Out on my mountain bike today and the chain broke. Now the transmission on my MB is worn make no mistake. The chain has more flex in it than a snake and makes a lovely scrunching noise when it does with all the grit it has picked up out on the trails. The rear block has sharks fins for teeth and I am getting a certain amount of "chain suck" on the group set at the front. But I was hoping to get a little more wear out of it before replacing the entire transmission at £+++
My question is this. If I stick a power link in the chain am I asking for another long walk home or should I bite the bullet now and replace the entire transmission and have done with it?
That is what I was thinking. It is just that looking at the chain it doesn't look as though it is about to give out and it was a very steep bit I was trying to get up but I guess you can't tell just by looking at a chain which link is about to give. As a chain wears the links get thinner and thinner making failure more and more likely so time to bite the bullet and splash the cash me thinks.
Harnell wrote:That is what I was thinking. It is just that looking at the chain it doesn't look as though it is about to give out and it was a very steep bit I was trying to get up but I guess you can't tell just by looking at a chain which link is about to give. As a chain wears the links get thinner and thinner making failure more and more likely so time to bite the bullet and splash the cash me thinks.
Or you can just take a few powerlinks with every time you go out, and see how you get on? I guess there's a fair chance it will break again soon, but maybe you can put off replacing it all for a bit.
p.s. sod's law says that the chain will be fine until are in a hurry to get somewhere.
p.p.s. I would probably replace it. Or at least order the bits.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
I have a chain gauge but I get conflicting advice as to what they are actually measuring. Some say stretch some say what they are actually measuring is wear. Either way the chain is definitely longer and more flexible so I guess it is a bit of both. My dilemma with chains and wear is this. Change the chain regularly before it stretches too much and wears the cassette out or wear both together and then replace them at the same time?
I had this dilemma with my road bike last year when I tried to change the old chain for a new one. Trouble was when I put a new chain on the old and slightly worn cassette it started to slip . So I put the old chain back on and my intention was to continue to run the old chain on the old cassette until that started slipping then change the whole lot together. (New chain, new cassette and possibly new small chain ring on the front).
A year on and the old chain and cassette on the road bike are still working fine although the chain is now very worn (the larger of the chain gauges, 1.0, now fits comfortably between the teeth) and the indexing is a little sloppy. I am intending to do the first leg of LJOG this summer (Lands end - S Wales) and after the chain broke on my MTB the other day was wondering if I shouldn't just replace the transmission on the road bike now and have done with it. MTB chains take a lot more strain that road bike chains but there are some pretty steep hills on the N Cornish coast.
BTW I have changed the chain on the MTB for a new one. If it slips on the old cassette then that will get replaced as well.
The lengthening on a chain is definitely wear. In fact you can feel it if you you push two links of a worn chain together - there is a little play.
Having crashed painfully yesterday due to a broken chain when accelerating hard out of the saddle, do yourself a favour and replace it...and sadly all the drivetrain.
A chain checker is a sound investment. Occasionally you can get one of those muddy clayey rides which destroys a chain in 50 miles. Using the checker will save your chainrings and cogs.
Doing the sums suggests saving on new chains is a false economy. You are allowing a cheap part to wear out expensive ones. Keep on top of cleaning and replace chains as they show signs of wear and you can get several chain-lives out of a cassette and several cassette-lives out of a chainring/set. The only exception is where you are confident about having to replace the whole shebang, you might as well do as you did and keep the old chain going.
Chain gauges are fine but a decent metal rule is more than adequate
A chain is a wear and tear item. As soon as it starts not performing replace it. It is cheaper to replace that than to replace the cranks or cassette. It's not a bad thing to wear out a chain it's just you have been putting the miles in.
That depends on the relative cost of your rear cassette/ chain. The last cassette I bought only cost me £8 which was less than the chain but it was on special offer.
Incidentally there is an interesting article on Sheldon Brown's web site http://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html , (if you find this sort of thing interesting that is) on the subject of chain wear. I didn't realise chains wear at the point where the link pin inserts the the side plates. I always thought the wear was happening where the chain ring rubbed on the rollers. Obvious really because that would explain why a chain fails by pulling one of the pins out of the side plates.
Now the transmission on my MB is worn make no mistake. The chain has more flex in it than a snake and makes a lovely scrunching noise when it does with all the grit it has picked up out on the trails. The rear block has sharks fins for teeth and I am getting a certain amount of "chain suck" on the group set at the front. But I was hoping to get a little more wear out of it before replacing the entire transmission at £+++
