Bike chain how long

How you ride affects the life of your chain. Riding at a high cadence is typically not only more efficient, but also cost effective. Pedaling in a tougher gear puts more stress on the chain, significantly shortening its lifespan. Also, avoid cross-chaining—the practice of using the small chainring and small cog in the rear, or large chainring and large cog in the rear—if you don't want to stretch out your chain.

Replacing your chain regularly can prolong the life of your drivetrain. Most mechanics agree that you should replace your chain about every 2, to 3, miles, depending on your riding style.

Many Tour De France riders wear out two or even three chains on their primary bike over the course of the three-week race. The easiest way to determine if you need a new chain is to use a chain-checker , which measures how badly your current chain has stretched. Although a properly maintained chain can technically last nearly 8, miles, it becomes much less efficient as it wears and elongates, says Jason Smith of Colorado-based research firm Friction Facts, with two watts of lost power for every one percent of elongation.

See the position of travel where the rear wheel is furthest away from the cranks. To achieve this with air shocks just let the air out, while for ones with spring one has to remove the shock, remove the spring, then put the shock back.

Rear derailleur chain wrap capacity may not be big enough. This results in a situation that in a small-small chainring combination, the chain is too slack and can even fall off chainrings on bumpy roads.

The third method is potentially dangerous, because in a big-big combination the chain will no longer be long enough. This can result in tearing the rear derailleur when changing to the biggest sprocket at the rear if the big chainring is used in the front. Small-small and big-big combinations are combinations to avoid anyway, because the chain is cross-chained in those combos, the same gear ratio can be achieved with a middle-middle combination easily.

Still, it can happen that in a moment of lesser caution, one does shift into one of those combinations. That is why, if method 1 is not possible for any reason financial or some other , it is safer to use method 2 than method 3. Related post — How to lubricate a bicycle chain:. The chain can typically go down by at least a few inches as the derailleur cage gives up the slack.

For typical chainstay lengths, a 3 inch drop means you can add one tooth with the current chain. A drop of 4. But that can be useful as a warning not to stay in that combo if you inadvertently select it. Will give this a try. I usually take the lower part of the chain in the big-big combo, holding two links that are not adjacent, pulling them towards each other.

Just over 0. Make sure the chain is engaged fully on the teeth of the largest cog. Pull the chain tight. Engage the closest pin to where the two ends could be joined on the chainring. From this closest chain pin, count four rivets. Cut the chain at this fourth rivet only if it matches the opposite end according to your joining method. If it does not match, then add another rivet. You can also use this method on most double-chainring setups but adding two rivets instead of four.

For mountain bikes with rear suspension, you must account the distance between the cassette and front chainring that changes as the suspension moves through its travel. Get you bike on a repair stand. Remove a shock bolt and compress the linkage. Hold it in place by wrapping a toe strap or bungee cord around the rear wheel and the frame. At this point, the cassette cogs and front chainring are the farthest apart.

If you use a master link power link, extra link, snap link — or whatever make sure you break the chain at a point that allows the extra link to be inserted properly. Basically, that means the chain needs to be a little longer to allow motion of the suspension because the back wheel usually moves away from the crank as the suspension is compressed.

Measure with the suspension compressed. Typically, a couple links will do the job. I love the featured image at the top of this post. At first glance it looks awesome, but look closer.