Everything you need to know about bicycle chains

Copyright: Yellow Saddle Cycling

Everything you need to know about Bicycle Chains
By Johan Bornman
Bicycle Chain Glossary
Pin. Short rod that holds the links together and supports the roller.
Sideplate (inner and outer) Flat, camphered pairs of metal plates with holes for accommodating
the pins and in the case of the inner plates, with a collar for supporting the roller.
Roller. The floating cylindrical inner part of a chain shaped to mesh with cogs.
Pitch. The distance from tooth to tooth or link to link.
Driving sprocket (chainring). The sprocket attached to the crank.
Driven sprocket. Rear sprocket, receiving force via the chain, from the driving sprocket.
Idler pulley. A pulley tensioned by a spring, designed to take up slack in a chain. On bicycles,
also known as jockey wheels.
Sprocket. A flat gear with many cogs.
Chainring. A specific bike sprocket the front sprocket.
Cross-chain. The act of engaging front and back sprockets diagonally far away from each other
i.e. large and large or small and small.
Chain suck. A front chain wheel that doesnt release the chain at the beginning of its return
cycle.
Collar the protrusion on the inside sideplate that supports the roller.
Cog: - Single tooth on a sprocket.
The bicycle chain needs no introduction. On second thoughts, listening to the many
misconceptions about bike chains bandied about on the average Sunday muffin-run, it does need
introduction. Most of us can vaguely define its function: to make the back wheel turn when we
turn the cranks. We also know that it is the filthiest part on a bicycle and consequently the only
exposed part we avoid contact with. Ive seen bike owners caress stems, frames and saddles, but
never a chain, not even a new chain. No-one brags about their bikes new chain or even point it
out to their mates.
You should care. Riding a chain past its maximum wear tolerance is expensive. Worn chains
destroy sprockets which cost anything up to a few thousand rands each. Changing your chain at
just the right time, saves you money. Change it too often, and you waste money. Abusing your
chain is hard on sprockets and the chain itself. Minor riding style adjustments can money and
improve your chains reliability.
Everything you need to know about bicycle chains
Copyright: Yellow Saddle Cycling

Therefore, lets start with a formal introduction of the common bicycle chain. What does it do? It
transfers torque generated by the legs, to the rear wheel. Without a chain, youll end up with a
direct drive system like that of a high-wheeler, which was abandoned because of its serious
safety flaws and inability to change gears. Gears theres another function of the chain. Its
laterally-flexible design allows you to, by means of the derailleur, move the chain to adjacent
sprockets, a process known as changing gears. Single-speed bikes, track bikes and motorbikes
have rigid chains designed not to flex sideways, improving their ability to stay on the sprocket.
However, they still transfer torque from your legs to the driving wheel.
The chain is invariably coated with black, sticky oil that readily traps grit. This black substance
that appears in the oil from seemingly nowhere, is a tiny amount of steel worn off the chain. A
small amount quickly dyes all the oil on the chain and turns it black. This is a good sign and
means that the oil is mobile i.e. flows back in after being squeezed out of the pin/sideplate
interface during a stress cycle. Wax lubricants are not mobile and once forced out of an interface;
remains out and hence doesnt transport worn steel particles. The upside, which is what
manufacturers punt, is that the chain stays clean. What they dont tell you is that a clean chain is
a chain without lubrication.
In many ways the chain is the most vulnerable component on the bike out in the open,
smeared with sticky oil and ready to receive and process destructive grit. Equally so, we also
have to pay some tribute to its durability and strength. It is the one wear-part on a bike that takes
the most punishment, yet seldom fails on a ride.
From time to time we shift carelessly and the chain protests by derailing itself and jumping off the
chainring, but thats easily rectified by even the most novice of cyclist grab it from below the
chainring, pull it forward by taking up spring slack from the rear jockey and replace it on the
chainring indicated by the current front derailleur setting. Youll end up with greasy black fingers.
Thats why you should never, ever wear shorts in a colour other than black. Wipe your fingers on
your or your riding buddys shorts and get on with your ride.
In spite of their durability, chains have a limited life. Contrary to bike shop lore, its lifespan is
not determined by the distance ridden since new or with the emptiness of the shop till, but by
hygiene. The cleaner you keep your chain, the longer it lasts. In fact, should anyone come up with
a method of keeping a bicycle chain immersed in a bath of clean oil, bike shops will go out of
business because chains will last forever. Heres proof. Motorcycles have two chains. The drive
chain is the one you know, it is the exposed chain running from the gearbox to the rear wheel. Its
lifespan is limited to perhaps ten thousand kilometres, a bit better than a bicycles due to its larger
size and robust seals that largely keep dirt off the wear areas. However, a motorcycle also has a
timing chain which most people dont even know about. This short chain connects the crankshaft
to the camshaft in the head and is completely encased in the engine where no grit can get to it. I
addition to its protection from grit, it runs in a bath of oil and consequently lasts the lifetime of the
bike. They last forever in spite of the fact that it actually receives more abuse than its longer
counterpart, it is shorter and goes through more bending cycles at each of the two small
sprockets than the longer but exposed chain.

The astonishing lifespan has to do with hygiene internal chains are kept clean and perfectly
lubricated whereas your bicycles chain is exposed to road grit, poor cleaning methods, poor
lubricants and infrequent lubrication.
Unfortunately, the dirt that does the most damage is also the dirt that is the most difficult to clean
out that deep inside the chains joint between the two sideplates and on the pin. Wiping your
Everything you need to know about bicycle chains
Copyright: Yellow Saddle Cycling

chain with a rag or even cleaning it with a brush and some degreaser does almost nothing.
Unless you really pay attention, use lots of solvent and flush out all the gritty solvent afterwards,
chances are that all your chain cleaning is purely cosmetic. To clean a chain well, it really needs
a good soaking and agitation in solvent, preferably off the bike. Removable (Quick) links are
really useful for this, making it easy to remove the chain each time you clean it. I also like those
gadgets that clip onto the chain and roll it through a couple of brushes and through a batch of
degreases. But, theyre expensive and dont last.
The best method is to remove the chain and immerse it in a bottle of soapy degreaser. Two liter
cool drink bottles and 500ml of paraffin works well. Close the bottle and agitate it. If you think the
chain is clean, fish it out with a piece of wire and give it a second cleaning with some water-based
degreaser. Now flush it with water until the run-off runs clear. Refit it and oil it by dripping a drop
of oil on every second link, smack bang onto the roller. Dont bother trying to oil the sideplates,
theyll get coated with oil soon enough. Decant and re-use the paraffin, discarding only the bit at
the bottom together with the grit that collected there. Do NOT pour this down the drain or bury it.
It is a major water contaminant. Visit the www.rosefoundation.org for tips on disposing of oil and
paraffin.
Mountain bike chains need special and frequent attention. To optimise the lifespan of your
MTB chain, you may have to clean it after every ride or at the very least, avoid re-oiling it between
washes. Fresh oil on a dirty chain does a great job of transporting grit to the inside the chain
where it can set to work as grinding paste, damaging the pins and their holes in the sideplates.

A chain that looks dry does not necessarily need oil. Oil on the outside does very little for a chain
and its the oil on the inside that matters. A trained ear will quickly distinguish between a chain
that looks dry and one that actually is dry. Sometimes a chain will look like it needs more oil, yet
itll run quietly this means there is still enough oil inside to lubricate the moving parts and flow
back into the interface each time the tension is released at the chains return cycle. A dry chain is
noisy and a very dry chain will squeak. Dont ride a noisy chain; rather oil it, even if it is dirty.
A word on lubricants:
The science of lubrication, friction and wear is called tribology and is a branch of engineering.
Tribology is a very well-understood science and tribologists are employed by lubricant
companies, bearing manufacturers, vehicle brake manufacturers and just about anywhere you
can expect to solve a problem of friction and wear. Tribologists know that the best lubricant for
bicycle chains is a long-chain hydrocarbon, commonly known as oil. Not wax, not graphite, not
liquid Teflon (which doesnt exist) and not virgin olive oil, just plain old mineral oil. Often, youll
see a new chain lubricant on the market that promises to not suffer the same side effects as oil.
Stay away! If the manufacturer uses words like dry, wax, and/or clean, it is probably rubbish.
It doesnt matter that the products marketers claim that it was developed by a tri-athlete who won
the Australian open three times in a row back in the 1970s when men were still men and bikes
made of iron. The developers day-job is most likely that of third oboe player in the local
orchestra or speculating with pork-belly futures. He knows nothing about tribology.
Those popular dry wax lubricants are a combination of a volatile solvent or carrier fluid and a
waxy substance. Once squirted onto the chain, the solvent evaporates, leaving a waxy coating.
At first, the chain is quiet and lubricated and like the bottle says, there is no black mess. However,
this is no free lunch and very quickly even after just two or three hours of riding the waxy
substance is worked out of the joints and being a solid, it cannot flow back into the interface. The
result is a dry, noisy chain. Perhaps thats why they call it dry lubrication.
Everything you need to know about bicycle chains
Copyright: Yellow Saddle Cycling

Liquid oil on the other hand, gets pushed out with each cycle but also flows back as soon as
pressure is taken off the chain i.e. it flows back into the pin/sideplate interface during the links
journey from where it exits the chainring and enters a rear sprocket.
Testing the difference between wax and oil is easy: squirt some of the dry liquid wax onto a
smooth surface and wait until it is dry. Rub it with your fingers and note its texture, slightly rubbery
and certainly not slick. Notice that when you scratch a line through the blob, it does not flow back
to fill the void. Now put a drop of oil on the surface and do the same. Play around with the two
substances and youll notice that oil flows, wax doesnt. Youll notice that oil can be washed off
with soapy water and just about any petroleum solvent. Wax has to be scraped off.
Now imagine the wax on your chain. It coats well, but doesnt lubricate once it has seen enough
work to push it out of the important chain wear interfaces. Washing it off is another matter. After
one or two applications youll have so much build-up on the jockey wheels and all parts of the
chain - where ironically lubrication is not needed - that youll be searching for something to
dissolve the mess.
Im sure youve often heard someone say that oil attracts dirt. This is nonsense. Oil has no
magnetic properties. It merely traps whatever lands on it. Yes it is a problem but far less so than a
chain thats effectively dry after just a short ride. The dirt collecting on the outside of the chain
doesnt matter; its the oil thats still on the inside that is doing the work.
Silicone spray lubricants may silence noisy door hinges but theyre useless for bike chains. Again,
this is a two-part liquid a volatile carrier and light oil. The liquid is sprayed onto the surface and
quickly penetrates deep into the chain. The volatile liquid then evaporates and leaves the surface
nicely oiled. However, the oil in silicone sprays is simply too thin for use on a chain and offers
little more lubrication than water, and is about as long-lasting as the latter. A chain lubricated with
silicone spray makes a sound typical of a dry chain. Try it once and memorise the sound the
chain makes after twenty or thirty kilometres. Memorise it and save your chain from wear
whenever you hear it again.
Something that looks similar but isnt, is motorcycle chain lubricant. This is also a spray and
therefore appears similar to silicone sprays. It also has a two-part composition solvent and
lubricant. The latter comprises thick oil in a volatile carrier and does a good job of penetrating the
chain and keeping it oiled in prolonged riding.
The drawback of spray lubricants is the mess. If you dont develop a technique of catching the
overspray with a cloth, youll end up with grease marks on your garage floor. Overspray also has
the habit of getting onto the rear rim, where it at first makes it impossible to brake but later starts
to dissolve the brake pad rubber and creating a gooey mess on the rim that makes the brakes
grabby and noisy.
So how do you choose a good lubricant? Go to your bike shop and find a product that openly
professes to be oil. Anything with the word dry or wax should be ignored. Find an oil thats
viscous enough (not too thin) to not fly off the chain when you start spinning fast but thats also
not too gooey to develop long toffee-trails where the chain exits from the sprockets. Brand names
are not important here because Im talking good old mineral oil pumped from the guts of the earth
and sold by the barrel on the commodity markets.
Bicycle oil is expensive by petroleum product standards and those little bottles are ridiculously
overpriced. If you dont want to pay the equivalent of one million dollars a barrel, use plain old
engine oil. It works well, but I dont like the fact that engine oil is just a teensy bit too thin and
Everything you need to know about bicycle chains
Copyright: Yellow Saddle Cycling

throws tiny little drops of black onto my shiny silver rims. If you dont want to start your own oil
refinery in the garage, I recommend one of the more tenacious bicycle oils typically sold as MTB
oil. I have experimented with chainsaw oil, sometimes called bar oil, on my chain. This oil is very
thick and designed not to fly off fast-moving chainsaw chains. However, it is a bit too sticky and
soils your back wheel by throwing off spider web-thin trails as the wheel turns. I have
experimented with a mix of engine oil and bar oil and came up with the perfect viscosity that
neither throws off drops nor pulls trails. This mix, which ended up as a 2-litre batch, will now last
me for the rest of my life. I dispense it sparingly onto my chain by using a commercial bike oil
dropper bottle.
New products on the market claim to outlast other oils by huge distances. Their claim is true. With
the addition of tackifiers, they managed to make the oil very tenacious and it stays on the chain
far longer than other oils on the market. Although this sounds good, it has a downside as well.
Riding that long with contaminated oil isnt a good idea. It would be better to simply clean and
relube each day, rather than relying on something that may last you an entire MTB stage race.
When touring, I seldom take oil with me. The bottle always leaks and causes a mess in my saddle
bag. Instead, I make use of the free lubrication service offered at every garage in the country. Pull
in at a convenience garage, head for the black plastic rubbish bin and scratch around until you
find an empty oil can. Inside youll find at least 25 ml of oil, enough to lubricate the entire Tour
de Farce squads bikes. Now courtesy of your average smoker, find a used match. Tilt and
maneuver the can until you get some oil on top, dip the match and dispense the oil, one drop on
every second link, and ride into the sunset.
Prolonged wet riding effectively cleans all oil from bike chains. This isnt a problem as long as it
keeps on raining. Water is also a lubricant and a wet, oil-free chain is still a happy chain.
However, when it starts to dry out, the chain will start squeaking. Pull up at your first friendly
Caltex and make use of the free bike lube service.

The effects of a worn chain.
Another popular bicycle myth is that a worn chain somehow affects gear shifting. This is not true.
Bicycle chains, unlike other drive chains that run on a single pair of sprockets and remain in
perfect alignment when operating, are designed to flex sideways. This is to accommodate gear
shifting. The jockey, after all, bends the chain onto the next gear. A rigid chain will not shift and a
worn chain does not overshift as lore will have it. If the chain is very badly worn and the B-screw
setting on the derailleur has the top pulley far removed from the sprocket, then you will
experience sluggish shifting. This is an extreme and unlikely case and poor shifting is not a good
indicator of a worn chain.
The only effect of a worn chain is invisible it quickly wears sprocket teeth and destroys
expensive cassettes. A worn chain works perfectly well on a worn cassette. However, a new
chain doesnt mesh with a worn sprocket. The trick is to change your chain often enough to
prolong the sprockets life, but not so often as to outweigh the cost of new sprockets. Besides,
sprockets dont last indefinitely. Just like a humans tooth, a cog (a single tooth in a sprocket) also
has a hard protective layer that equates to a tooths enamel, encasing a softer material dentine
in the case of your teeth. On sprockets the protective layer is case-hardened steel, which protects
the softer steel inside. Once the thin case-hardened layer is worn away, the cogs quickly
deteriorate.
Everything you need to know about bicycle chains
Copyright: Yellow Saddle Cycling

How a chain, new or worn, works isnt all that obvious, but important for the understanding of how
damage occurs and why chain elongation is something to care about.
The pitch distance between links on a bicycle chain is exactly 1/2 inch. No use translating to
metric here, it just gets silly.

The indent between cogs on a new sprocket exactly matches that of the chains roller, but the
tops of the teeth flare open slightly so that the chain can exit easily even when worn or when
youre cross-chaining. This arrangement also reduces noise under these last two conditions. The
derailleur idler pulleys are tapered toward the ends of the teeth for accepting a chain entering
them at an angle.
Although sprockets and pulleys are designed to still work when the chain enters and exits at an
angle, one should not cross-chain i.e. use gears which engage the large chainring and largest
sprocket and vice versa. This greatly increases wear on the sprockets and chain, which are then
loaded on one edge only.
Now lets picture the chain rolling over the two sets of sprockets by focusing on a few links which
for the purpose of this demonstration are painted bright red so you can follow them around their
loop. The rider is pedalling and the red links are now right at the bottom of the loop between the
chainring and jockey. These links are not under load as all the load is carried at the top and they
only experience the light tension from the derailleur spring. These links approach the idler pulleys
and zig-zag through them to the rear sprockets where, still under no load, they enter easily,
thanks to their perfect lateral alignment set up by the idlers.
Because both chain and sprockets are new, we know each link is loaded by a corresponding cog
as the chain enters the rear sprocket. The load is distributed evenly amongst all the links making
sprocket contact and the position of the derailleur ensures that there is enough wrap (engaging
almost three quarters of the sprocket at once) so that the chain doesnt jump up and skips.

The red links now move around the sprocket towards their exit at the front from where they
will approach the chainwheel. Looking from the side on, you can see how the links articulate to
accommodate the sprocket shape. Remember our formula; articulation angle = 360 degrees
divided by number of teeth. Whilst on the sprocket, the contact angle (as seen from the top)
between chain roller and sprocket is perfectly parallel but the instant the red link exits the rear
sprocket, things change, unless of course the rider is now in the only gear that perfectly aligns the
front and back sprockets and therefore keeps the chain in a straight line. Assuming the bike is in
any other than the perfectly-aligned gear, the links now suddenly bend laterally to accommodate
the chains diagonal path to the front. This does two things; it loads only the one side of the cogs
and forces a similar shift in force inside the chain, to one side of the pin and sideplate as well.
The more you are cross-chaining, the more youre applying to pedalling force to a smaller contact
area.

The length of chain between these links is perfectly straight and all the bending is experienced at
the two ends. The worse the cross-chaining, the worse these angles are and the more abuse
youre inflicting on your drivechain.
Now our red links are just about to enter the chainring. The way the links enter the chainring is
different from the way they entered the sprockets, simply because at the front they entering under
tension whereas they entered the sprockets freely. If there is cross-chaining, there is another
lateral bending motion in the chain and a skew loading of the first cog, just like that at the link now
exiting the back sprocket. Our red links now move around the chainwheel and again articulate to
accommodate the rings shape.
The pin then exits under no tension. Visualise the various stresses on the chain as this cycle is
repeated and note the different dynamics up front from at the back. Because both the chain and
sprockets are in perfect synch, all engaging teeth and links are loaded equally.
The problem comes when the chain starts to wear. Wear happens as the link pins and their
Everything you need to know about bicycle chains
Copyright: Yellow Saddle Cycling

sideplates (outer) wear down, effectively enlarging the hole and reducing the pins diameter. This
creates play and the chain pitch then lengthens. The chain elongates (but as you can see,
doesnt stretch). Chain pitch is no longer a perfect half inch between links but slightly more whilst
the cog pitch, even on worn teeth, is still one half inch. The synchronisation between the two is
thus no longer perfect and the chain now applies more load on the last tooth of
a sprocket before disengagement because the chain pitch now doesnt match the pitch of the
sprocket. This uneven loading increases wear.

Look carefully at your loose piece of chain again and visualise what happens when the chain
wears. Pivot wear means the link pins can both move outwards under tension, which allows the
two inner links attached to one outer link, to move apart. The rollers inside the inner links always
retain their half-inch pitch regardless of wear since they float inside their retaining flanges in
anyway and have built-in play.
This all means that only every second link elongates and when a worn chain rolls over a sprocket,
only every second link no longer meshes perfectly. The only way for the chain to compensate for
this imperfect match is to ride higher up the teeth which in turn then loads only every second
tooth. It is quite easy to see such a worn chain by looking for light shining through under the chain
and sprocket. This represents a 50% reduction in engagement surface and a 100% increase in
load on the teeth which do engage. It leads to rapid wear of the sprocket teeth.
Wear causes visible pockets on the rear of each tooth. These pockets are clearly visible if you
compare a good tooth from a worn one. Youll also notice that the wear is not at the bottom of the
tooth but slightly higher up the chain rides up, remember? Tooth pitch remains exactly inch
even on worn sprockets.

Wear pockets form slowly at first, but as soon as the case-hardened outer sprocket is worn
through, the chain rapidly eats into the softer steel inside. The chain and sprockets now wear
each other down and thus stay in pitch. The problem comes when you put on a new chain. This
now no longer matches the distorted pitch of the sprocket and the chain starts to skip under load.
It does this because the load forces the rollers up along the teeth into the wear pocket. The next
incoming roller now cannot engage because it catches on the next tooth and up it rides, over the
tooth and you get the familiar skipping action.
On a bike stand, a new chain on a worn sprocket will not be evident. It is only when you ride the
bike and apply force to the chain that the skipping starts. Therefore, when you replace a chain, do
a short test ride and make sure you apply force in all gears, before accepting the job as
successful.

The worse the sprocket wear, the quicker a new chain will skip. A slightly worn sprocket will
only produce skip under very high loads. Youll also notice that chainrings last much longer. They
still wear, but because the chain enters them with force, they dont skip. However, a badly worn
chainring refuses to let go of the chain in what is known as chain suck. This happens when the
cogs are worn into hooks that cannot allow the roller to freely disengage. They hold onto the
chain where it should normally exit and rolls it up the rear of the chainwheel and jams it under the
incoming chain. Chain suck brings your pedalling to an abrupt stop. Mountain bikers who
experience it a lot, quickly develop and ear and technique that saves the drivechain from self-
destructing under powerful pedalling forces whilst the chain is, should we say, sucking? If your
experience chainsuck, dont immediately replace the chainwheel. Very dirty chains, particularly on
muddy mountain bikes, suck badly because the dirt jams the chain around the sprocket. Mountain
bikes with their long cage rear derailleur which offer lots of give at the slack side of the chain, are
more prone to chainsuck than road bikes with much shorter derailleur cages. Water cures
chainsuck caused by dirty chains and thats why youll always find mountain bikers bathing their
bikes in streams during foul-weather races.
Everything you need to know about bicycle chains
Copyright: Yellow Saddle Cycling

Your chain performs its two functions with great efficiency and keeps energy losses to a
minimum. For close to a century, inventors have been attempting to replace the bicycle chain with
other devices and yet the humble, if filthy chain remains. More on its filthy habits later. For now,
lets concentrate on its function. Perhaps you should go and find a short piece of bike chain now
and keep it with you as you read the following paragraphs. Itll give you a better insight into this
wonderful bike component.
If you examine your piece of bike chain and start playing with some measurements, youll notice
that it measures exactly 1 inch over two links. Were talking about a new chain now. Worn
chains measure slightly more because internal wear elongates the chain by leaving larger gaps
between pins and sideplates.
Speaking of pins and sideplates: the anatomy of a chain is simple. Starting with the smallest, the
first to notice are link pins (pins for short) - the short rods you push in and out in order to break
the chain. The other two components are sideplates (two types if you want to be pedantic inner
and outer) and rollers. Looking at your piece of chain, all of this will be self-explanatory. All of
these components are made of hard steel designed to withstand wear from articulating under
tension. Bending, or more correctly, articulating the short piece of chain in your hand is easy.
However, under the tremendous tension you put on it by pedaling, you can imagine what sort of
friction exists between the pins and sideplates. Add some fine grit in there and youll understand
what causes chain wear. Just have a careful look at the pin of a used chain and youll notice wear
in the form of an indent over less than half of the pins circumference, where the sideplate moves
over it with every articulation. The pin effectively gets smaller and the hole in the sideplate bigger,
resulting in play between the two and ultimately, a longer chain.
The wear comes from the chains bending action as it rolls over a sprocket. Rear sprockets cause
more wear then front sprockets (chainrings, in bicycle parlance) simply because a chain has to
bend more to accommodate the smaller number of teeth. For instance, a chain being driven
around a typical 52 tooth chainring undergoes a 7-degree bend at each link (360 divided by
52 = 6.9 degrees). For a 12-tooth sprocket, the bending angle and therefore internal abrasion is
much more 30 degrees in this case. Although the jockey pulley wheels (called idler wheels) are
smaller than the smallest rear sprocket and therefore subjects the chain to more articulation, they
have very little effect on the chains lifespan because the chain negotiates their chicane bends
whilst unloaded.
Chains do not stretch. No-one can stretch the hardened steel on a chain. Chains elongate
by the mechanism described above. Relegate chain stretch to your lexicon of forbidden bike
terms alongside cable stretch, puncture proof and drug-free Le Tour winner.

When to replace that chain?

You prevent sprocket wear by regularly changing your chain. However, most people allow their
bike shops to replace their chains too often, which is also unnecessary and in the end, as
expensive as a new sprocket cassette. Replace the chain only when it has elongated by 0.5%. It
is easier to determine than it sounds. Regularly measure your chain with a ruler calibrated in
inches. These are hard to come by in metric countries but it is worth the search. I found a cheap
carpenters square with inch markings at my local hardware shop and it works fine the short end
of the square even gives me a good handle on things and the fact that the measurements start at
the edge of the rule means I can hook it against a pin or sideplate when measuring and only
focus on the 12-inch side of the rule.
Everything you need to know about bicycle chains
Copyright: Yellow Saddle Cycling

A one half percent elongation works out as 1/16th of an inch per foot of chain (24 links). You dont
even have to count the links, you simply lay the end of the rule against any point on the chain I
like to jam my steel rule against a pin, pull the chain straight and look at the 12-inch mark where I
can quickly see whether my end point lines up or runs over. Your inch ruler will almost certainly
be marked in 1/16ths. Up to just below 12 and 1/16th inch mark, the chain is still good, on and
above it, it should be replaced. If it has already elongated by 1/8th, youve ruined the sprocket.
Replace it.
It is interesting to note that the wear (per link) is in fact twice what you measure, since only every
second link (the ones with outer sideplates) wears. It is useful to remember that a worn chain will
run on new sprockets without skipping, but not vice versa. Running an old chain on a new set of
sprockets is not a good idea. This will accelerate wear in the sprockets since it will now only load
the last, and perhaps second-last cog and not distribute the load evenly amongst all the available
cogs.
What about commercial chain wear indicators?
Dont bother, get a yardstick. Most commercial indicators engage on the rollers, which have built-
in float and remain at a perfect inch pitch on inner links. These therefore measure an unknown
and variable entity roller clearance is not the same for different brands of chain. The only
standard you can rely on is the half-inch pitch from link pin to link pin. Compounding this problem
is the size of the measured area. These chain wear indicators only measure across a couple of
links, compounding any reading or measurement error.
That, in short is everything you ever need to know about your bikes chain. If youre just interested
in the highlights of this explanation, heres the bluffers list of chain bullet points:
Chains dont stretch, they elongate due to wear in the pins.
New chains will skip when used with worn sprockets.
The extent of chain wear is determined by measurement only, not miles, not
seasons and not by psychic bike mechanics.
Chain life is a function of hygiene.
Take control back from your bike shop and measure and manage your own
chain replacement.
Chain suck really sucks.


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