Originally Posted by
Rowan
It might be wise in this sort of situation to ensure the bike shop has inspected the chainrings, and has taken the bike for a ride to ensure the rings are happy engaging with the new chain. There was a thread in another area of the forums recently where a guy injured himself badly (many stitched in his calf) after his LBS had changed out the cassette and chain, but had ignored the chainrings.
My chainrings last so many years that I rarely bother to look at them. I was quite surprised one day when I had a chain slip on the middle ring on a tandem. Fortunately, that bike was set up with a half-step plus granny, so avoiding the middle ring was no problem and I had a spare sitting at home.
Back in the early '80s, Regina made the only freewheel that was available with a twelve tooth cog followed by a fourteen tooth cog in the smallest two positions (ideal for my half-step set up). Unfortunately, their freewheels weren't exactly robust and would fail every few thousand miles. Using these taught me to always stay balanced enough that if something in the drive train gives way I won't fall down.