10,000 km service

[sg37409]

Turned the 16T sprocket, 40T chainring. New chain and oil change kit in the garage.
Looking forward to silent running.

For my commute tomorrow, I've brought my trusty XTC into service.  A change is as good as a rest.

[Danneaux]

Terrific, Steve; please let us know how you come out with the freshened setup, and some idea of how much quieter it is. Please, do you have an approximate year of purchase for the hub, so we can get an idea of its age?

Thanks!

Best,

Dan.

[StuntPilot]

Changed the Rohloff oil at the weekend and it does seem a little quieter. Or is it my imagination? Certainly seems smoother. I have a 2009 Rohloff hub so maybe its true: a Rohloff gets better with age!

[sg37409]

This will be the 2nd oil change, and I did think it was running smoother after the 1st.

I've not found the chains to last that long. I'm using sram 8sp. This will be the 3rd chain in 10000km.
They seem to stretch a fair bit, which I guess you dont notice on a derailler setup.
(Its the stretching more than any issues with meshing on sprockets that I notice.)
Its probably got a bit of life in it yet, but have already taken out a couple of links and put the EBB back to shortest chain length.
It stretched enough from this point to come off the other day, prompting me to bring forward the service I was putting off till summer.

The bike is a 2010

[il padrone]

Three chains in 10,000kms sounds like rather a lot of wear to me, or rather a short life   Have you been a bit too conservative? Did you measure the elongation?

I've done just on 14,000kms on my Rohloff in two years. The hub has had two oil changes and I will do a third in a few weeks, before we head over to Europe for a big tour. When I built up the bike I bought the chains from Wiggle. The KMC X8 chains cost me just $11 each, so I bought three and decided to run them in rotation. I ran each one for about 3000kms each then swapped them off. The first chain I used has now done 6000kms in total and is past 1/8" elongation so it's cactus. I need to bin it and swap the chainring and sprocket around, then I will put on one of the other two chains.

By the time these two are both worn out I reckon I will have done 20,000kms at which point it will  be time to completely replace the drivetrain. I reckon 20,000kms is pretty good life for the chainring/sprocket and three chains.

Once this has happened I will be fitting the new Surly SS ring and fitting the Hebie Chainglider to get even better chain life and hopefully reduced wear of the drivetrain.

[geocycle]

This will be the 2nd oil change, and I did think it was running smoother after the 1st.

I've not found the chains to last that long. I'm using sram 8sp. This will be the 3rd chain in 10000km.
They seem to stretch a fair bit, which I guess you dont notice on a derailler setup.
(Its the stretching more than any issues with meshing on sprockets that I notice.)
Its probably got a bit of life in it yet, but have already taken out a couple of links and put the EBB back to shortest chain length.
It stretched enough from this point to come off the other day, prompting me to bring forward the service I was putting off till summer.

The bike is a 2010

Wow, that is quite some chain wear! Most of us will get 2-3 times that.  Are you riding mainly off road?  I never measure stretch on the rohloff set up but when the chain falls off and you've exhausted adjustment the only option is to take links out or replace.

[sg37409]

On-road only, all weathers.

Could be I am replacing prematurely.   How do you know when is the right time to replace ?  I only judge by strech: And when I've taken out a couple of links I feel like it must be time to bin it.

[il padrone]

Sheldon Brown tells almost everything you need to know about chains (lube, cleaning, wear, setting length [derailleur gears]). Also here he gives details about a system to extend your drivetrain life (works for SS and IGH). I've never tried it, and can't do it with my present gearing (even/odd)  

There is no 'golden answer' to chain wear. Different people take different approaches. On the one hand I believe if you replace the chain early (before it gets 1/16" elongation - about 2-3000kms) the chainring and sprocket will be largely undamaged. You could in theory keep replacing chains and run the same ring and sprocket for many years. On the other extreme, you could do like a friend of mine does and run the same drivetrain for years and only swap everything once a few teeth have fallen off  He usually didn't change his cassette and chain until he had rows of teeth missing 

You make a choice between spending more on chains or spending more on your ring & sprocket. I tend to running the chain for as long as I can (spending on ring/sprocket) but with cheap chains maybe I should be trying to preserve the cogs 

[Andre Jute]

Good chains are cheap. Like Il Padrone I bought three KMC X8 at once in a package deal. The first one, inside a completely enclosed chaincase, lasted 4605km before I replaced it because of elongation. Chainring and sprocket were virtually unmarked. Since by comparison to everyone else here I am hard on chains, regardless of which brand/price range, that should be your benchmark, with due allowance for your chain (presumably) not being protected by a Chainglider or other chain case. I would say that, in the absence of a hard constant, an average of 3300 without a chain case just about nails it.

Welcome to your new position as the Chainbreaker of  the Thorn Forum!

[sg37409]

Up early today to do the oil change. A real pleasure footering about in the garage early morning on such a gorgeous morning.
A gentle test run out the glen afterwards with my eldest was really nice. The bike feels (and looks) like new.

[geocycle]

Up early today to do the oil change. A real pleasure footering about in the garage early morning on such a gorgeous morning.
A gentle test run out the glen afterwards with my eldest was really nice. The bike feels (and looks) like new.

Great stuff. Done some fettling this afternoon.  Tried to take a link out as close to max chain wear but that shortened it too much. I have the same 40 x 16 setup as you on a 537 raven tour frame.