How long should my ebike chain last?

[georgehenry]

Hi all,

Must be me then!

I do ride my bike in a way that could lead to faster wear in my transmission and for me it is the top gear cog that starts to be troublesome rather than any of the others.

I just use my bike to get me to work and back and this often involves a 13 mile predominantly off road route to work on the sandy tracks of Surrey that inevitably gets everything dirty however clean it starts before a 10 mile road trip home in mostly top gear.

I probably do around 100 miles a week when I am working and rack the miles up quite quickly and am probably getting a reasonable mileage out of my cassettes before I change them when I think about it.

Like Eddie I view chains and cassettes as things that are going to wear out and need changing.

With the thunder storms I went in the car today and it made me realize that I had not done so for months and that 10 miles is quite a long way. It also made me appreciate how fantastic my sDuro yamaha is to enable me to do the journey every day (I work a 4 day week) on a bike carrying a quite substantial 54 year old me and two full panniers.

 

[mab13]

Related to chain wear:

How many cogs can one shift up or down smoothly?

I am thinking about building a mid-drive specific cassette - would 5 teeth be asking too much?

11-16-21-24-28-31-34 for example with the big jumps being changing up downhill. Gears most used on the flat will be 5th and 4th. Changing down on steeper slopes will be a softer 3 tooth change.

For what it's worth, SRAM's EX1 8spd cassette is... 11t, 13t, 15t, 18t, 24t, 32t, 40t, 48t... so smaller jumps between smaller cogs, rather than vice versa.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Thanks!

 

[Jon Matthews]

I know this topics been done to death and I'm still puzzled. I changed my first chain at 600 miles from new on my Bosch CX mid drive ebike. I bought a new KMC X10 chain and after I'd installed it I took out my new Park Tools chain gauge and it said it was 25% worn. I've now done a 1000 miles more and it still shows 25% worn. I am a regular lubricator .

 

[vfr400]

I know this topics been done to death and I'm still puzzled. I changed my first chain at 600 miles from new on my Bosch CX mid drive ebike. I bought a new KMC X10 chain and after I'd installed it I took out my new Park Tools chain gauge and it said it was 25% worn. I've now done a 1000 miles more and it still shows 25% worn. I am a regular lubricator .

I would chuck that chain gauge. Lubricate the chain when it makes grinding noises. Replace it when it makes grinding noises after you lubricate it.

 

[D C]

I'd forgotten this thread, going back to my post 122, I can't believe I'm still on the same two chains and cassette.

The spares I bought at the same time are still in my tool box and gear changes are still sweet as ever.
Dave.

 

[Nealh]

I'm with vfr and don't bother with a chain gauge, and keep just keep an eye on the chain lubing. Once or twice a year I sometimes use a foot ruler and measure for strectch, but generally only change if it starts skipping or breaks. Out on a run I always carry a spare chain, splitter and a few spare chain links.

 

[Jon Matthews]

Thanks guys, clearly I got sucked in by some YouTube hype. I always take a quick link and chain splitter in my tool bag. When I was getting rear tyre punctures before I changed to Scwalbe Marathon plus, I also packed some disposable gloves with my tools, and still do as repairing a chain is a right mucky job.

 

[vfr400]

Thanks guys, clearly I got sucked in by some YouTube hype. I always take a quick link and chain splitter in my tool bag. When I was getting rear tyre punctures before I changed to Scwalbe Marathon plus, I also packed some disposable gloves with my tools, and still do as repairing a chain is a right mucky job.

There are people on Youtube, and on this forum, who think that their cassette is worn after 500 miles, which would be about 10 miles on each cog.

 

[Jon Matthews]

I'm learning