What is the life expectancy for chains and sprockets.
Probably based more on others' experience (mainly using gears) than my own, but...
Roughly half as long in winter as in summer (excludes 2008
). I ride roughly equal distances in each season.
About half as long again if you don't use mudguards and ride in wet weather.
Nothing quantitative about the big-big vs small-small issue. I normally use 46/18 or 46/19.
3/32" cogs/rings will wear faster than 1/8". No numbers, though. Chain wear seems less dependent on width. Personal experience is purely 3/32".
And there are bigger variations associated with rider strength etc., weight/ & terrain. e.g. MV trashes kit that some of us unadventurous crumblies use without problem. That may be because he rides regularly in hilly terrain that I choose to save up for special occasions
.
I am firmly convinced that chain cleaning doesn't help, but lubrication is vital.
On geared bikes it tends to skip and so on but if I'm not having problems on a fixed does that mean it's OK. How do you tell ?
Don't think there's a single answer. Back in the days of C+, an engineer (can't remember who) passed on a r.o.t. for replacement when tooth wear was 1mm or so. That might or might not have been new chain as well as sprockets.
I try
to replace chains when they have reached the 0.5% wear limit advised for derralllllllieeur sprocket re-use. That's primarily to protect the chainrings which are obselete & so difficult to replace. My experience is that worn chains wear/trash good alu. alloy chainrings very rapidly. Personal chain mileage is 3500-4000.
I used to replace Cyclo sprockets every chain. The only EIA cog I've replaced had done 14k miles. I think it was no more worn than OP's cog, which looks remarkably similar to my EAI/Goldtec steup. At the time I thought the last chain wore out more rapidly, but looking back at my records, I'm not so sure. Transmission was definintely noisier, which may have made me oil it more often
.
I've done probably 6000 miles on mine. Still seems OK though.
