Life span of 10sp Ultegra Chain

[Tjommie]

Hey guys

 

I did approximetly 4900 km on my groupset since I bought it. Would it be a good idea to replace the chain now or wait a bit. Bike was in LBS on about 4200 km for something else and they said the chain is still fine. I spin and ride light gears most of the time.

 

Generally speaking, what's the life span of a 10sp chain, I did 8000km on my 9sp without replacing the chain once.

 

[David #7]

If it aint broke dont fix it.

[AndreZA]

If it aint broke dont fix it.

 

Exactly. Measure it and see if it is stretched. YOu should get 10 000+ km out of it if you ride light gears as you say.

 

 

[Cois]

Do some maths to get the mm measure

 

 

 

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html

 

 

 

Bottom of the page.

 

 

 

 

[greatwhite]

Depends how often you want to replace chainrings and clusters. If you ride hard throwing a chain away after 5000km is a good idea - fairly regular chain changes (which are cheap) will reduce the frequency of replacing chainrings and clusters (which are expensive). You will also find that new chains will jump and generally cause nonsense when fitted to a cluster that has previously been used with a well streched chain, forcing you replace the cluster anyway - so, if in doubt change the chain.

[TYGA]

What mileage should you be getting on a half-decent chain if the bikes only used for MTBing?

[Racer X]

How long is a piece of string? Depends how you ride, where you ride, what the weather conditions are etc. With regular racing I go through about two drivetrains a year. Thats a cassette, chainrings, and chain.

[jabbathemutt007]

 

Hey guys

 

I did approximetly 4900 km on my groupset since I bought it. Would it be a good idea to replace the chain now or wait a bit. Bike was in LBS on about 4200 km for something else and they said the chain is still fine. I spin and ride light gears most of the time.

 

Generally speaking' date=' what's the life span of a 10sp chain, I did 8000km on my 9sp without replacing the chain once.

 [/quote']

 

The lifespan depends on how often you clean it and the rest of the drivetrain. And it has nothing to do with what gears you ride as its dirt grinding away inside the rollers and not your awesome power that causes chain wear.

[greatwhite]

Hey guys

 

I did approximetly 4900 km on my groupset since I bought it. Would it be a good idea to replace the chain now or wait a bit. Bike was in LBS on about 4200 km for something else and they said the chain is still fine. I spin and ride light gears most of the time.

 

Generally speaking' date=' what's the life span of a 10sp chain, I did 8000km on my 9sp without replacing the chain once.

 [/quote']

The lifespan depends on how often you clean it and the rest of the drivetrain. And it has nothing to do with what gears you ride as its dirt grinding away inside the rollers and not your awesome power that causes chain wear.

 

Yes and no - cleaning the crap out is defininately the 1st step, but assuming there will always be some residual junk, the harder the force on the chain, the more the grinding effect there will be.

[Johan Bornman]

Hey guys

 

I did approximetly 4900 km on my groupset since I bought it. Would it be a good idea to replace the chain now or wait a bit. Bike was in LBS on about 4200 km for something else and they said the chain is still fine. I spin and ride light gears most of the time.

 

Generally speaking' date=' what's the life span of a 10sp chain, I did 8000km on my 9sp without replacing the chain once.

 [/quote']

The lifespan depends on how often you clean it and the rest of the drivetrain. And it has nothing to do with what gears you ride as its dirt grinding away inside the rollers and not your awesome power that causes chain wear.

 

I hate to be the second person to pee on your battery this morning (I prefer to be first ) .  The gear you ride in does have an effect on chain life. The smaller the sprocket, the more the chain has to bend and the quicker it wears. In other words, compact cranks wear chains out faster than standard cranks. How much faster? A small fraction faster.  But I do feel that we need some clarity here.

 

And yes, the more tension you apply to the chain, the faster it wears too.

 

Therefore wear is accellerated by:

Chain width

Dirt

Tension

Sprocket size (due to more bending and more revolutions per distance travelled)

Lack of lubrication

Cross-chaining

 

 

 

[The Pirate]

I try and replace my single bike and tandem chains every 5000 km. That way my cassette stays good for about 20 000 km's. To also save the life of your cassette and chain try not to ride in the top left back gear ( easy ) while on the big chainring at the front and the other way around as well

[Johan Bornman]

I try and replace my single bike and tandem chains every 5000 km. That way my cassette stays good for about 20 000 km's. To also save the life of your cassette and chain try not to ride in the top left back gear ( easy ) while on the big chainring at the front and the other way around as well

You are bullsh*tting yourself and anyone here who reads advice into your ritual.

 

Distance is a poor indicator of chain life, as discussed many, many many times here. The ONLY indicator of chain health is a measurement. We do this to see whether we've exceeded the 1% allowable elongation. Within 1% of wear, a chain does not eat sprockets. After 1% it starts to damage the sprocket and by the time the chain has elongated by 2%, the sprocket will be unusable with a new chain. Even if you change your chain every kilometer, you won't get more sprocket life than with the 1% method.

 

In the absence of a FAQ here on The Hub, I suggest you research this by searching for "12 inches" or "1% wear" in previous posts. Failing that, I can e-mail you an essay on chain and sprockets.

 

And BTW, the type of riding you describe above is called cross-chaining. On a 9spd or such bike there are effectively 4 sprocket positions that will constitute cross-chaining.

 

 

 

 

[Minion]

 

In the absence of a FAQ here on The Hub' date=' I suggest you research this by searching for "12 inches" or "1% wear" in previous posts.

[/quote']

...and whatever you do, DO NOT do a Google search using the first of those key phrases.

 

Seriously though. Johan, didn't you have a chain article posted on your website? I had a quick look but couldn't find it.

 

[AndreZA]

[TXS cyclist]

Its all relative. It comes down to how you ride and how u take care of the chain.

 

Like mampara said. measure it and make a decision. Do not ride the chain till it breaks..

[Goodbadugly]

Don't own a road bike. Only MTB. I ride mostly on dirtroads, singletrack. Many nasty climbs. A chain (HG93) will rarely last more than 1500km. At 1800km it will start eating the casette. Been there, done that... I meticulously clean and lube the chain regularly.

 

I measure it with a Park tool and the 12 inch ruler.