Chain replacing.

[mjr]

I'm still a bit confused. I'm pretty careful to replace my chains when the wear gets to 0.5%. Is the general opinion that I should replace the cassette if the chain slips having done so, or are there actual visual clues on the cassette?

Thanks.

I'm not General Opinion, but I change it if a new chain skips or does other fruity things. So far, that's generally fixed things - most recently, an intemittent grinding noise in one gear that seems to be a bowed second-smallest sprocket because of my awesome thigh power

 

[boydj]

0.5% is a bit early to change a chain, in my opinion. I normally change at 0.75% and still get at least 2 chains for each cassette. There's no way of telling by looking at a cassette if a new chain will slip (unless the wear is extreme) - you just have to try it out and be prepared to change if required.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I tend to adhere to 'best practice' and replace the chain and cassette together, unless it's a chain change because the chain has failed on a ride, and I haven't got a cassette or the bits to sort it with me. If a chain has reached it's stretch limit, I'll replace the chain and cassette together.

 

[the snail]

I tend to adhere to 'best practice' and replace the chain and cassette together, unless it's a chain change because the chain has failed on a ride, and I haven't got a cassette or the bits to sort it with me. If a chain has reached it's stretch limit, I'll replace the chain and cassette together.

That isn't best practice, It's throwing out perfectly serviceable cassettes which would last 2-3x as long without any problems, i.e. money down the drain.

 

[boydj]

Depends what stretch limit you use. A cassette should last at least 2 chains and possibly 3, depending on riding style and conditions if chains are changed before 0.75% wear.

 

[Tim Hall]

I tend to adhere to 'best practice' and replace the chain and cassette together, unless it's a chain change because the chain has failed on a ride, and I haven't got a cassette or the bits to sort it with me. If a chain has reached it's stretch limit, I'll replace the chain and cassette together.

'Best practice' as defined by whom?

 

[mjr]

'Best practice' as defined by whom?

Cassette sellers, clearly.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Posters on this thread may like to see the sequel to the OP's chain experience in his latest thread.

 

[andrew_s]

Nice photos but not a representative example. This is a single-speed sprocket that's been turned over after it wore out on the one side. A cassette sprocket cannot wear like that because it will skate long before it gets to that stage and of course it cannot be reversed, so the teeth never become that small

Here you are, out of the middle of a 6-speed cassette, at the point it became unusable

 

[S-Express]

Those teeth are broken, rather than 'worn' though...

 

[Ajax Bay]

I have some difficulty with the 'at the point it became unusable' phrase for that sprocket.

 

[marshmella]

Sorry to hijack the thread but ive just changed the cassette and chain on my Giant and was wondering if you have to clean that sticky grease off the brand new chain or will be ok to leave on ?

 

[si_c]

Sorry to hijack the thread but ive just changed the cassette and chain on my Giant and was wondering if you have to clean that sticky grease off the brand new chain or will be ok to leave on ?

Leave it.

 

[marshmella]

Leave it.

Cheers

 

[andrew_s]

I have some difficulty with the 'at the point it became unusable' phrase for that sprocket.

It's from a 6-speed uniglide cassette, which have been virtually unobtainable for many years, so it got pushed a lot further than would normally be the case.