Originally Posted by
pdlamb
Yes, I've got one. I use it (the barely worn end) to see if it's time to roll the bike out of the garage, get the tape measure, and get down near the ground to see if the chain needs to be replaced. The real benefit is I can use the Park tool without getting my eyeballs near the ground.
Originally Posted by
Papa Tom
Yeah, I will probably use it more on the neighbors' bikes than on my own. As I said, it makes me feel like a big shot. And the more I think about it, for the $10-15 I pay for my chains, there's no chance I'm double-checking it by getting down on my knees with a ruler. Been there, done that. Too old.
I can appreciate the "too old to crouch down and double check" approach, but the Park chain checker really will give you false positives. I have the Spin Doctor version (saved $3!) and I use it, but I don't throw my chains out when it says I should because I've found that measuring with a ruler tends to tell me they're still OK for a long time.
Last year I got a Pedro's chain checker. It is more complicated and measures things the way the purists will tell you is the only tolerable alternative to using a ruler. I haven't gotten a "too worn" reading yet from the Pedro's tool so I can't tell you how it compares to a ruler. It's not quite as easy to use as the Park tool, and arguably not as easy to use as a ruler, but I kind of like it.
Using a ruler puts my shaky hands and bad eyes in the critical path. I like the idea of a tool that offers me a second opinion.