Pirkaus

TakingMyTime

Only getting 1500 miles out of a chain seems pretty weird to me. I would think that no matter how hard you're riding and with the cleaning regimen you stated... you should be getting a whole lot more out of your chains.

El Davisimo

Question for everyone in regards to this subject. How often should one change their chain? I ride 30-40 miles every Saturday with my group and another 20 during the week. I usually ride near the beach here in LA.

daoswald

This is what I use on my road bike. Works great, has never failed at the quick-links (nor anywhere else), and I get about 2500 miles of fair weather riding before I replace whether I need to or not. I have a 3x8 hybrid with fenders for bad weather riding, so my 10sp Ultegra chain rarely sees moisture.

NoWhammies

I change mine whenever the chain testing tool shows the chain in the "change me" zone. How often depends entirely on how often I ride.

El Davisimo

Pardon my ignorance, but can you please explain that?

Racing Dan

There is a plethora of chain checker tools out there to gauge if your chain is worn out or not. Often ppl just replace the chain when ever the tool/gauge says so. All the tool do is conveniently measure/gauge if the chain elongation, that result from wear, is enough to warrant replacement. you can use a ruler if you want. - Shimano tl-cn42.

Rides4Beer

The first one was at the recommendation of a shop, I'm wondering if they didn't measure it properly, or just wanted to sell me a chain. I checked my chain again yesterday with the tool, and it only goes in on the .5 side if I push down on it, it doesn't just drop in, which I believe is the correct way to measure. So I'll keep an eye on it, I have a feeling I may be getting a more life than I thought and that my first chain was probably replaced a bit prematurely. I have no shifting or chain skip issues.

NoWhammies

@El Davisimo @Racing Dan gave you a good explanation of what a chain checking tool does. Here's an image gathered from the interwebs to help out too, although this is not the tool that I have/use. Cheers.

TiHabanero

On Shimano systems nothing runs quieter or shifts better than Shimano chains. With that being said, a few years ago I was in a position to put a KMC chain on my daily rider and discovered that it was a wonderful chain and shifted really well. Quiet enough for me and more long lasting than the Shimano and Sram chains I have always used. I am now a convert to KMC chains!

Chi_Z

try avoid cross chain and shifting under load, a chain should last around 3k miles

frogbiscuit

I'm curious, why aren't you measuring the chain with a caliper when it's new, and then rechecking it every so often? Wouldn't that be the true measure of chain wear?

canklecat

I'm satisfied with KMC chains. When my Shimano chains wore out I switched to KMC just to see if they were good and cheap. Yup, they are. Good enough for my bikes. I never spend more than $200 or so for a bike. But if I did, sure, I'd probably match Shimano chains to Shimano drivetrain.

I wax my road bike chains, rotating between sets of identical chains (usually KMC Z72 or Z51) so when the chain is off the bike I'll compare it with a new chain to eyeball it for wear. I usually get more than 3,000 miles per chain. Wax doesn't accumulate road grit so much, my main reason for preferring it for dry weather rides. My errand/rain bike has a wet lubed chain.

I suppose I could use my calipers but then I'd need to keep detailed logs, and figure out some way to identify two or more copies of identical chains. Nah, too much trouble. I rotate chains every month or so, check 'em maybe once a year for wear, but they last a long time and wear at pretty much the same rate.

BTW, chain skipping isn't always caused by excessive wear to chains or rear cogs. Mismatched freewheels and chains can skip when new. Shimano freewheels usually prefer narrow chains (clearly marked "narrow" on the link plates). Shimano spacers between cogs are slightly larger in diameter than some other brands and types. It's a minescule difference in roller diameter and plate size, but non-narrow chains can climb out of the cogs in the smaller cogs. Happened on my errand bike's Shimano MegaRange 7-speed freewheel when I installed the wrong chain. In the three smallest cogs the chain would climb out. Switching to a narrow chain fixed the problem. And SunRace freewheels don't have that problem.

Iride01 

Gosh, assuming it fits and doesn't break when I put what little leg power I have into it, then I'm happy.

Don't know that I could cozy up to one and call it my favorite. Just too much overthinking on chains.

I guess we need someone to set up a site similar to bicyclerollingresistance.com so they can tell us the marginal power requirements for different brands of chain.