New Cassette needed?
- Thread starter zoros
- Start date
If you have caught wear and stretch in time, then new chain should be enough.
Pictures always helpful to show condition.
3000 miles on a mid drive bike may well mean it's time for some new parts. A new chain with a worn cassette will often behave worse, so you will soon see if a new cassette is also needed. Easy enough job with £5 worth of tools, plenty of Youtube how to's to help you.
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Look at the cassette teeth to see if its worn; if the teeth on any of the sprockets are pointy rather than flat at the top that sprocket is worn. Probably easiest to replace the whole cassette in that case.
There are probably some gears you don't use much so won't be worn. Comparing sprockets will help you see what wear looks like. If the cassette is worn it should certainly be replaced: as wheeliepete said new chain plus worn cassette = trouble.
Chain about £15, cassette maybe £20-£30. Again as wheeliepete said: unless you feel really uneasy about it, it is an easy job and well worth learning how to do it.
There are probably some gears you don't use much so won't be worn. Comparing sprockets will help you see what wear looks like. If the cassette is worn it should certainly be replaced: as wheeliepete said new chain plus worn cassette = trouble.
Chain about £15, cassette maybe £20-£30. Again as wheeliepete said: unless you feel really uneasy about it, it is an easy job and well worth learning how to do it.
Let's say that you get another 3000 miles after spending £125, thats 4.2 pence per mile. Buy a freewheel / cassette remover and chain tool to make it even cheaper. A good tip is to buy a quick link a different colour to your chain, this makes it easier to see when your chain is muddy and gives you a start / finish point for oiling the chain. I find a grey chain and gold quick link works the best.
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To increase the longevity of your cassette you need to change your chain on a regular basis. When the chain stretches*, it starts to wear the cassette teeth and sort of marries one to the other. Changing the chain at this point will do no good, and as with wheeliepetes post, will behave worse.
What you'll find there is the chain with slip in a clunking sort of way whenever you put any strain on it.
If the cassette is worn, and after 3000km it sure sounds like it is, your only option is to replace both. Nothing else can be done, its fubar.
This is a problem that doesnt get highlighted enough, you must change your chain on a regular basis. One roadie i know(Ex Scottish road champion) changed his after 3 months on his training bike. He opts for the cheapest chain available, because he's changing it on a regular basis so as not to cost a fortune.
*First person that says "A chain doesn't stretch"... im going to bloody scream lol
The truth there is it doesn't stretch, its just a figure of speech. What happens is the rollers between the links wear and the gap between them, as in the distance is stretched. The chain itself doesn't do it physically.
What happens in real time is the rollers are further apart, and instead of them sitting in the lower part of each tooth spacing(Think waves, so were thinking the wave trough as being the bottom of each gap between the teeth on a cassette) So. instead of the roller sitting in the trough, it is forced hard against the leading edge of each tooth. This causes this part to wear, and that in turn prompts the chain roller to try to roll up it. as it wears the ability for the roller to roll over the top is made easier and thats exactly what happens.
So. Buy your chains the cheapest you can find(within reason). Say for a 9 speed chain, a Shimano HG53 will cost about £7.50, a 10 or 11 speed will cost about 10-12 quid, and swop it out 4 times a year is about 30-50 quid/year.
Incidentally. A shop asking £125 is having you pay for a higher quality chain and cassette than you likely need, a cassette even on am 11 speed deore cassette will be about 50 quid at the cheap end, up to £90+ if its a higher end one like slx or xt 11/12spd
PLUS the cost of the shop fitting them, which in itself is an easy job if you invest in some fairly inexpensive tools made for that job.
Chain whip(£6)cassette lockring tool(£7) and the use of a suitable spanner. and a chain breaker -£15, for an expensive one made by a well known bike tool company called Park, or as low as £3.50.
So your big outlay can cost about £30 maximum for the tools, a tenner for a chain, and a tenner each 3 or so months(and in reality probably every six months, so only two new chains a year) for a new chain.
Tomorrows easy lesson from Andybike - Stripping down your thousand pound triple clamp fork
What you'll find there is the chain with slip in a clunking sort of way whenever you put any strain on it.
If the cassette is worn, and after 3000km it sure sounds like it is, your only option is to replace both. Nothing else can be done, its fubar.
This is a problem that doesnt get highlighted enough, you must change your chain on a regular basis. One roadie i know(Ex Scottish road champion) changed his after 3 months on his training bike. He opts for the cheapest chain available, because he's changing it on a regular basis so as not to cost a fortune.
*First person that says "A chain doesn't stretch"... im going to bloody scream lol
The truth there is it doesn't stretch, its just a figure of speech. What happens is the rollers between the links wear and the gap between them, as in the distance is stretched. The chain itself doesn't do it physically.
What happens in real time is the rollers are further apart, and instead of them sitting in the lower part of each tooth spacing(Think waves, so were thinking the wave trough as being the bottom of each gap between the teeth on a cassette) So. instead of the roller sitting in the trough, it is forced hard against the leading edge of each tooth. This causes this part to wear, and that in turn prompts the chain roller to try to roll up it. as it wears the ability for the roller to roll over the top is made easier and thats exactly what happens.
So. Buy your chains the cheapest you can find(within reason). Say for a 9 speed chain, a Shimano HG53 will cost about £7.50, a 10 or 11 speed will cost about 10-12 quid, and swop it out 4 times a year is about 30-50 quid/year.
Incidentally. A shop asking £125 is having you pay for a higher quality chain and cassette than you likely need, a cassette even on am 11 speed deore cassette will be about 50 quid at the cheap end, up to £90+ if its a higher end one like slx or xt 11/12spd
PLUS the cost of the shop fitting them, which in itself is an easy job if you invest in some fairly inexpensive tools made for that job.
Chain whip(£6)cassette lockring tool(£7) and the use of a suitable spanner. and a chain breaker -£15, for an expensive one made by a well known bike tool company called Park, or as low as £3.50.
So your big outlay can cost about £30 maximum for the tools, a tenner for a chain, and a tenner each 3 or so months(and in reality probably every six months, so only two new chains a year) for a new chain.
Tomorrows easy lesson from Andybike - Stripping down your thousand pound triple clamp fork
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Great, accurate and very informative post.3000 miles on a mid drive bike may well mean it's time for some new parts. A new chain with a worn cassette will often behave worse, so you will soon see if a new cassette is also needed. Easy enough job with £5 worth of tools, plenty of Youtube how to's to help you.
Freewheel Bike Chain Whip Cycle Bicycle Cassette Removal Remover Tool Free Wheel 5060645590224 | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Freewheel Bike Chain Whip Cycle Bicycle Cassette Removal Remover Tool Free Wheel at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.www.ebay.co.uk
Many here with mid motor e-bikes would be most happy to achieve 3000 miles before having to changing the cassette and chain.
Others seem to forget that ALL torque from both the human and the motor, passes over the chain on mid motor e-bikes.
Whereas a rear or front e-bike hub motor, only a reduced amount of human torque passes through the chain...and when using the throttle: = NONE!
Simple mechanics!
Not to mention that many e-bikes with hub wheel motors also cost less to buy generally speaking, and have less maintenance needs as well...
"You pays your money and you makes your choice!"
Andy
I don't think this is particularly useful advice nowadays (even though you will indeed see pictures on the net showing large front chainrings worn to within an inch of their life ... actually worn to 100 miles PAST their life!)
For a rear cassette, it can get worn and you can experience slippage problems without the wear being obvious at all. Especially with modern designs, where some of the teeth actually look 'worn' from brand new because they are designed that way to allow easier shifting when under load.
I've had to replace slipping cassettes (usually after fitting a brand new chain) and when I degrease them, clean them up, and compare them to the brand new one, they can be virtually indistinguishable. Yet the new one cures the slipping problem completely!
(And this is why I would never buy a second hand cassette from an unknown seller on ebay - even if they claim its 'hardly used' - you might get lucky, you might not!)
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