Cycling UK Forum

mercalia wrote: you in the end filed down or some thing the teeth of the digital calipers didnt you to make sure your measurements were accurate and not measuring the wrong curvature?

er, no and no, not quite.

As I think I mentioned previously I eventually ground the 'internal' jaws of a caliper so they were slimmer, and I did this mainly to allow the caliper to be used more easily on 9/10/11s chain.

Calipers probably vary a fair bit, but the ones I used worked OK 'as is' on 1/8" and 3/32" chain. If you were clumsy I suppose the narrow part of the jaw could end up alongside a roller rather than on it; further grinding might yet be required to make the tool more idiot-proof in this respect.

cheers

My shifting hasn't been as smooth as it should be of late, even though I've been keeping up my maintenance and cleaning. I popped into my local Halford and picked up a chain checker (https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-maintenance/bike-tools/bikehut-chain-wear-checker-164099.html), and checked my chain. Turns out my 7/8-speed chain was almost 1% worn.

Luckily I had a new chain and quick link ready to go, so a quick swap and lube and back to crisp shifting again.

From my experience cleaning a chain is liable to cause more of an issue than just lubricating the chain. I wore a chain out very quickly when i used one of those 'bath type' chain cleaners which uses brushes and fits into position at the rear derailleur. If my chain gets very dirty (eg riding over sand or similar) I'll remove it and clean it with paraffin in a jar (shake vigorously, leave some time. repeat) and after leaving overnight to dry thoroughly, lubed with TF2 and fitted. I also only use a ruler to measure wear.

fastpedaller wrote:From my experience cleaning a chain is liable to cause more of an issue than just lubricating the chain. I wore a chain out very quickly when i used one of those 'bath type' chain cleaners which uses brushes and fits into position at the rear derailleur. If my chain gets very dirty (eg riding over sand or similar) I'll remove it and clean it with paraffin in a jar (shake vigorously, leave some time. repeat) and after leaving overnight to dry thoroughly, lubed with TF2 and fitted. I also only use a ruler to measure wear.

I normally just wipe mine with a clean rag and re-lube as required. Every 6 to 8 weeks I'll deep clean it by removing it, soaking/shaking in citrus degreaser, leaving to sit for an hour, then rinsing it in nearly boiling water to remove the final remnants of degreaser.

The heat means any remaining water quickly evaporates. If I clean my chain first, then hang it to air whilst I'm cleaning the rest of the drivetrain, by the time I'm done I can re-fit the chain and lube (currently using Finishline wet lube).

The chain I've just taken off has done well over 2000 miles

I was looking for chain link pliers and saw this rather expensive chain wear tool from KMC.



https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-maintenance/bike-chain-tool/kmc-digital-chain-checker-421094.html

Only a few £ less than a ton

cheaper elsehwere?
seems like been around for a couple of years
[youtube]F9v7HQRF8K0[/youtube]

mercalia wrote:you in the end filed down or some thing the teeth of the digital calipers didnt you to make sure your measurements were accurate and not measuring the wrong curvature?

Why bother doing that? Lock the caliper at the 12" setting, butt one of the internal jaws against the end of one of the outer plates, press down with your other hand on the pedal to put the chain under tension, see where the other internal jaw is relative to the outer plate at the other end of the caliper. 1/16" elongation corresponds to 0.5% wear.


This is a brand new Campagnolo 10s chain - as I was using one hand to hold the caliper and the other to hold the camera, the chain wasn't properly under tension, so it's indicating less than 0% wear .

the reason why your measurement is already 'wrong' is probably that the chain simply isn't straight; you appear to have the chain set cross-chained on that sprocket/chainring, the part on the chainring will be influencing the measured link, and you are measuring it to one side; it is bound not to be accurate that way. No point in having calipers if you are going to use them like that; a 12" rule would work as well when used in that way....?

There are any number of ways of seeing if the chain is knackered or not, but accurate measurements are a different thing; they can potentially allow you to predict when the chain will be due for replacement.

If you want to take an accurate measurement of chain wear, then using a tool that measures inside the chain is a good way of doing it, provided the roller wear can be allowed for.

cheers

Brucey wrote:There are any number of ways of seeing if the chain is knackered or not, but accurate measurements are a different thing; they can potentially allow you to predict when the chain will be due for replacement.

Why worry about extreme accuracy? All I do is eyeball the elongation over 12", and when it looks like approximately 1/16", I replace the chain. I usually get around 10000-12000km from a chain before it gets to this point. Every second chain I replace the cassette as well.

Sweep wrote: I tend to change chains when I get 0.75 wear indication, very definitely when the KMC 0.8 slots between the links.

I used to replace chains at 0.75% wear (Rohloff Caliber II), but discovered this indication to be too late - new/replacement chains would slip on at least one, usually two of the sprockets.

Been meaning to file some material off my chain checker for ages now …

Edit - just realized this is an old thread.

NickJP wrote:

Brucey wrote:There are any number of ways of seeing if the chain is knackered or not, but accurate measurements are a different thing; they can potentially allow you to predict when the chain will be due for replacement.

Why worry about extreme accuracy? ....

as described.

Also not every user/chain gets the same mileage as you do; another week's use in many cases can tip it past the point at which the cassette is too borked to take a new chain, much as Valbrona describes.

cheers

Valbrona wrote:

Sweep wrote:
I used to replace chains at 0.75% wear (Rohloff Caliber II), but discovered this indication to be too late - new/replacement chains would slip on at least one, usually two of the sprockets.

Been meaning to file some material off my chain checker for ages now …

Edit - just realized this is an old thread.

How many speeds was this chain?
I ask as I seem to recall that 10 or maybe 11 speed ones are supposed to be replaced at 0.5.
Hell, it's not exactly such an old thread.

I gave up measuring 10 speed chains with my checker, and now really err on the side of caution. If I change out a chain a bit too early so to speak, it is a near negligible loss.

A derailleur chain is a chain - only the width varies. Just how much chain width impacts upon wear rate I am not sure, but there are much more significant factors, like what a chain is made out of.

If running a cassette with aluminium or titanium sprockets then I think the aim would be to change out at about 0.5%, but then aluminium cassettes are mostly a thing of the past and titanium sprockets used mostly only for the largest sprockets.

Ah so the too late at 0.75 was 10 speed?

mercalia wrote:I was looking for chain link pliers and saw this rather expensive chain wear tool from KMC.

pretty much a waste of time; the tool is flawed because

a) it doesn't allow for roller wear (just like the cheapest checkers) and
b) the 'zero setting' assumes that the tool was properly made in the first place and is in no way damaged or worn. (You 'close' the caliper and press the zero button...)

So in a nutshell; it is expensive rubbish.

cheers