lolguy

I'm certain there is a "your mileage will vary" component to the question but how many miles should I get out of a chain? My Roubaix Elite Rival Compact is one year old and I've now got 4,000 miles on it. I clean and lube the chain every 1,000 miles with Chain-L and maintain the bike well. Bike is starting to ride and shift a bit sluggishly and was thinking of changing the chain. While not entirely handy, I can perform routine work on the bike myself. Would the chain qualify or should I head to the shop? Recommendations and perspectives are appreciated.

Maintenance on this bike has been great. Replaced the rear tire once and the front is still original but I'm going to change that soon, anyway. Thanks

mconlonx

Buy a cheap chain stretch checker. Lube more frequently than 1000 mi. Watch vids and check out the Park website regarding cutting a chain to proper length.

Swapping out a chain, not difficult at all. When you do so is up to you.

john hawrylak

I change the chain. I use KMCs and their connector makes it easy. Just be sure to note the path through the read derailer before removing old chain. Also a helper to pull the RD arm up to remove the tension is helpful.
As for wear, suggest getting a Park Tool chain wear indicator and measure wear at your 1000 mile cleanings. Change at 0.75%. Nashbar used to have a nice Go-NoGo gauge for $7.

Most LBS say 1,500 miles to minimize cassette wear.

Drew Eckhardt 

1000 - 10,000+ miles. Depends on weather, lubrication, perhaps whether you mash big gears or spin small ones, perhaps cleaning (I'm unconvinced - I just add lubrication when my chain ceases its usual silent operation, but I've spent most of my life in temperate climates without much moisture and might have done better in Seattle if I did not stick with that approach).

Get a 15" ruler, measure between pins that should be 12" apart center to center, and replace when it hits 12 1/16" which is about 0.5% of elongation.

Chain checkers apart from the $45 Shimano TL-CN41 also measure roller inside diameter wear which is less important because it does not change pitch.

That could be too infrequent.

Yes. Get a chain tool to split / shorten chains and use a master link of some kind to connect the ends (KMC missing links are $2-$3 each. Having the chain tool and a master link with you at all times (mine is in a small saddle wedge pack with a spare tube and 5mm hex key) is a good idea because it lets you finish your ride after breaking a chain although you'd want to start with chains sized longer than you get with big x big (I've broken 2 or 3 chains over the last 20 years).

When you wear out the rear tire you want to move the front to the back and put the fresh tire on the front because the thicker rubber on the new tire makes it less likely to puncture and a flat up front is more likely to cause a crash than one in back.

Drew Eckhardt 

A $2.50 ruler works better.

Most LBS say 1,500 to maximize chain sales where each unit can break $40 retail plus installation.

I wore out one chain in under 2000 miles when I was living in the Seattle area with 140 days of rain a year. My last 9 speed chain (San Francisco Bay area) measured just under 1/32" of elongation at 4866 miles when I moved on to 10 cogs. My first 10 speed chain is at 1/32" and around 2500 miles (it seems that my Garmin stops recording total miles when I neglect to down-load regularly because I'm just commuting and not training. Oops.)

cycledogg

As you have already stated, this is a loaded question. On average, a good chain should last ~3000 miles. Yours is already causing problems and when those issues start to happen, you are a bit late on changing the chain. Due to the wear on the chain at this point, it is already rapidly affecting the rest of the drive train by wearing out the chain rings, cassette and even the RD pulleys. Do some smart preventive maintenance and change it NOW. Clean and oil more often, more-so under bad weather conditions. You should notice an improvement in shifting and make your bike happy.
Cheers

FBinNY 

Chain wear varies person to person and bike to bike. The range is over 10:1 high to low.

One of the biggest factors determining the wear rate is the tension the chain runs under.

Stronger riders riding faster, heavy riders, hilly terrain, and the use of small sprockets all increase chain wear.

Speed is important because riding twice as fast (in the same gear) would require 4 times the chain tension. Since it's likely the higher speed would involve the use of a smaller rear sprocket, the difference is bigger yet. Likewise the effects of a heavy rider or steep hills or both combined.

Besides chain tension, there's lubrication, and dirt.

All in all the best way to decide when to replace a chain is to measure for stretch, rather than by some pure miles formula.

davidad

I ride 7 and 8 speed drivetrains. My 7sp tourer has almost 19000 miles on it and is at the end of it's life (1/16" wear). My 8sp has 12,900 on it and is at 1/32" wear. I remove and clean my chain in an ultrasonic cleaner every 750 to 800 miles. I believe that maintenance is more important to chain and drive train life.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/chain-care.html

fietsbob

No but if you hum a few bars maybe I can pick up the tune

loimpact

Curious.....do you use KMC missing links?

Astrozombie

That needs to be changed...they say lube every 100mi and replace ever 2000 or so....

davidad

I use the KMC and Sram chains and master links.

Dave Cutter

+1

This is an interesting thread as I regularly measure my chain as a way to check for wear... and it had seemed OK. I am big on regular washing and care... including oiling the chain.

BUT... it's winter, snow is on the ground, salt on the roads, and the temperature is around zero. So I decided to replace last years tires.... they had over 2000 miles... and the Continental Ultras "felt thin". I thought I'd replace the chain while I at it (as well as the brakes and handlebar tape).

When I laid the new chain out on my bench beside the old chain I was shocked at the (so called stretch) difference. So glad I didn't rely on just a ruler measurement. And... BTW... the tires now seem to have more life left on them than I had guessed.

s0ul_chicken

There is nothing wrong with the ruler method, but it is also suggested to check for stretch in more than one place on the chain as well.

Wanderer

I rotate 3 chains, and my chains have many, thousands of miles on them. I lube them every week, about 200-250 miles, and completely clean and lube once a month. At his point a different chain is installed while the dirty one soaks in solvent. The new chain is then relubed completely, and allowed to drip dry.

The newly installed chain is lubed again, right after installation.

It might be overkill, but being retired, I have the time.................... My chains still measure, basically, new, and the sprockets show no wear.

Dave Cutter

I guess I've sorta settled into a routine that suits my personally.... and works well enough for the bike too. I like knowing that my bicycle has been completely "gone over" and the disposable parts (chain, brake pads, tires, and bar tape) have been replaced with new. Whenever spring gets here... that bicycle will be as ready and waiting.

There must be as many ideas on how a bicycle should be maintained.... as there are cyclist. I have no belief that MY way is any better than anyone else's. But I am pretty confident that the OP should be replacing his chain.

cny-bikeman

If you live in a hilly area and shift often the chain can develop side play as well as "stretch" and that certainly can make shifting more sluggish. try putting the chain on the large chainwheel and a cog toward the middle and pressing inward on the chain to see how much deflection there is compared to a bike with a new chain.

rydabent

Lube more often, and wipe down the chain at least every other ride. I wipe mine down before every ride.

As others have stated, get a chain wear tool or a mechanics steel rule. They will give you real life wear indications. That way you wont waste money changing out a chain that is not worn.

bkaapcke

I ride about 2,500 miles a season on a relatively flat creek side trail. At the end of the season the chain is shows .60 to .70 stretch, so I replace it. During the season I wipe the chain down after every ride with a dry towel and add fresh lube 1x or 2x per week. Twice a season I clean the chain by wiping it with solvent while rotating the pedals. This gets most (not all) of the crud out of the rollers. Unless there is a problem or drive train work to do, the chain never comes off until it is replaced.

Easy maintenance, reasonable mileage on chains and minimal cassette wear. This works very well for me. bk

Cycle Babble

After about 1300 miles my chain on my MTB began to skip in the small sprocket of the cassette. Since I am a heavy rider, ride a stone trail, and push heavy gears I decided to have both the chain and rear cassette changed. I will have to wait until spring to see how it runs.

TiHabanero

Not always so. We recommended mile intervals only if the customer insisted on a mileage to go by. If we told them wait for a couple thou to roll by, then they got all pissy because we didn't tell them riding conditions, strain on the chain, lube, etc. would affect everything including cassette, which invariably would need replacement by the 2000 mile mark. 12-1500 miles was safer for us.
To the ones that trusted us we put a chain checker on it when ever they stopped in.

lolguy

Thanks everyone for your perspectives. I'm going to replace the cassette and chain.

Fynn

Chain wear is dependent on a lot of things, none more important that dirt/grit. I have ridden my mountain bikes approximately 50K miles on gravel roads over the past several years. I have a road bike that I have ridden approximately 12K over the same time period.

A road chain will last a long time, stay much cleaner and require less lube. The mountain bikes on the other hand go through chains and cassettes quite often. They also require at least light lubing each ride. I have also learned that riding in bigger rings/cogs on crank and cassette will prolong the life of the chain and the rings/cogs.

All that said, I pay little attention to my chains. I grab a mountain bike drip a few drops of lube on the chain and go ride. The road bike I go several rides without touching it. In addition I don't change chains without changing cassettes. I've learned to just ride the chain and cassette as long as I view it still safe and then replace both. This probably means riding chains that are "stretched" for a long time, but it also means I spend a lot less time and money on chains and more time riding.

2_i 

The key is to change the chain early enough so that you do not have to change the cassette often. Allowing for an excessive wear of the chain can impair chainrings as well, though the cassette normally goes first. Significant cassette wear can be seen by eye. Precise assessment can be done this Rohloff tool that you principally also use on chainrings.