Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Indoor & Stationary Cycling Forum
Reload this Page >

how often do you replace chain on a "dumb" friction stationary bike?

Notices
Indoor & Stationary Cycling Forum From spin to Zwift to Peloton, this forum is dedicated to any and all indoor training on stationary bikes

how often do you replace chain on a "dumb" friction stationary bike?

Old 04-12-22, 08:40 AM
  #1  
qwaalodge
Banned.
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: Kingdom of Qwaa
Posts: 307
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 211 Post(s)
Liked 79 Times in 61 Posts
how often do you replace chain on a "dumb" friction stationary bike?

Those with fixed gear, how often the chain is replaced? I'm having no issues atm but live in relatively dusty conditions and the dust is getting inside the house.

Out of the box, the chain had grease all over it. The kind of grease you put on bearings. Is it a bad thing? Should I degrease the chain immediately and put regular bike oil in it?

I also did some mods to the chainguard to greatly minimize the dust that gets to the chain.
qwaalodge is offline  
Old 04-14-22, 01:49 AM
  #2  
qwaalodge
Banned.
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: Kingdom of Qwaa
Posts: 307
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 211 Post(s)
Liked 79 Times in 61 Posts
I just found the chain is non-standard one. It's wider than 9 speed bike chain but the plates are much shorter and the pins are narrower too.

There is no quick link and it's fairly tight so have no idea how much it has stretched but the teeth on the chainring and cog looks OK, no "sharktooth" wear. Nevertheless, I figured it wouldn't hurt to clean and degrease it and re-lube with regular chain oil. And that's what I did. Noise went down a bit after the clean up and re-lube. I managed to seal the chainguard almost completely so dust will be greatly reduced. Hope it lasts for couple of years more.
qwaalodge is offline  
Old 04-14-22, 11:30 AM
  #3  
blacknbluebikes 
Senior Member
 
blacknbluebikes's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: NJ, USA
Posts: 1,276

Bikes: two blacks, a blue and a white.

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 442 Post(s)
Liked 840 Times in 407 Posts
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Good idea of yours on the clean-up. You can learn a lot here -- I find the Park tool web content very useful. I also recommend buying their book. Over time, you're looking to see when the chain has worn and stretched enough to be a problem, and that can be done by either using a 'gauge tool' to check that length (see park tool chain checker for example), or you can just know the standard measurement for your chain over a number of links and measure it every couple of months. Your description suggests that your situation is not a standard 10 or 11 cog configuration, so I'm not sure what nominal specs you need to measure against. Just an aside, I don't need to change a chain too often, maybe every four thousand miles. Some folks around here are much more frequent.
blacknbluebikes is offline  
Old 04-18-22, 03:51 PM
  #4  
PeteHski
Senior Member
 
PeteHski's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2021
Posts: 8,180
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4274 Post(s)
Liked 4,718 Times in 2,913 Posts
Most indoor bike trainer chains are greased. Why? Because it requires a whole lot less routine maintenance. It's not like out on the road where you might care about drivetrain losses and slick gear shifting. A greased chain will typically run for many years on an indoor trainer with zero maintenance. Chain wear is less of an issue too when it's effectively a singlespeed. The gears and chain will just wear together with little chance of jumping even when badly worn.

Now you've gone from a heavier grease to a lighter bike lube, you will need to re-apply it more often. Basically as you would with a normal outdoor bike.
PeteHski is online now  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.