Hello everyone:

I am curious how often you all replace parts on your bikes assuming you use them every day.

I bought my Marin brand new 2 years ago. I'm guessing that I put about 1500km on it every year. I commute every day and do a few long tours during spring/summer. I live on Vancouver Island where there are a lot of hills and it rains a lot. I ride 75% paved roads/trails, 24% packed gravel trails, and 1% loose gravel roads. Here is the length of time that certain components have lasted for me:

Cassette: 1 Year
Chain: 1 Year
Brakes: 2 Years
Derailleur Hanger: 2 Years - I have had a couple of spills on my bike and I noticed that the hanger is very slightly bend inward. So I will be getting this re-aligned soon.
Derailleur: Have not replaced yet but I have considered replacing it when I do my cassette and chain.

How often do you find yourself replacing parts on your rides?

Cheers!

I replace as needed. Chains when they reach 1/16" "stretch" in 12". Cassettes when new chains no longer run well on them. Chainrings when issues star. Rear derailleurs when crash trashed or shifting becomes sloppy (unless I can pick up a used similar one to rob for parts). Aluminum hangers when bent. Steel I just straighten. Brakes? Rarely. Good ones go a long ways. I start considering it when the pivots get sloppy but some of my favorites are still very good stoppers after years of slop. Now if you are talking pads and cables, that's a different story. Pads are obvious. Look. Cables should have no kinks, no broken strands and run freely.

I also live in the PNW. Used to commute 25 miles/day, 3-4 days/week, year 'round. Did most of it fix gear in part to save on bike wear. Used brakes and watched them wear rims to unsafe in less than two winters. Summer rims often last me 10-15,000 miles.

I find parts last longer or shorter depending on the maintenance they receive and under what conditions they're used;

I commuted most days for 28 years with weekend rides, about 2800-3200 miles a year. My 1997 Mountain bike (bought new) still has the same drive train but the chain gets replaced every 3000 mile or so. My 1984 Road bike (acquired in 2009) seems to need a chain about the same amount, and the rear gears needed replacing after about 6000 miles.

My 2015 semi-touring bike went through the original chain after only 1000 miles, plus the rear gears after about 1500 and the rear wheel hub was trashed after 2000. The new rear gears and wheels are much more robust.

The 2015 bike's 'brifters' also seem to chew through shifter cables much faster than the others. The 1997 bike used to eat through shifter cables quickly when it had cross-fire shifters, maybe once a year. I converted it to drop-bars with thumbies near the bar-ends a couple of years ago and there is no indication of wear.

I may have changed the cables twice on the down tube shifters on the old road bike since 2009.

Chain every 2-3K, cassette about every 4 chains. How long the chain lasts depends on how much off-road, and how often I get around to cleaning the drivetrain...

Then there are the many parts I swap out to make the bike more comfortable over time like bars, bar tape, grips, pedals.... Or perform better like bigger cassette, different shifters. Seems I can't leave well enough alone. I am always changing /upgrading something.

Thanks for the response. I'm doing more and more of my own maintenance so it is nice to get a sense of how long certain parts should last. For the chains, you said that you replace them when they stretch 1/16" in 12". What is your process for measuring this? Do you just measure the new chain to 12" as a baseline and then take a ruler to it a year later to see the change in length?


I have a chain gauge where you hook one end to one link and then the gauge at the other end drops between the links. If the gauge goes in all the way ( > 1% wear), it tells you to replace the chain. But the last time I replaced the chain, I ended up needing to replace the cassette as well. I wonder if I need to replace the chain twice per year as opposed to annually (which seems like a pretty short lifespan to me). Of course I only clean my bike 2-3 times per year. Maybe I will see longer service life if I do a monthly cleaning instead?

Yeah I think I will be cleaning my bike more frequently from now on (monthly at the very least). Up until now, I would only clean the drivetrain 2-3 times per year. Considering the fact that I ride everyday, on all kinds of terrain, and during the winter/rainy season, I can see why I have to replace things more frequently. I did a teardown.tuning of my drivetrain this weekend and its crazy how much crap gets caked on the sprockets and chains in a short time.

That is pretty impressive mileage you're getting out of your bikes. I suspect you do frequent maintenance to your bikes to get that kind of longevity out of them?

Nothing wrong with changing things up every once in a while. That's how you figure out what you like and don't like.

no, not really. I think the big thing is v they ask get ridden.

Chain every 7000 km
Cassette every couple of years, or until shifting is rough
Tires 8000 km for road tires. 10000 for commuting tires
Brakes 3000 km for rim brakes
Wheels 20,000 for rim brakes

Obviously, commuting bikes that take on water, snow, ice, salt, sand, and general crappy riding conditions will wear out equipment much, much faster than the summer, dry bikes.

Wow I clean my drivetrain way more often! I do it once every other weekend when I am riding daily.

RE: Cleaning drivetrain
Pretty much every time I ride in wet conditions they drivetrain needs to be hosed down, wiped down, and then oiled. Sand, salt, and dirt gets in there and it's very rough. With bikes that never see water, I don't clean often. Maybe every 1000 km. Just clean chain with cloth with some degreaser, then re lube and it's ready to go.

Replace parts? As often as they wear out. As a rule of thumb I expect to replace chains and tires around 2,000 miles. Broke a seatpost around 60,000 miles. Those seem to be the extremes (so far).

Cables and housing are an exception, usually once a year. Bar tape gets replaced at the same time.

get 2000 to 2500 miles on a chan in my mid drive e bike. I got 12,000 miles on the drivetrain before I replaced it. it was the chainring that went I think the cassette was still ok. brake pads maybe ever 6000 miles about the same on tires.

In less than 3000 km? Tires, if they are knobby. Rear wheel gets some work, likely. Inexpensive bike wheels are often not tensioned that well. Without some attention after it settles in, you are going to start popping spoke heads.

What damage the rain does to drivetrain or brakes depends a lot on your cleaning and lubing. But we don't get a lot of weather here, so I don't have that factor.

My stuff succumbs to mishap or boredom long before I'd consider it worn out. Especially loading it and bouncing it around in the back of the truck.

I would lose 500 miles on the chain in winter but thats with lots of rain riding.

Most of the junk on my bike is dependable and shouldn't need looked at often but I replace chains more than most because chains are cheaper than chainrings and cassettes.

Chain links are exactly 1/2" long. If you measure from a given pin to one 12" away, the position of the 12" mark on the ruler relative to the second pin gives the information about wear. See THIS and THIS.
Chain checker tools are faster and more convenient, but generally less accurate. I find chain checkers tend to over-estimate wear slightly, which makes them good "screening" tools. I'd rather change a chain a bit too early than risk excessive gear wear, since chains are relatively cheap. If you're a stickler for exact measurement, the ruler method is the way to go.