[HoldingOn]

I met a gent on my cycle home Friday, who mentioned he had three chains for his bike. I said I thought it odd to have a chain for different types of route (my first thought) He explained that he “rotates them once month and they last longer”
I suppressed my initial response “don’t they rotate as you cycle?” but that meant he moved on to another subject.
My question – what does he mean and does it help chains last longer? Does giving the chain a rest help prevent it stretching?

Topic

[HoldingOn]

Wow! I dream of getting 6
Wow! I dream of getting 6,000km out of a chain! My bike has only just cleared 5,000km
Thank you. I’ve got some great tips from everyone on here on chain care. Hopefully I will be able to update in a couple of months that I am still using the same chain ?

[matthewn5]

Wipe down, wash with a weak

Wipe down, wash with a weak solution of detergent in warm water, reapply sewing machine oil, wipe off again. I get about 2,500km out of a chain on the winter bike and 6,000km so far on the summer bike without discernable signs of wear yet.

[check12]

life’s too short, use rock

life’s too short, use rock and roll gold, get a shimano chain checker, the rest don’t work correctly, and change when needed. 

[Sriracha]

marmotte27 wrote:

marmotte27 wrote:

I’d say trust chain manufacturers to put the right stuff on their chains…

The manufacturers are not interested in tribology so much as corrosion. They prep their chains for shelf life in the supply chain.

[Sriracha]

Hirsute wrote:

Hirsute wrote:

I thought knc were reusable a few times and Shimano not.
I bought 2 kmc chains for £20 and then decided it can be a consumable item.

KMC make both, re-usable and the other sort. The reusable variety have an R in the product code, and “re-usable” on the packet!

In the photo, the dark one is reusable, the silver one is not.

[hawkinspeter]

Adam Sutton wrote:

I had read that you can get away with reusing a shimano link, and have reused one a couple of times. I just took the chain off for a thorough clean and degrease and did replace the link yesterday, and I will say a new link is a lot tighter and harder to engage than a used one. I always bung the used ones in my top tube bag for emergencies though.

Good idea to re-use the links as spares. When I was re-using links, they did seem to get looser, so I guess the wear is at the joining holes and after too much use they don’t hold together and can separate whilst riding (though that was after about 10 re-uses which is excessive).

[Adam Sutton]

hawkinspeter wrote:

Hirsute wrote:

I thought knc were reusable a few times and Shimano not. I bought 2 kmc chains for £20 and then decided it can be a consumable item.

I bet the Shimano links are no different to the KMC ones, but carry a spare pair of links for if/when they get too worn whilst out on a ride. I like to carry spare links anyhow as you never know if you might want them and they don’t weigh you down too much.

I had read that you can get away with reusing a shimano link, and have reused one a couple of times. I just took the chain off for a thorough clean and degrease and did replace the link yesterday, and I will say a new link is a lot tighter and harder to engage than a used one. I always bung the used ones in my top tube bag for emergencies though.

[HoldingOn]

What kind of regime do you do
What kind of regime do you do with your chain and do you know how long they last?
I currently brush my chain with dish washing liquid. Definitely not recommended as my chains last about 1,000km. Tomorrow the chain is coming off and going in for a proper clean!

[matthewn5]

HoldingOn wrote:

I’m sure someone has based a scientific paper around chain wear, if not there is a potential PhD for someone 

Not quite a PhD, but there was an engineering student buying used cassettes on EBay in 2018, who I corresponded with, as he wanted to know the maintenance regime the original owners had used. After detailed examination of wear to cassettes, he said his findings showed that big brand solvent-borne lubricants didn’t do a good job at all, leading to direct metal-to-metal contact, and thus added wear. I seem to remember that he concluded that light machine oil was the best chain lubricant.  I’ve used sewing machine oil ever since!

 

[levestane]

http://pardo.net/bike/pic

http://pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-004/000.html

explains.

[hawkinspeter]

marmotte27 wrote:

I’d say trust chain manufacturers to put the right stuff on their chains…

By all means do what you want, but chain manufacturers don’t care about cleaning their chains after a ride.

[Anonymous]

I’d say trust chain

I’d say trust chain manufacturers to put the right stuff on their chains…

[Sriracha]

hawkinspeter wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

HoldingOn wrote:

Perhaps I wax the chain during the drier summer months and oil it when it starts to get wet again.

There does seem to be one area of agreement though – I’m definitely not cleaning my chain sufficiently!

Probably best to not mix the two methods – treat yourself to a different chain…

…or three!

[hawkinspeter]

Hirsute wrote:

Hirsute wrote:

I thought knc were reusable a few times and Shimano not. I bought 2 kmc chains for £20 and then decided it can be a consumable item.

I bet the Shimano links are no different to the KMC ones, but carry a spare pair of links for if/when they get too worn whilst out on a ride. I like to carry spare links anyhow as you never know if you might want them and they don’t weigh you down too much.

[Hirsute]

I thought knc were reusable a
I thought knc were reusable a few times and Shimano not.
I bought 2 kmc chains for £20 and then decided it can be a consumable item.

[Author]

Replies