There is undoubtedly an assumption amongst those versed in bicycle maintenance, like myself, that everyone knows they should check their bike’s chain regularly for wear. Yet I am sure that every day, in trusted bike shops around the world, riders are shocked when they are presented with a bill in excess of hundreds of dollars. Most likely for a seemingly trivial symptom, such as poor gear indexing or chain suck.
It’s as simple as this: check your chain wear regularly with a chain wear tool like Pedro’s Chain Checker Plus II. Once the chain starts to show signs of wear, replace it before it’s too late. Replaced at regular intervals, a single cassette should last several times longer than running a single chain to the point of no return. When you consider that, with a groupset such as SRAM Red, a cassette can cost nearly $500 it’s a no-brainer to grab yourself a $15 tool and keep an eye on wear. After all, a chain costs only a fraction of that to replace – $80-90 tops.
