the parts that make up your gears wear
out at different rates and it's worth
changing them as they do so because it
will save you loads of money in the long
run worn out parts degrade other parts
now it's also worth mentioning in fact
that worn out old dirty drive trains
actually feel horrible to ride as well
they're baggy and they're soggy whereas
the clean crisp shift of a good
condition 1 will make an old bike feel
like new so how do you know when to
replace the parts well let's first of
all start with a chain because that's
the one you'll have to replace them most
often it's the one that wears out first
and as it does so it starts wearing away
at your cassette and your chain rings
and degrading them faster as well there
are two main ways of doing it the first
one is essentially to measure a handful
of links and you can get tools
specifically for the job can be quite
rudimentary essentially just a piece of
metal or plastic that you pop on the
chain and if it's worn out it will sit
flat with the chain this one here it
tells you exactly how worn out it is if
it's 0.5 then you're ok to keep going
just but you should think about it and
if it fits in point 7 5 then it doesn't
now if you don't have one of these
specific tools you can actually just
measure the links instead so eight
complete links measure eight inches and
you can literally see the chain
stretching over time and if it starts
getting to a tenth over eight then you
need to start replacing it the second
old way is actually pretty accurate as
well simply put the chain in the big
ring and at the forward facing part try
and lift the chain away from the Rings
on a good condition chain like that you
can hardly see anything at all but as
the chain stretches you'll be able to
see more and more of the chain ring if
you can nearly lift it clear of a tooth
then it's time to replace it now as a
rough guide most chains will probably
last between three to five thousand
kilometers or about two to three
thousand miles but it does depend on the
conditions you ride in how well you look
after your drivetrain and in fact how
much power you put out rumour has it
actually that down lloyd has to change
its chain after every ride
boss if you change your chain regularly
then your chain rings should last a
really long time but you should still
look out for signs of wear as a routine
now what you're looking out for is when
the teeth of the ring start to become
hooked like little shark's teeth and
that is a surefire sign that you need to
replace the chain rings but it's worth
noting though that some teeth are always
slightly different from the others
they're a little bit shorter and that is
a design that means that it helps with
your shifting light your chain rings you
can set will last a lot longer if you
regularly replace your chain but it is
still going to wear out now one of the
most obvious indicators of a worn out
cassette is when the gears are skipping
when you've just replaced your chain it
might only happen in one or two cogs the
one that you spend the most time in but
you'll still have to replace the whole
cassette if that happens now
incidentally actually that's another
reason why you should never change your
chain the night before an important
event like a race or sporty.because if
you only find out that your cassettes
worn when you're trying to go for the
first break of the day it's a little bit
late then you can also buy tools
specifically designed to tell whether
your cassette is worn out but personally
we're not exactly going to recommend
those there's so many different types of
cassettes that it's not really practical
fortunately there is one other fairly
easy way of checking see whether your
cassette is want and that is when the
buy trying to work sound like that or in
fact on the floor you put your back
brake on and you press firmly on the
pedals and you'll be able to see if the
chain starts to ride up on the cassette
and that will show that it's worn we
can't stress enough just how important
it is to keep on top of all this I mean
when a new chain cost 20 or 30 pounds or
dollars and a new jurors chain ring cost
two to three hundred you can see clearly
from an economic standpoint and as well
as a practical one and filling a new
chain is easy after all we've got a
video on how to do it the down shot you
can go to it just up there
so to summarize then you want to change
your chain regularly when you can pull a
few links away from the chain ring then
you want to have a new chain ring when
it starts to looked like a row of shark
teeth then finally you need to change
your cassette either when it's skipping
when you've got a new chain on or more
preferably when you test it out on a
work stand and you can see that there's
excessive movement from the check
I'm not doing it like that to get to
that video about how to change your
chain click just up there and if you
need to know how to change your cassette
then you can get to it just down there
then finally it's keep up to date with
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