This is more or less exactly what I've fond running 10 speed KMC chains.
I do clean mine and run either Decathlon wet lube (for long rides) or wax based dry lubes on shorter rides.
Cleaning is generally a matter of blasting the chain with WD40, wiping it repeatedly with a rag until it's mostly clean - i.e the rag is coming off much less "oily"
I then store the bike like that and lube the chain at the next outing.
Seems to work OK, with nice quiet running and reliable shifting.
I use Chain-L lube, which likes to sit for a period before you use the bike. So My preference is to apply lube and leave it over night to wick down into the rollers properly. I've never got the supposed 1600km between applications that they claim, but I have managed 800+km. That said, My usual need for reapplication is due to rain. Perhaps it's more I only get ~800km between rain...
Last time I checked (Crowcombe Hill, Quantocks), I was pushing a loaded touring bike at 3 kph where I'd been pedaling at 4.5 to 5 kph (until I tried to shake a drop of sweat off my eyelash before it got in my eye, and lost my balance)
Pushing can be as slow as 2.5kph for me, I tend to have to stop and walk when speed drops to 5kph if their's any gradient. That said, I can happily ride along next to someone walking at ~3kph no problem.
The biggest 8 speed cassette I can find is an 11-34.
11-40 8 speed here
Ah, useful. Quite big jumps at the big end.
Suspect alot is being lost in my humour, I could not do that even on a motorbike.
Do you think that there will there will be some people doing it with a fixed gear?
No idea. The hilly audax tends to have a low turnout compared to the rest of the year. Last year we had only 1, me. Oh, and 37 men.
Do you rotate three chains to keep the the cassette life or one chain then another.
Being nosey as I'm thinking of going 1x9 or 1x10 on the mountain bike.
I keep the chain wear gauge near the bike, and every time I feel like I've done a few thousand kilometers, I start checking it every few hundred. I try to run 3 chains per cassette, and was planning on 3 cassettes per chainset, but I find the chain rings only seem to last about 15000km, Tho I perhaps should start monitoring them sooner, last time I posted a picture on twitter, and people were horrified at how worn they are. I have come to accept that at the distance I am doing, I am going to spend a lot on parts for my bike.
One of the reasons I upgraded to using X11SL, is the pins are hollow. This allows for more options after the life of the chain. I have a pedant (featured on the GCN show!) that I wear all the time, it is made from the X10SL chain that I used to ride to Hell. That trip was a game changer for me, and wearing the pendant made from the chain reminds me of that. It's a lot easier with the hollow pins. I am also experimenting with laser etching links used for significant rides (Hell, RatN, TCR Etc...). I have yet to work out what to do with the dead chain rings or cassettes yet.
Wonder how that happens, different materials for the chain?
Improvements in materials science.
Perhaps counter-intuitively, I use an expensive chain (SRAM PC991) on my about-town bike because it *doesn't* go rusty when neglected. It does a fraction of the mileage of my other bikes, so I'm not replacing it very often, and I consider the more expensive chain worthwhile for not having to worry about it.
The nicer bikes tend to get more chain maintenance (either in the interests of reliability/performance, or because they end up absolutely covered in mud), so can have less posh chains.
I was amazed at how rust prone the default tiagra chain was that came with the groupset I bought. I was also disappointed by the KMC X10.93 rusting fast, tho slower than the tiagra chain.
Even a KMC X10SL will rust after a bit of use if you wash all the lube off it, then hang it up in the bathroom... DAMHIKT...
big shock there; despite being fractionally narrower, expensive chains (using the latest hardening technology) last longer than cheap chains! Who'd have thunk it?.....
Many riders are most interested in the most cost-effective strategy (in time and/or money terms). That varies with the use/maintenance regime of course. No point in spending a lot on a chain if it is just going to go rusty....?
Usefully the article linked does provide a graph of cost per 10000km for each chain. Looks like my prefered chain is about $250 per 10000km. Tho I think that may be based on RRP. I pay €44 per chain, and get ~3000km out of it.
There is also an environmental question. Is it better to use fewer more expensive chains, or a larger number of cheaper ones. What is the relative environmental impact of making a chain? Does the extra coating have a bigger footprint?
KMC list re-usable QLs for 10s, 11s but not 12s at present (only single-use ones). When I looked about a year ago you couldn't get re-usable links in 11s but you could in 10s of course.
Yep. I notice tho that quick links rust faster than any other links on the modern chains. Based on the sticking them on the edge of the sink and forgetting about them till they have turned totally orange...
J