Chain wear

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PJ520
Posts: 990
Joined: 23 Mar 2008, 3:49pm
Location: Seattle WA USA

Re: Chain wear

Post by PJ520 »

wearwell wrote:Just noticed this thread. I may be repeating something but my theory of maximising chain life is to never clean it.
Oil it frequently but allow the black road dust to accumulate - it gets ground very fine - if you remove it it just gets replaced it with fresh sharp grit which will wear much faster. The old dust fills voids and "fairs in" spaces, giving protection from fresh grit by allowing it no place to lodge. It's a bit mucky if you need to handle a chain though.
I replace chains (and /or blocks, chain rings) when they start to fail i.e. slip over the teeth. You have to look closely to see which bits need replacing and perhaps even measure the chain to see how far it's gone.


Music to my ears. I hate cleaning chains. a filthy boring task. From an utterly unscientific viewpoint it seems that solvents etc do as much harm as good by washing out lubricant as well as dirt, then how do you know the new lubricant has got to where it's needed. I got so fed up with chain maintenance I took the advice on the DumondTech bottle literally "Don't re-lube until you can hear your chain". My aging hearing must be on the wane, other people were telling me my chain was noisy and I couldn't hear a thing. Ah well, that meant short chain life <1000 miles. Now after some argy bargy on the Adventure Cycling site I now lube my chain often and wipe the excess off with a paper towel (a used one) and things seem to be lasting longer. If it's been in the wet I wipe the chain off and relube. We'll see how this regime works out I've a tour coming up in May of about 1500 miles with some hills (Canadian parks)
You only live once, which is enough if you do it right. - Mae West
wearwell
Posts: 357
Joined: 3 Feb 2011, 8:45am

Re: Chain wear

Post by wearwell »

Pete Jack wrote:
wearwell wrote:Just noticed this thread. I may be repeating something but my theory of maximising chain life is to never clean it.
Oil it frequently but allow the black road dust to accumulate - it gets ground very fine - if you remove it it just gets replaced it with fresh sharp grit which will wear much faster. The old dust fills voids and "fairs in" spaces, giving protection from fresh grit by allowing it no place to lodge. It's a bit mucky if you need to handle a chain though.
I replace chains (and /or blocks, chain rings) when they start to fail i.e. slip over the teeth. You have to look closely to see which bits need replacing and perhaps even measure the chain to see how far it's gone.


Music to my ears. I hate cleaning chains. a filthy boring task. From an utterly unscientific viewpoint it seems that solvents etc do as much harm as good by washing out lubricant as well as dirt, then how do you know the new lubricant has got to where it's needed. I got so fed up with chain maintenance I took the advice on the DumondTech bottle literally "Don't re-lube until you can hear your chain". My aging hearing must be on the wane, other people were telling me my chain was noisy and I couldn't hear a thing. Ah well, that meant short chain life <1000 miles. Now after some argy bargy on the Adventure Cycling site I now lube my chain often and wipe the excess off with a paper towel (a used one) and things seem to be lasting longer. If it's been in the wet I wipe the chain off and relube. We'll see how this regime works out I've a tour coming up in May of about 1500 miles with some hills (Canadian parks)

I did 1500 miles or so last year heavily laden and hilly (France cycle camping and a few other excursions)> I didn't clean the chain before I went and I haven't cleaned it since. It's fine. I just flood it with oil and occasionally wipe off thick accumulations of black gunge as necessary.
Psamathe
Posts: 17616
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Chain wear

Post by Psamathe »

Brucey wrote:...
The idea of using a chain wear gauge is that you have a chance to fit a new chain before the cassette is so worn that it won't take a new chain without jumping. This is usually about 1/3rd as much wear as you would find in a 'completely cream-crackered' cassette and chain.
...

Last Dec when working on my bike my LBS said chain was "marginal" and as I was having gear changing problems I got them to replace it. They reckoned the cassette was OK. I found with old cassette/new chain when I start off from stationary I got a slight slip but it was OK when underway. Called LBS and they said that it was probably OK, could happen if things were close but the expected the slipping when pulling from stationary would settle down after a week or so and that it had probably been caught in time. I had my doubts but it did settle down quickly as they said and then no problems what so ever.

Ian
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