Chain wear gauge - how to use and chain replacement

[Brucey]

another QL and you can join some of the links you took off back on again.

cheers

[mattc]

Why is it so easy to shorten chains but so hard to lengthen them?

It's the same with human lives.

#despair

[Tim Hall]

another QL and you can join some of the links you took off back on again.

cheers

With 8 speed I wouldn't worry about just reinserting the rivet that was pushed out to shorten it. Leastways not on a SRAM or KMC chain (they're the only ones I have experience with)

[Kim]

Seconded, at least on a bike that a) has gears  that b) are actually used

[Brucey]

the chain will be weaker than normal if you do that; whether it causes a problem or not is another thing however....

cheers

[Kim]

Exactly.  I've never had a problem with 9sp chains joined that way on my bikes (where I do use the gears, so the chain isn't subject to excessive loads).  I can see how it might end badly on SS/fixed, or if you're a habitual masher.

[Brucey]

once a chain of 7/8/9s speed type has been split once, it takes something between 1/4 and 1/2 the force to push the same rivet out again.

 Try it and see. If your chain doesn't come apart during a gearshift it is a matter of luck IMHO.

cheers

[mzjo]

once a chain of 7/8/9s speed type has been split once, it takes something between 1/4 and 1/2 the force to push the same rivet out again.

 Try it and see. If your chain doesn't come apart during a gearshift it is a matter of luck IMHO.

cheers

Been doing it for over 40 years. Never had a problem! Is this the equivalent of the nine lives of the cat?

[Brucey]

Been doing it for over 40 years.

hmm I'm not sure that bushingless chains with swaged pins have been around that long.... when did Sedisport chains first come out...?

  Never had a problem! Is this the equivalent of the nine lives of the cat?

more likely that you change gear with a degree of care; changing under full load will soon find any weakness in the chain.

cheers

[vorsprung]

another QL and you can join some of the links you took off back on again.

cheers

With 8 speed I wouldn't worry about just reinserting the rivet that was pushed out to shorten it. Leastways not on a SRAM or KMC chain (they're the only ones I have experience with)

+1
done this many times.  8 speed don't have the funny rivets that 10speed + have

[Brucey]

another QL and you can join some of the links you took off back on again.

cheers

With 8 speed I wouldn't worry about just reinserting the rivet that was pushed out to shorten it. Leastways not on a SRAM or KMC chain (they're the only ones I have experience with)

+1
done this many times.  8 speed don't have the funny rivets that 10speed + have

8s are not as funny as 10s but they are still funny, and a weakened joint results.  In the factory the pins are plain when they push them through, and then they are swaged.

 When you push the pin out and in again the benefit of the swaging is lost, by damaging the pin and/or the side plate of the chain. Often if you look carefully you can see pieces of swarf come off the chain as the pin is pushed out.

 About one in twenty pins is so loose when it is reinstated that essentially it is only held by one side plate; the slightest sideways force frees a stiff link but the pin might just pop out of the side plate altogether if you do a clumsy shift or something.

About one in a hundred times a small piece of swarf jams the pin when you put the chain back together such that you get a stiff link that cannot be freed.

cheers

[Tim Hall]

Exactly.  I've never had a problem with 9sp chains joined that way on my bikes (where I do use the gears, so the chain isn't subject to excessive loads).  I can see how it might end badly on SS/fixed, or if you're a habitual masher.

I would have thought SS/fixed would be less liable to problems, as there's no sideways motion going on.

[Kim]

Exactly.  I've never had a problem with 9sp chains joined that way on my bikes (where I do use the gears, so the chain isn't subject to excessive loads).  I can see how it might end badly on SS/fixed, or if you're a habitual masher.

I would have thought SS/fixed would be less liable to problems, as there's no sideways motion going on.

I was thinking more of the sudden downwards motion of the rider as the chain breaks...

I've only joined chains this way on recumbents, where sudden chain failure is less likely to be dramatic, and on the timing chain of a tandem, where nobody was going to be riding out of the saddle anyway.

[LEE]

For 30 years or more I never used a chain wear gauge and hence never replaced anything.

Now I have a chain wear gauge i rarely use it because, whenever I do, it always costs me money even though everything was running sweet.

[vorsprung]

For 30 years or more I never used a chain wear gauge and hence never replaced anything.

Now I have a chain wear gauge i rarely use it because, whenever I do, it always costs me money even though everything was running sweet.

You are trolling, right?

[Biggsy]

I'd call it comedy with a germ of truth.  Frequently replacing chains can be more expensive than letting everything slowly wear out, depending on this, that and the other.

[mattc]

For 30 years or more I never used a chain wear gauge and hence never replaced anything.

Now I have a chain wear gauge i rarely use it because, whenever I do, it always costs me money even though everything was running sweet.

Maybe the gauges should have more (higher wear) markings on the scale - then Lee could take pleasure from just how worn his chain is.

[Si S]

OOC What sort of life do those replacing chains every 500 miles get out of their cassettes and chainrings?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Every 500 miles? That is barely halfway round LEL. Few riders replaced their chains during LEL.

[Kim]

To be fair, there are much harsher environments for a bicycle chain than LEL.

[Si S]

Every 500 miles? That is barely halfway round LEL. Few riders replaced their chains during LEL.

I know, but I ask as 0.5 seems to be the recommended change and it's fairly easy to get to this between 500 and 1000 miles of winter commuting skog coupled with a laissez faire approach to cleaning things, as I say I'm just curious, since I'm too lazy to clean it.....

[Biggsy]

1000 miles is a more commonly recommended point to frequently change the chain, isn't it?  I can only be vague about this, but cassettes can last many/several chains like that, and chainrings so long that it seems for ever.  Whether it's economical comes down to the relative costs of the chainrings and cassettes versus the chain.

[LEE]

For 30 years or more I never used a chain wear gauge and hence never replaced anything.

Now I have a chain wear gauge i rarely use it because, whenever I do, it always costs me money even though everything was running sweet.

You are trolling, right?

My 1997 Saracen has original Chain, Chainrings and Cassette.  Admittedly it isn't high mileage but it runs great so I'm not checking whether it's OK....it's OK.

[LEE]

I'd call it comedy with a germ of truth.  Frequently replacing chains can be more expensive than letting everything slowly wear out, depending on this, that and the other.

Exactly, a Shimano 105 Crankset is £59, only £6 more than replacement rings.  A Shimano 105 Hyperglide chain is £14.

Let it all wear out and get a shiny new Crankset when you replace it all.

I may think differently if I ran Dura Ace but I don't ...for that reason (and also because our Madison Rep, the Shimano importers, said Dura Ace was overkill for amateurs without a pit-crew).

[Jurek]

I suspect I'm going to rock the boat here ....
The original chain on my Van Nic (KMC TiN coated goldie looking chain) yielded somewhere around 11,000 to 12,000 miles.
It was cleaned in an ultrasonic tank quite regularly, lubed and seldom used in the wet.
When it failed, it did so almost catastrophically - going from working as it should in the morning to being totally unrideable by the afternoon.
At that stage I (unsurprisingly) found myself having to replace the drive train in its entirety.
I've not managed to get that sort of mileage from a chain since then - and I've also found that life is too short to be spending so much time giving my chain that sort of attention.