Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 44,178
Likes: 6,412
From: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem
Yes, it's clear now. I don't track my miles, so I don't know how long anything lasts. I have too many bikes and don't ride enough, so I probably don't have 8,000 miles on anything.
Still, I'd prefer to forestall cassette replacement, especially with expensive cassettes such as 9-speeds. If that means "wasting" chains, I'm OK with that. Replacing them prematurely is one of the few environmentally-unfriendly things I do. It saves a lot of solvent handling and dirty scrubbing.