Kneez

I had a not so great ride yesterday. I was out at about the point farthest from home on my usual ride when I broke a spoke on my back wheel. The wheel was ridable but, being concerned that it might not be finished misbehvaing, I rode home very, very slowly.

On the way I decided to stop at a bike shop, one I have never been to, to see if they might replace the spoke on the spot so I wouldn't have to limp the rest of the way home. The mechanic mumbled inaudilby as he took my bike to the back of the shop to work on it. Within a minute or two he shouts, "I'd advise you to upgrade these wheels! They are very low grade!"

Now, I know I ride the universally dreaded "stock wheels" but I didn't ask him for his opinion. I just wanted him to replace the spoke. He eventually did and as he came out he said, "By the way, your chain is worn out."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's worn out. How many miles do you have on this bike? About 1000?"

"750."

"You should replace the chain in within the next 200."

"Really?"

"Yes. These ten speeds wear out fast."

"Nine speed."

"Yeah, nine speed. You don't want to skimp on this. It will chew up your cassette. It's like changing oil in your car. New chain every 1000 miles. Should I just do it now?"

I passed. I have never heard about a getting a new chain every thousand miles. At my current rate, I would have to get a new chain every 5-6 weeks. Is this right?

10 Wheels

I get 8,000 miles from Nashbar cheap nine speed chains.
All my riding is flat roads no hills.

JoelS

I get 4000 miles on a Campy chain. Shimano chains often wear around 2500. A lot faster if you don't clean and lube it every 1-200.

flip18436572

Put a tape measure on a link. At the 12" mark on the tape measure you should be at a link. If it is over a 1/16" long, you should replace it and hopefully not have problems with the gears. Over that and you might have caused undo wear on your gears. That is the quick and easy check.

Kneez

8,000 miles sounds more reasonable. I ride mostly rolling hills but I do have a climb worthy of some consideration when I get home. I live up on top of a hill, you see.

Kneez

Thank you. I didn't know how to check if the chain is worn out or not.

Kneez

I just measured the chain. 12" falls on a link but not exactly on the center. It's about 1/32" off.

Edit: I re-measured and it was right on. Either way, it looks like the chain still has some life left in it.

XR2

By "on a link" do you mean at a pin or between the pins?

bautieri

Sounds like you found a shop not to bother with again. Even if your wheels were bottom of the barrel he has no reason to shout that across the shop, I would have been rather miffed at that comment.

Was this *ahem a Trek dealer by chance ?

Kneez

I was annoyed, for sure. It's a shop that specializes in triathalon stuff. I could tell by looking at the things they were selling (and not selling) that mere mortals are not normally allowed in and I probably got in by accident. I don't plan on giving them any more of my business unless it's an emergency of some sort.

Kneez

I assumed "at a pin."

Mr. Beanz

He might have made the wheel comment knowing that when one spoke breaks, it means others are also in danger of giving way. If he replaced the spoke and only did enough to replace the spoke, you are more than likely in for more trouble.

Now if he's a GOOD wheel guy, knowing you had trouble at less than 1000 miles on a new wheel, he would have retensioned the entire wheel and spokes. But my bet is he didn't.

Kneez

I am sure he did just enough to replace the spoke. That was all I really wanted at that point. I wanted to get home before dark.

At any rate, he could have explained that the wheel is in trouble, as you did. I think he was trying to shame me to drop more money.

CliftonGK1

Only my winter chain lasts under 1500 miles, and that's the one constantly getting gnawed up by the sand and volcanic cinder the county uses instead of salt on the roads around here.

My usual chain is a SRAM PC971, and I get between 3500 and 5000 miles from it. I'm a bit obsessive about cleaning my drivetrain, so that helps. I do wear chains down quicker than the average rider though, because I'm 235-ish and I ride a lot of hills.

socalrider

I use the KMC DX 10sc, works fine on Campy and Shimano 10 speed setups.. You can get a solid 4-5k out of the chains. Here is where I get them..

https://cgi.ebay.com/KMC-DX10SC-10-Sp...d=p3286.c0.m14

the nashbar chain is exact same model

https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...5_10000_201491

Kneez

I am about the same weight. I guess I should take that into consideration. I am getting back into riding after a many year break. I have never ridden at anything near this weight before. It's a new world.

barturtle

I'd invest in a Park "Go/No-Go" Gauge, it's the quickest and easiest way to tell if a chain is worn. We larger riders do stress the chain a bit more than those lightweights, and if you cross-chain you'll wear it even faster. I got 1800 miles out of the stock chain on my bike (started at ~280, now under 245), though I'll admit I'm a bit lazy about cleaning it, and I do cross-chain from time to time.

prathmann

Only takes a couple seconds to hold a ruler up to the chain and has the advantage that it works properly on any type of chain construction. The special chain-checker gadgets have a tendency to read properly on some chains and not on others.

jaxgtr

I had 3500 on my hybrid chain and I only had to replace it cause I replaced rebuilt the bike with a 9 speed setup.

BikeArkansas

How many miles a chain lasts depends on maintenance and riding habits. That is true of any brand chain. I am not a good maintenance person, so I go through chains over twice as fast as my brother, who does maintain his equipment better. He is also more conscious of how and when he shifts. I just shift when I need and do not consider the chain.
Of course I am at 230 pounds and he is at 185. All things matter when considering how long a chain will last.

prxmid

I went through the same thing last wek with my LBS, whom I trust. Said I needed a new chain, have just about 1000 miles on it. It's a Dura Ace, they said the higher end, lighter chains wear quicker, Clydes also wear chains out quicker, more torque, and , according to him, riding on the big ring wears them out faster.

Either way, I'll probably replace over the winter, with the cassette

prathmann

Seems doubtful. For a given force on the pedals, the tension in the chain will be greater with a smaller chainring due to the leverage (length of crank / radius of chainring). Of course the chain will be rotating faster for a given gear using the large ring vs. the equivalent gear in the small ring (say 52 - 20 vs. 39 - 15), but I'd expect the greater tension in the latter gear to be of more consequence to the chain life.

Now having a 'mashing' pedaling style (i.e. slow cadence with high force) vs. spinning may reduce chain life, but that's separate from using the big chainring in situations where the same overall gearing can be achieved with either ring.

nymtber

I had 6 years on my mountain bike chain. It hasn't seen much dirt in that time, but has seen a lot of miles on crushed gravel paths, which are very abrasive. It was overdue for a change. Replaced my girlfriends chain this year because hers was rusted to the point it needed replacement. Trying to get her to be better about applying chain lube, the old chain was dry as a bone

Archinutt

I am just going through this for the first time. I didn't know about this either. I am 260 strong. I have 3,000 miles on a 2007 Giant OCR 1. i am a moderate cleaner of the drivetrain. The chain is shot, as are my middle gears on my cassette. Luckily I had upgraded fairly early to a higher gear set. Economy what it is.. I am reverting to my original cassette. Ironically, my bottom bracket just went out, and my back wheel has little cracks at the spokes and just went out of true. i bought a new wheel. Just funny that this all went out at the same time. Still love the bike, it is just that everything is designed for skinny bastards!!

Mazama

Pushing about 5,000 on my current chain. Probably needs replacement, but meh, no slippage or anything yet.