powerglide

So my new co-worker put me to shame...turns out he rides and worked at bike shop so we get to talking. I ask proudly "I'm thinking it's time for a new chain since its been about 1500 miles, what do you think?"
His response blew me away (in subject)...he rides like 10-20k miles a season. He just wears out the drive train, swaps it all out at once.
...I'm just a hobbyist at best

rbart4506

Check the chain....

My wife just got 6000km from an Ultegra chain and she could have gotten a bit more (I measured), but what's the point....I had a chain already...

Don't just switch based on mileage, measure it...

Frunkin

Thats stupid. There's no need to replace the whole drivetrain after 15-20k miles.
Unless he means cassette, chain, and maybe chainrings. That would make sense.

lsd87

My chain stretches out after a couple of thousand miles, and my cassette also gets alittle worn. the chain ring about double that for the most used ring. I notice a big difference in shifting...seems worth the expense to me.

umd

What else would there be?

powerglide

I thought the drive train consisted of the chain, cassette, and the chain rings...anyways, that all he changes.

powerglide

True...but chain wear isn't only about stretching...I consider it cheap insurance policy against two things:

1-skimp on the chain, break the chain, break your collar bone
2-skimp on the chain, wear out my expensive Campy drive train, forced to upgrade to 11-speed

Frunkin

uuuuh.
thanks for reminding me I'm stupid.

dnslater

Are you sure he isn't pulling your chain? 20k a year is 55 miles per day, assuming that he rides every day of the year, which could be in sunny california.

Flatballer

That's only 193-385 miles/week every week. In California that's very doable.

powerglide

Pulling my chain!
OK...I suppose it's possible but don't think so.
Before he came to work for us he was a reseacher at a University. (i.e. work any time you want, ride all day if you want) I think he's the real deal. He's competing in some crazy 24 hour endurance race this month.

umd

I rode 20K miles last year in sunny socal. This year will probably be closer to 15K-16K though.

Grumpy McTrumpy

grrr

Grumpy wants to ride year round

that is all

merlinextraligh

The problem with riding a stretched (worn) chain is not so much that the chain's going to fail; it's that it wears the cassette, and causes the cassette to skip with the new chain.

So you have two options: 1) replace the chain when it's stretched 1/16th" in 12 links. This method should allow you to go through 3-4 chains before replacing your cassette.

2) wait until the chain is truly shot, and then replace it and the cassette at the same time. There's really not much wrong with this approach.

If you're running expensive cassettes, it argues for approach number 1, if you use a cheaper cassette, with how much chains cost these days, the run them both into the ground approach may not be any more expensive, and is less total hassle.

powerglide

exactly.

For the kind of mileage I put on (under 2k a year) and the price paid for the Cassette, I'm option 1.
For the kind of mileage HE puts on, option 2 makes more sense (and don't forget the caveat that he worked at bike shop...ie great deals!)

GP

I do. Oh, wait, I thnk it rained one day last January

Pedaleur

Seems reasonable. What about chain rings? I'd think you'd need to change them more often with option 2, but frankly, I don't know any "rules" for when a ring needs replacing.

merlinextraligh

Replace chainrings when the cupped teeth start causing chain suck.

I've had to replace inner rings on MTB's ridden in a lot of grime, and one inner ring on a years old tandem.

I've never replaced a chainring on a road triple. Chainrings just don't wear out as fast as cassettes.

banerjek

Pulleys on the RD. There are very few teeth on those and they definitely wear down after awhile, particularly if your ride in slop. I go through those more often than rings.

Machka 

I ended up swapping out my whole drive train (except derailleurs) when I reached about 30,000 kms. I couldn't hold my shifts, the chain kept slipping, so I knew it was time to change it ... and I wanted different chainrings anyway .....

I've done another 15-20,000 kms or so on my current drivetrain, and I'm thinking I might change it before next season.

Machka 

Check out the Statistics on the Big Dogs site.
https://www.ultramidwest.net/main/bdmain.aspx

Machka 

Which one? The Ring of Fire in Oregon?
https://www.raceacrossoregon.com/roftt

Machka 

When the teeth go all pointy.

Pedaleur

This always strikes me as a paradox. Sure, there are more teeth on a chain ring to spread out the wear, but I'm almost always on the big ring when I ride (it's flat here), as opposed to moving around on the cassette. Not doubting you, just an observation.

I seem to remember Sheldon or someone said something about if you put a new chain on worn rings that you'll 'stretch' the chain faster. Maybe it was a worn cassette -- too lazy to dig it up now. It's just that I have this exact situation: I neglected my beater bike, and now that I put a new chain on, it skips like a 7-year-old in a candy shop. So I'm trying to decide, do I go back to the old chain until it's completely useless, or get a new cassette to match the new chain? The rings are fairly new, switched in with the last chain (a few thousand km's -- a little early for the chain to be so far gone, but like I said, it gets neglected).

Pugsly

That's kinda like never changing your oil in your car and just rebuilding the engine as needed instead. Makes no sense to me.