Originally Posted by
AusTexMurf
It seems to me that my chains started wearing out faster not when moving over from freewheel to cassette but from 6/7/8 speed to 9+ spd drivetrains. Narrower chains seem to stretch a bit faster to me. I remember thinking that my chains were wearing more quickly when I was pulling my two youngest sons in Chariot/Burley trailers or TagAlong TrailABikes, oftentimes with loaded panniers. So, load via hills or weight may be a factor. Also, my chains used when touring, heavily loaded, rain, mud, grit, tend to get replaced when I get back home or before heading out for long haul again.
I usually run two chains per cassette.
I'm not sure how many miles I put on the bike in the past. Tires used to last a few years. Chains for quite some time.
However, I only remember ever "wearing out" one sprocket on one freewheel. 12T?
My riding has changed a lot in the last couple of years, but I've already blown out two 9s cassettes (multiple sprockets on each cassette), and several chains.
Stretching causes a chain to ride high on a cassette, and is very bad for the cassettes. So, the goal now is to change the chains early, and I'm hoping for better luck.
And, I'm just hoping the Campy 9s chains will be worth more than the cost difference. Time will tell.
I do high force, slow cadence pedalling. I don't know if it is harder on cassettes (and chains?) than low force, high cadence pedalling.