Last year I started trying to take care of chain wear, bought a chain wear checker tool from Decathlon, and saw that my bike chain was already worn way too far.
In November I bought a new chain, of course it skips on the worn gears, got all gears replaced, paid too much money at the bike shop (next time ill try it myself).
Now I was trying to take better care of the drivetrain, so in January the chain was on the edge and I replaced it, no chain skipping this time.
However, I just checked the chain while degreasing/cleaning drivetrain and its worn too far AGAIN.
Back gears look fine to me but front gear seems like its starting to wear (I think)
Is it normal that im having to replace my chain every 2 months?
I only did like 1000km with the last chain, I cycle a little aggressively and sometimes the chain isnt very clean but from everything I see it should last longer.
Am I doing something wrong?
Bike: trek verve 2 with 3×8 altus gears, chain is shimano 8s cn-hg40
EDIT
thanks for any comments
I will replace 2 chainrings, try kmc X8 chain, get the park tool checker, try wax, remember to downshift at lights hopefully
by negative__entropy
20 Comments
If you’re riding in dry weather your chain should last closer to 5000km than 1000km. If you’re riding in poor, wet/wintry/muddy conditions, 1000km could be normal.
What chain checker did you buy? We need to know the exact model to understand if it’s an accurate one. Many of them are not accurate.
1. Find a good chain gauge. Cheap one measures just weather.
2. Mud in combination with elevation kann kill the new chain with 1000 km.
A chain can stretch quicker if you ride in gears that have a suboptimal chain line. If you’re in the big ring for example you should avoid the low gears on the rear cassette.
Lots of climbing can also contribute to a short lifespan on the chain.
My go to brand for chains is KMC. Generally they have provided a longer lifespan than OEM Shimano or SRAM.
An 8 speed chain should last a lot longer than 2 months for sure.
There could be a few variables at play here. It sounds like you’re addressing chain cleanliness every so often, which is better than a lot of riders. A clean, degreased chain will always last much longer.
The teeth on your middle and especially largest chainrings look super worn. Compare them with your smallest chainring, which I assume you ride the least. The shark tooth, pointy look typically is a signifier of wear in chainrings.
So the chainring wear may be a contributor to your chain wear, but that’s still crazy fast for an 8 sod chain to wear out. I’d recommend cleaning your next chain a bit me often, and maybe going for an “e-bike rated” chain next, which will have a “sil tec” coating on the rollers, which should protect it better from all sorts of forces.
A chain that has been allowed to stretch way out of spec will cause premature wear on the chainrings and cassette teeth. Then those badly worn teeth will cause premature wear on a new chain.
It doesn’t look like the chain is properly threaded through the jockey pullies. It should go under the tab that is across the rear cage. HTH
Judging by the gunk in the second image, your chain lube is not great. Decent lube doesn’t need degreaser or make the drivetrain any more gunky than any other part of the bike.
In my experience Rex Domestique is fantastic, but there are a lot of well liked brands out there. Ignore anything intended for only dry or only wet conditions. [https://www.reddit.com/r/cycling/comments/1huc8lh/what_kind_of_chain_lube_do_you_use_lets_assume/](https://www.reddit.com/r/cycling/comments/1huc8lh/what_kind_of_chain_lube_do_you_use_lets_assume/)
That big chain ring has about as much shark teeth as some beaches. Could be your problem. Also riding cross chained will wear things down way faster. Make sure you’re not riding big/big or small/small.
8 speed chains should last longer if youre mostly in fair weather. What chain do you use (sram? Shimano? No brand on amazon?). If its the cheap stuff from online, its likely why the chain wears out so quickly. Going for a mid price chain from a reputable brand (sram, shimano, KMC) is the way to go for chains
Thats pretty fast wear, especially on an 8 speed.
First of all, id spend the $10 to get a decent chain checker from Park Tool. I dont trust decathlon one to have the precise measurements for checking a chain. Just being a tiny bit off will screw your measurements.
Second I would swap to a drip wax like silca super secret. It keeps the drive train clean unlike wet lubes which get mixed with grit stuck to them off road. A mix of dust and wet lube is basically like sanding your chain from the inside. Switching to was based lube I get over 3x the chain lofe.
It might not be the chain dog it might be the chain rings.
1st- Your chain and rings look quite dirty and gritty. bearing wear is 80-90% caused by contamination, aka drit and grit. you need to keep the inner rollers and pins clean, not just the outside. That’s hard to do with it on the bike, impossible.
2nd – That is the low-end Shimano chain. You might get 2-3 k out of it if you really keep it clean. I don’t think you have much of an option for long-lasting 8spd chains in this day and age.
3rd- That chain checker is likely terrible. The park CC-4.2 has tested to be one of the accurate ones or you can use a ruler in inches. 12 in should be center to center on the pins with slight tension and a clean chain. Dirt can make a chain seem less worn.
Whatever lube you are using it is not meeting your needs. Move into one of the premium lubes and learn how to correctly apply it. It needs to be applied on a perfectly clean chain, remove the factory grease! While quality hot wax would likely be the best for the price of your parts and cast to hot wax i would suggest a premium drip wax. Silca and UFO are top performers, available and pretty easy when you start with a clean chain. The Silca synergetic also performs well as a wet lube but it will require removal and cleaning of the chain more often.
Not downshifting for traffic lights will do this if you have alot on your route. The swole horse leg start puts way more torque through the drivetrain than it was made to take.
two bigger chainrgins are need to be replaced, look the difference of teeth on biggest and smallest chainring. that wears your chains faster. cassette teeth looks ok
you need to actually downshift when you stop instead of just pedaling really hard
It looks like your middle and outer chainrings have a lot of wear, this would make the chain wear faster.
You could try a harder wearing chain like Shimano HG71 6/7/8-Speed, or KMC X8.
Also, a chain checker which works on 3 points on the chain is more accurate, eg Park Tool CC-4.2 Chain Checker.
The chain is routed incorrectly through the rear derailleur. It should go under the tab between the jockey wheels.
In my experience, 1000 km per chain is pretty good with cheap material. Even more so if you are negligent with cleaning. Eight-speed parts are easy to come by and cheap to buy because quality is, well, low. Dust and mud damage the transmission quickly, and a lot.
I see people talking about using wax, but is it appropriate to spend that money on a full waxing station, plus wax and degreaser, on such low-grade material? Like €200 on a bike that’s worth not much more? Take it or leave it… I would buy better parts (an HG-71 chain, a better cassette and chainrings) and, in the future, clean the transmission thoroughly every 100–150 km.
Chain check on the regular, then even it starts to get a bit close. Start using a rule, i have an 18″, so can check the wear accurately.
When you get a new chain check it before installing. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was some zero error. If there is you can subtract the reading from whatever you measure after using the chain a while.