Bike Shop said chain had about 20% life left. It’s just 700km old, same shop changed it and said cassette and front chainring don’t need to be changed (both about 3200km) now they say everything should be replaced soon.
I have a chain measuring tool from shimano, which does not sink in very much, the bike shop one did have about 1mm left.
Am I being ripped off? Really need your opinion..
by M1nn3lovestinypp
4 Comments
It’s super hard to judge from pictures, but your cassette looks fine to me and the big chain ring doesn’t seem that bad (can’t see the others). In your case I’d ignore the shop and go by standard recommendations, so nothing right now and a new chain as soon as it fails the checks. If you notice any chain slip, bad shifting etc. you can still replace the whole drive train.
Your chain is extremely dirty and looks like it has a lot of fine grit and particulate in it, so yeah i’d say you probably need a new chain.
Clean the entire drivetrain and when you lubricate the next chain clean everything as best you can as well. Dirty drivetrains eat components.
Looks like sand on the bike? That can cause a lot of wear.
Use a Shimano TL-CN42, Pedro’s Chain Checker Plus II or Park CC-4 to measure chain wear. Replace the cassette and chainrings once a new chain slips under load or you get a lot of noise and bad shifting.
I’ve recently become aware that good chain lube can be worth the money because it reduces friction and therefore wear. I’m giving Silca Synergetic and a small free test bottle of Squirt Dry Lube a try for this reason, let’s see if it pays off.
Your drivetrain ist very dirty, so everything wears faster and it feels not quite nice riding a dirty sticky drivetrain.
Some people don’t care and I can understand them because it’s a lot of work.
I’d clean it completely and use good lubricants for cutting chains. Don’t use WD40 or something else