My LBS says I need to change my Ultegra 10sp chain at 3000km (1800mi)
IM Lou is coming up soon, do I really need to change it, or maybe they’re just overstocked?
Thanks,
CM
They have guages that can check the wear on the chain. Check out the cassette as well, your cruising gears may be rounded and bent a bit, depending on how you ride/change gears. Check the teeth on the front chain rings as well. Not too many sharkfins I hope.
If there are no issues with the cassette and the chain wear guage indicates that there is still some life in it, leave it on. If however these components are close to being worn out, you might as well change them, as you’ll be doing so soon after the race (and shouldn’t you race with your best gear?)
Now, I am sure someone is going to post that they get 110,000 miles on their cassette and chain and that there is no need to change after 3000. I have significant wear on my Ultegra cassette after 2000 and will change it before my race in September.
You don’t need the gauge that the other poster described. Get a tape measure and measure out 4 links starting at a pin and ending at a pin. If it’s not 4 inches your chain is stretched. Depending on how much will be the gauge on if it should be replaced. If it’s a little, I’d say you don’t really need to, if it’s a lot, say more then 1/8th, then I’d do it. As the other poster said you should replace the cassette as well if you replace the chain, if it’s the same cassette that you’ve been using for that same 3K miles.
Really this is something you’re going to have to do sooner or later, and since the chain has 3K miles on it now, it’s going to be sooner. I’d just go ahead and change it and not worry about it. You can order the parts yourself, and do both the chain and cassette in about 15 minutes and a hand washing.
Get one of these then you’ll know. It’s only a few bucks. http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=5&item=CC-3
A chain will stretch over time. A stretched chain will wear the cogs in a way such that when you put on a new chain, you may have shifting problems. So, you can spend a few bucks on replacing your chain regularly or push it and end up having to replace both the chain and your cassette.
Changing the chain at 2000/3000 miles is about standard. Word of caution, get in some miles on the chain and check it again before the race. I changed mine a week before a race and on race day I dropped the chain a couple of times, it was just a sprint so it cost a bit of time and was pretty annoying.
If you’re checking your chain with a good chain checker and replacing before it’s overly stretched out, you shouldn’t be wearing out the cassette. You definitely shouldn’t be needing to replace cassettes with anywhere near the same frequency as chains if you’re replacing chains properly and lubing them properly.
Yeah, either use the tape measure or the tool to check the stretch. As long as you keep it clean and lubed regularly you can easily exceed the normal mileage limits. As for the casette, just look for wear in it. I got nearly 3 seasons of hard use on my road/training wheels before replacing the original casette (and that was a Tiagra casette) and was on my 3rd chain.
But if you do replace it, do it at least a few weeks ahead to get some miles in it, they usually stretch a little after 200km or so and you need a little adjusting. If you don’t have that in on the bike before your race, you’re prone to chain drops (I replaced mine just before a HIM last year without a problem, but I only rode about 50km before the race and then the 90km in the race, I got it retuned the next week…).
I actually like this one better…
Instead of a “go, no-go” gauge, it actually gives a % wear so you know how close you are to needing to replace the chain. Either one is better than nothing, though.
Thanks for the advice guys. Appreciatye it.