With proper maintenance/replacing chain once per season, etc…
How long should they last
With proper maintenance/replacing chain once per season, etc…
How long should they last
They should last tens of thousands of miles, but unless you’re not riding much I’d expect to change the chain more often then that.
Hugh
Do you ride 2000 miles per season? If not, you need to change your chain more than once per season. With proper maintenance, cleaning, and timely changing of chains and cassettes, you could get 20.000 miles from chainrings, easy. At least that’s been my experience with Campagnolo rings.
Few 10s of thousand of miles or so. My road bike is from 2008 and still have the original chain ring on it.
my 7950 rings lasted only ~18k miles while my friend stated that his lasted a lot longer. much of this has to do with poor maintenance on my part. It eventually got bad enough that i was dropping chain (toward the inside) during races.
With proper maintenance/replacing chain once per season, etc…
How long should they last
My Campy front chainrings from 2010 on my hi-milage commuter bike are still in decent shape, prolly have 15, 000 km plus.
Really depends on the original quality of the chainring. Campy will pretty much last until you are sick of riding that bike. I have had horrible experience/luck with Shimano. Unde 4000 miles on an Ultegra big chain ring and 2 years on mountain bike chain rings.
Once upon a time Campy did mountain bike stuff (about 1989 or 90). My brother still rides my Campy mountain bike, so that’s 25 years at least.
I have a bunch of big chainrings I’ve been carrying around on long rides, for years and years now. Virtually all of them are brand new, never been used.
Neither of the Watts I push on the bike ever feel the need to use the big chainring, Likewise, the 11 tooth cog
1-2 years if you run chains that long.
Key to chainring and cassette life is changing chains often.
Also, maintenance/lubing habits matter as does the quality and size of rings.
Smaller rings wear more quickly.
I have about 10,000 miles on road bike and the chain rings look hardly worn when compared to brand new ones. I wash / lube my bike often and replace the chain when worn out (using a Park tools chain checker)
Currently over 50000 km on my 7900 series durace and show now appreciable wear.
I just replaced the rings on a friends venge that have been destroyed by one chain being used until there were noise problems that lead them to bring it to me to check.
All depends on your maintenance.
If you replace your chain in a timely manner your front rings will last considerably longer. I have a set of DA9000 chain rings that have about 30,000 km on them over the span of three years of riding and they are in great shape. I’ve gotten close to 75,000 km out of previous gen dura ace rings as well. Use a chain stretch tool, replace chains when needed and the other replacement parts will last much longer. It also helps to keep the drivetrain clean. I know some people who love their gravel but that stuff grinds down your stuff more quickly.
Have a 2004 road bike with something like 35,000 miles on it, had to change the big ring a couple of years back, it wasn’t really causing any problems but I was starting to wear out chains pretty quickly and it looked worn so figured it might help and is relatively inexpensive.
I have about 10,000 miles on road bike and the chain rings look hardly worn when compared to brand new ones. I wash / lube my bike often and replace the chain when worn out (using a Park tools chain checker)
good reminders about chain replacement. I tend to be a cheapskate and for chains - it’s better to replace often. It really DOES make a difference on cassette and chainring wear - cheaper in the long run.
I did mine recently, and will do them more often. (chain replacement that is…)
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie-Pop?
Same thing. I’ve never had a bike out last the front chain rings.
I have a 2004 bike with Shimano Ultegra chain rings that have 40,000+ miles on them and are still going strong.
I have a 2013 bike with Shimano Ultegra chain rings and the big ring had to be replaced at about 15,000 miles.
Not sure if the materials changed but, the newer bike is a compact and while I love the compact, I do tend to run cross chained more often now as I tend to just stay in the big ring most of the time even when I could shift down. I suspect that had something to do with it. .