Chain and Cogs: Don’t wait too long!

[hozn]

Maybe you ride gently? Half kidding I definitely know there are folks that get 10k on chains without fenders, so I don’t think the fenders are a significant factor. But I could be wrong. I do definitely get longer chain life on the bike that doesn’t get ridden in the rain as much. But I noticed no difference in chain life moving from almost-touching-ground mudflap to no mudflap. (Also no significant difference in how dry/wet my feed ended up, though I suspect there was *some* difference if someone were to apply science there.)

[dkel]

I would actually buy the riding gently theory, in particular compared to someone like you, who does 20 miles of off-roading on the way to work, and has an average speed 30% higher than mine. I do plenty of all-weather abusing of my bike, so I’m not sure that’s related (I’m also pretty bad about servicing the chain after a wet ride—I tend to just stick to the regular schedule). Like I said, whatever it is, you won’t hear me complaining!

[AFHokie]

@TwoWheelsDC 130843 wrote:

Before buying a new cassette, try adjusting the RD…shift into one of the skip-y gears, lift the rear wheel off the ground and crank the pedals while twisting the barrel adjuster until the skipping stops (if the RD shifts a cog, you’ve twisted too far). Then run through the gears and re-adjust as needed. If you can’t get the skipping to stop, then it may indeed be time for a new cassette.

If you don’t have a stand readily available, just hang your bike on a tree branch from the nose of the saddle.

Part of the problem is I can’t put enough of a load on the drivetrain to get it to skip while on the stand. Freewheeling on the stand it’s fine, but when I apply more force while riding to increase the torque to get up a hill or accelerate, it starts to skip.

On the way home I narrowed it down to where it only happens on the 21 & 18 cog while on the middle chainring and while on the small chainring it will skip on 21 and smaller. It’s also much worse on the small chainring. I use the middle ring (especially with the 21 & 18 cogs) the most so that makes sense if they’re worn. I rarely use the small ring so I’m not sure how the change in rings has any affect other than less teeth to spread the load across.

[hozn]

@AFHokie 130889 wrote:

Part of the problem is I can’t put enough of a load on the drivetrain to get it to skip while on the stand. Freewheeling on the stand it’s fine, but when I apply more force while riding to increase the torque to get up a hill or accelerate, it starts to skip.

On the way home I narrowed it down to where it only happens on the 21 & 18 cog while on the middle chainring and while on the small chainring it will skip on 21 and smaller. It’s also much worse on the small chainring. I use the middle ring (especially with the 21 & 18 cogs) the most so that makes sense if they’re worn. I rarely use the small ring so I’m not sure how the change in rings has any affect other than less teeth to spread the load across.

yeah if it’s only skipping under load, then the problem is [almost certainly] not an RD adjustment issue. Sounds like you just need new cassette, chain — and probably chain rings. (It is typical for the middle rings to wear out first since that is where most folks spend most of their time. You might also be experiencing front ring skipping, or maybe the slightly different chain angles is exacerbating the problems with the cogs.)

[DismalScientist]

@hozn 130890 wrote:

It is typical for the middle rings to wear out first since that is where most folks spend most of their time.

Oh puhlease. Only pansies use middle rings.:rolleyes:

[hozn]

I meant to say middle cogs, but I suppose that is also true of middle rings!

[AFHokie]

@hozn 130890 wrote:

yeah if it’s only skipping under load, then the problem is [almost certainly] not an RD adjustment issue. Sounds like you just need new cassette, chain — and probably chain rings. (It is typical for the middle rings to wear out first since that is where most folks spend most of their time. You might also be experiencing front ring skipping, or maybe the slightly different chain angles is exacerbating the problems with the cogs.)

Damn, thought I swapped chains in time. It was right at .75; would not freely drop between the rollers, but it would fit if pressed.

Excessive wear (in relation to the rest) on those few cogs would make sense since my commute routes about the only trip I ride on that bike…that drive train probably gets the same wear for the same duration with little variation daily.

Guess I’ll pick up a new cassette at REI tomorrow

[hozn]

I found 0.75 was too far gone for me to just swap chains, so I started changing at 0.5. [Back when I believed in such things.] If you still have your previous chain you could try putting it back on, but I am guessing the shop didn’t give that back to you.

[Vicegrip]

@hozn 130860 wrote:

So replacing chains between 0.50 and 0.75 for me gets me roughly 4 chains per cassette — or about 6k miles at 1.5k miles per chain. (On my commuter.) Last cassette I decided to just run the chain and cassette to the ground together and I got ~4500 miles on the chain and cassette before it started skipping (ever) and ran it up to about 5k before I felt like the performance really was suffering. So I don’t think I’ll change chains out anymore — at least not to save money.

Agree that you can run them down together. I can feel and have grown to like the slick smooth goodness of a fresh chain that is meshing well on non shark toothed cogs and rings as I pedal and shift. The feel chain skip is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me. I guess I am a mechanic through and through and saddle time gives me time to think about little stuff just a wee bit too much.

I have been getting more time off a chain than I used to. Present one is near the end of service life at almost 3K miles. I stopped using Rock and Roll lube, went to a slightly heavier gear weight chain lube and got far better about re-oiling. I stock up on chains when I find good deals. One size fits all for me still (10 speed) and they are easy to change.

[hozn]

Yeah, I agree about the skipping; I have little tolerance so the 2nd or 3rd time it skips I throw it out. But by the 3rd chain it no longer felt very fresh putting on a new chain. I guess I just can’t feel the difference, or at least difference enough to spend an extra $75-90 per cassette change.

[Vicegrip]

@hozn 130899 wrote:

Yeah, I agree about the skipping; I have little tolerance so the 2nd or 3rd time it skips I throw it out. But by the 3rd chain it no longer felt very fresh putting on a new chain. I guess I just can’t feel the difference, or at least difference enough to spend an extra $75-90 per cassette change.

Your big motor drowns out any chain line vibration.

[huskerdont]

I usually get about 5000 on my road bike chains and cassettes, and switch them out at the same time to avoid skipping. I use dry lube and relube/wipe off dirt anytime the chain gets wet. For the mountain bike, however, I get a lot less mileage because of all the grit and the fact that I’ve broken chains while mountain biking and it’s not fun.

[Author]

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