Cycling: Do you check your chain wear?

Heeeyho Readers! Let's see what you do to preserve your chains!

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Hooorayy! This post is more of an unboxing the unboxed. Yup. I get too excited when the mail rings the bell; before they leave I already have the boxes ripped.

I got a new chain for the mountain-bike after five-thousand kilometers (way past its lifespam). And because 12-speed parts are a hella expensive, I figured a new — more precise — chain checker would be a useful tool to have. Do you check your chain? What the hell is a chain checker?! Let's discuss.

^{Lecycle chain checker}

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From the beginning

The chain transfers power from your legs to the back wheel through the gearing system (chanring and cassette). As any other transmission parts, chains wear out and need replecement; if not, your worn-out chain will damage the rest of the transmission system, hence the importance of checking our chain often.

During my winter trip across Europe (2018-2019), the constant muddy/snowy conditions put a lot of stress onto my bike's chain. I didn't have a checker, so was unable to track any chain wear. When I realized, my worn-out chain had stretched so much that it damaged the chainring and rear sprockets, that later also required replacement, turning a 20 usd repair into an 100 usd repair. Such hassle would've been avoided had I changed the chain a lot sooner. Get the importance of maintaining the chain in order?

Checking the chain

Now... chain checkers are incredibly cheap and easy to use. The most common are the drop-in types: They have little hooks that fit in between the chain rollers, giving us a "go" or "no-go" measurement. If the tool goes all the way in the rollers, it's time to replace. The hook type generally indicates 0.5%, 0,75% and 1% (full wear). Digital chain checkers are the most precise. Either ends of the spectrum will work to indicate us the time to replace our chains, so no need to have the top of the crop.

The chain checker I got lays in between the simplest and the digital. It has a small scale reading chain wear in .25% increments. It advises to replace the chain once the reading is above .75%.

^{Chain checker scale}

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Anyone can check chain wear at home (provided you have the tool, of course). This particular checker has two pins that go in between chain rollers. Like seen below. With the scale zeroed, on a brand new chain, the pins might not even fit into the chain.

^{Drop in pins}

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Once the pins are in between the rollers, we can slide the scale clockwise until it no longer moves. The scale (black part) moves the pin forward, which then pushes the rollers apart, that way measuring chain wear.

As you can see below, my chain reads a little less than .25%, which indicates everything is alright. That chain has ~400 kilometers of use, and I expect to reach 3.000 kilometers before reaching .75%. Will it go that far?

^{New chain reading}

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Just to exemplify, I measured my previous chain, that rode for nearly 5.000 kilometers. See the reading is almost touching the 100% mark. Using a chain for that long is incredibly harmful to the rest of our transmission system. Actually, it's quite impressive that I was not having shifting issues with such a worn-out chain.

^{Worn-out chain}

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Final thoughts

We've seen the importance of maintaining our chains in order to avoid future damages to the transmission. We've also seen how to check our chain once in a while to replace it in time.

How can you get a chain checker? Most bike shops have the simple "drop-in" checker ranging between 5 - 10$. Mine costed ~5$ with a bunch of discounts on a popular Chinese marketplace. Anywhere between 5 - 20$ (more expensive brands) will perform well.

Always remember that it's cheaper on the long run to replace chains than having the entire transmission ruined.

Do you check your chain? If so, how long do they last? What kind of tool do you use?

See you next time

Peace.

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~Love ya all,

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Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking and more than 5.000 km cycling. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.

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I'm Arthur. I blog about Adventure Stories, Brazil, Travel, Camping, & Life Experiences.

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