rydabent

Wrong, Using a good lube such as Mobil 1 oil and wiping down your chain before every ride, will greatly extend the life of the chain.

As I have posted before, I get approx 8000 miles out of a chain doing what I said. However I do not ride in salt and snow. I stay inside and keep warm.

downtube42

I built up a new bike 1 year ago - 11 spd 105 level components with a Shimano chain. At 5k miles I checked it after experiencing some skipping. Both sides of the Park chain checker fell through like a golf ball in the ocean (sorry, best analogy I could think of). When comparing to the new chain to get the right number of links... holy crap the old chain was a lot longer.

That's 5k miles, living in the PNW, riding in all weather. I wipe my chain down and lube it, particularly after rainy rides. No other cleaning.

I just did a 130 mile ride with the new chain, and no skipping. Downshifts were a little delayed but I'm hoping I can adjust that out without screwing up the upshifts. Next time I'll check around 2k and see where things are.

easyupbug 

Even if he meant there is no magic chain lube they all work the same you only need to ride our Southern AZ deserts on an MTB/gravel bike or my road bikes when we are just off the beach in the summer to know sand/grit is a killer and has to be gotten off the inside of your chain.

Rolla

He'll just tell you that there are no deserts in Toronto, so no one needs to worry about that stuff.

wolfchild

Calm down and relax....I never said not to lube your chain, all I said was that I believe that chain cleaning is pointless.

wolfchild

It's pretty easy to discern between who is talking from actual experience and who is talking out of their rear.

Rolla

I'll take your turd for it.

wolfchild

Go back and read reply # 31....and no I am not interested in heated fenders because regular fenders have worked very well for me.

cyccommute 

A chain checking tool is good enough. Measuring “between the rollers” isn’t going to change the measurement all that much. Even if it threw the measurement off by a little that’ only going to result in a chain being discarded prematurely by a few hundred miles. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Chains aren’t the most expensive part to replace on a bicycle.

People really need to RTFM! The 0.75% side doesn’t measure “extreme wear”. From the Park website

And, again, how much mileage does an extra 1/32” wear equal? 100 miles? 200 miles? 500 miles, maybe? Is the cost of chain so high that you need to squeeze out that mileage? And, on a rule that is marked in 1/16”, how “accurate” is a 1/32” measurement? (Hint: it isn’t.)

Why are you so worried about discarding a chain prematurely? If a $20 chain lasts 3000 miles, it cost 0.6¢ per mile. Even an $80 chain is going to only cost 3¢ per mile. On the other hand, if you have to squeeze that last fraction of a cent of value out of the chain, what are the consequences? For a $20 chain, it might cost you a $60 cassette. For an $80 chain on a 10-52 SRAM cassette, it might cost $400 in addition to the new chain. Even at $80 for a chain, it’s cheaper to replace the chain a little too often.

Racing Dan

You can argue the semantics, but the results, according to the video, are either 0.75%+ measured with gauge between the rollers or less than 0.5% measured with the ruler. I get the same results measuring worn chains with a shop quality digital calliper. You can decide for yourself if that discrepancy is enough to care about. But, as noted before, it may account for some posting unusual low mileage. Especially if they believe the chain must be replaced when the 0.5% side of the gauge pops in. Or even worse, try to apply the campagnolo 132.6mm measurement to a shimano chain. At that point you are binning a perfectly fine chain. Maybe your budget can absorb that expense, but that is not the point.

cyccommute 

Aluminum chainrings aren’t all that thin even in 12 speed drivetrains. Chainrings don’t wear all that fast either. An aluminum chainring will outlast several cassettes…5+… and a cassette can outlast 3 to 5 chains. Aluminum cogs on a cassette will wear fast but you won’t find too many examples of aluminum cassettes for just that reason.

And, no, steel chains don’t wear faster if they are used on aluminum parts.

Maybe you should learn how not to cut your leg on chainrings. In 40+ years of riding…and lots and lots of crashing…I have scraped my leg only a few times. That includes mountain biking where getting off the bike is often more important than worrying about where your leg goes.

cyccommute 

0.5% vs 0.75% is hardly worth worrying about. 0.5% wear is not “a perfectly good chain”. It is a chain that is showing some wear and is well on its way to needing a replacement if it is a 9 speed or below chain and is a worn out chain if it is 10 speed or above. How much more mileage do you think you could squeeze out of that last 0.25%? Wear isn’t linear so if you have 3000 miles on a chain, it’s not going to last another 1500 miles. And, as I pointed out above, you risk having to replace much more expensive parts.

Edit: Upon further consideration, I need to point out that when using the 12” rule, the guidance is to replace when the chain reaches 1/16” stretch. That, as you have pointed out, is about 0.5%. So the chain would have been replaced with either the chain checker or with a ruler. The guidance on using a ruler isn’t that you go to 3/32” which would be the 0.7% chain stretch.

Rolla

Most people put their NDS foot down.

cyccommute 

I have been using aluminum chainrings at least on the outer ring since 1977. The last bike I had that had steel ring for the outer ring was an early 70s Sear “10 speed”. The only ring I’ve replaced because of wear was a 44 tooth chainring on a mountain bike crank from the late 90s just recently. I’ve ridden bikes for nearly 200,000 miles since 1988 and that’s the only one I’ve ever worn out. I’m not saying that they can’t wear out but it takes a whole to of time to do so in my experience.

OldTryGuy

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