller ones wear faster. Shark fin teeth are a sign of worn rings or cogs (too late) and will damage any new chain

Rear tires wear out faster than fronts, but don't just replace the rear; your best tire should always go front because it bears the brunt of tracking and traction needs