Originally Posted by
Papa Tom
My question was sort of rhetorical, but I do have to admit that I envy people who can tell you how many miles they rode last week or last year. I barely keep up with that kind of info for my CAR. (The dashboard tells me all I need to know!)
Likewise, having ridden and serviced bicycles for most of my 58 years - and having ridden the SAME bicycle for twenty-five of those years - I know in an instant when something doesn't feel right. And in the case of the chain, I can confirm or disprove my suspicion with my Park Chain Checker.
To me, it seems that riding a chain for a thousand miles on boardwalks and bike paths is different than riding one for a thousand miles in the mountains or on hilly road routes where you're standing on the pedals and stressing the heck out of the chain a lot of the time. For this reason, I've always considered the manufacturers' recommendations as rough guidelines, to be modified according to the type of riding you've done during the life of the chain.
I keep a spreadsheet of miles, elevation and the bike. (Used to create spreadsheets in the '80s to do engineering calculations on ships. Got the skill; it's kinda fun.)
So I have mileage calendars going back a dozen years with running totals of mileage for every bike. I can get mileage numbers for just about any weird whatever I want. (Last half decade I started tracking fix gear and geared mileages. Saw that if I did it right, I could arrange my riding to hit 100,000 miles of each on the same day! That was fun.
I make notes of bike maintenance on the calendar but rarely use it as maintenance schedule. I just try to stay in tune with each bike and do what it needs. Chains - never on mileage, always by the tape measure. (Not a saint. They grow long in the
tooth link occasionally.)