Bike Chain Oiling

Frequency of bike chain replacement?

I just bought a book on bike maintenance and repair, and the author recommends replacing the chain once a month. I found this hard to swallow. How many miles should the chain on a road bike last if cleaned and oiled on a regular basis?

It depends upon how much, and what type of riding you do. When I was racing, and riding 500-600 miles a week. I would replace the chain about every three weeks. Generally 1500-2000 miles. But it’s not just the number of miles that you put on the chain that determines how often it should be replaced, it’s also the type of miles that you ride. The main problem with todays narrower chains is that they stretch. If you’re a very strong rider who pushes big gears up hills, you are much more likely to stretch your chain, and it will need to be replaced much more frequently. If on the other hand you’re a tourer and you tend not to stress your chain very much, and you do proper chain maintenance, than your chain could well last for years.

If you use a chain for too long you run the risk of wearing down the teeth on the rear cogs, and the chainrings. In which case they will have to be replaced, and they are much more expensive than a chain. A high end chain costs about $35, a high end cassette will run you about $275. So you don’t want to keep using the same chain indefinitely, but you also don’t want to waste money buying unnecessary chains. They make a tool for measuring the stretch on your chain. You should be able to pick one up at you LBS for about $25.

All that being said, for the average non-racing cyclist, who does proper chain maintenance, a chain should last for at least 5000 miles, and if you just use your bike for cruising and touring, you could probably get 10,000 miles on it before it needs to be replaced. But I would probably replace it at least once a year, even if it only has a few thousand miles on it, just to be on the safe side.

EDIT: 1×1 speed, you’re probably right, personally I could never imagine going more than a couple thousand miles without replacing the chain. But I also find that even with replacing the chain every 1500-2000 miles, a cassette will still only last me about 10,000 miles before it starts to show definite signs of wear.

But I’m confident that there are people who don’t ride hard enough to stretch their chain. In which case it should be possible, with good chain maintenance, to get a good number of miles out of a chain.

But your opinion is valid, and replacing the chain every 2000 miles is probably a prudent precaution. It’s what I do.

Oiling A Bicycle Chain

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