Campagnolo 11 Speed Chain Wear Indications

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Switching chains is to reduce wear on cassettes not chains.

That makes sense. Alternating chains would effectively spread out (delay) the worn-chain-on-cassette effect, is that what you mean?

And you can push that thought a little further still....

Ciao,

[lcoolb]

Hi,

And you can push that thought a little further still....

Ciao,

I see where you're going...

Saluti

[DaveVelo]

I use a 12" rule laid up against the chain. Chain pins should line up center to center at the ends. Make sure the chain is under tension when testing. 1/32 wear is acceptable within 9/10km but 1/16 wear is definitely pushing it and the chain should be replaced immediately to hopefully save your rings and cogs.

Don't get the three chain switch that others have mentioned. If you're vigilant at maintaining a clean, well lubricated chain with regular wear testing, simply replace the chain when its time is up.

[fdegrove]

Hi,

I use a 12" rule laid up against the chain.

As far as Campa chains go a ruler type of measurement won't tell you much about wear.

Ciao,

[BobSantini]

I use a 12" rule laid up against the chain. Chain pins should line up center to center at the ends. Make sure the chain is under tension when testing. 1/32 wear is acceptable within 9/10km but 1/16 wear is definitely pushing it and the chain should be replaced immediately to hopefully save your rings and cogs.

Don't get the three chain switch that others have mentioned. If you're vigilant at maintaining a clean, well lubricated chain with regular wear testing, simply replace the chain when its time is up.

As posted before rotating chains is about getting more life out of cogs not about making chains last longer, although it does have that effect.
As chains wear the pitch between the rollers gets longer. This makes the chain gradually move up the cog teeth. That makes the cogs wear in such a way that new chains will not mesh comfortably with them and so they skip. I assume the mechanism causing skipping is just that the cogs develop ramps that make the first loaded link move up the cog and prevent the ones behind from falling home. This occurs when you put a new unworn chain on a worn cassette.
If you always use chains that are worn more or less the same they will all continue to work as they wear out together. That way you can continue to use your chains until they are quite old and worn. You replace the cassette when you deem all the chains are worn out.

[sugarkane]

i change my chain every 4000kms, you can run em much longer but as others have mentioned you'll have to change the cassette as well, you can get 9000-12000kms out of a record chain but you'll kill the cassette running it that long.. changing the chain more often can increase the cassette life by around 20-30%, given the price difference it makes lots of sense.

[RTW]

My question is, do you all peen the chain as per Campy's instructions?

[BobSantini]

My question is, do you all peen the chain as per Campy's instructions?

Yes, when I use pins. I more often use KMC Missing Link joiners.

[DaveVelo]

i change my chain every 4000kms, you can run em much longer but as others have mentioned you'll have to change the cassette as well, you can get 9000-12000kms out of a record chain but you'll kill the cassette running it that long.. changing the chain more often can increase the cassette life by around 20-30%, given the price difference it makes lots of sense.

Essattamente.

Start with a new chain, rings and cassette. Do regular maintenance (clean & lube) and you may extend the your train's service life three fold. 12000km or more is possible with regular, tender loving care.

Proper chain cleaning is paramount and I will describe the procedure here:

First of all, I suggest using a master link to facilitate easy removal and replacement.

No1- Get all the gunk off the chain even if it's newly packed with sticky preservative:
Get a container with a lid just big enough to fit a rolled up chain. Fill the container half way with Simple Green or "equivalent cleaner" (I don't know of one). Fill in the rest of the space with hot water so the chain is totally submerged. Let it sit for a least an hour (depends how dirty or "sticky" it is). During sitting time, giving the container a good shake once in a while will help loosen the gunk.

No2- Pull the chain out, inspect and if it looks good, give a thorough wash under the tap until it glistens and sparkles. Hang it up to dry in the sun or put your toaster on low and place it on the rack. In the meantime, clean your cogs, cassette and rings with the same stuff.

No3- Give the chain a thorough lube with a good silicone based, teflon product (I use Finish Line). Let it soak, wipe off the excess and you're good to roll.

[Permon]

Campa Record 11sp drivetain, NEW GROUPSET: first chain 2000km not a km more! I am like 90kg, 187cm. Yeah, a light guy can run the chain longer, maybe 3000km, max 4000km. I do not believe anybody can get more from the chain.

I always change the chain when it hits 132,6mm distance between pins as Campagnolo suggest in manual.
If you follow this rule, your cassette will last a ton of kilometers (my last cassette was still OK after 20 000km).

[Bridgeman]

Geez, I only now realize what a lazy bastid I am. No wait, I mean busy.

[sugarkane]

Essattamente.

Start with a new chain, rings and cass....

I clean my chain every 2 rides max. Relube.. Run it through s chain cleaner eVery time it even remotely looks like it needs it... Nothing you describe/no amount of cleaning the darn thing will stop the chain from getting 'longer' or stretching and elongating the cassette. Sorry it's about physics, no amount of OCD will change that.. The bottom line is you need to rotate the chains out quite frequently unless you don't mind buying new cassette more often than you need to.

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Nothing you describe/no amount of cleaning the darn thing will stop the chain from getting 'longer' or stretching and elongating the cassette.

I think the point is to clean and lube the chain properly to reduce wear, not stopping it as such.

Ciao,

[natiedean24]

The purpose of rotating chains is to ensure you don't put a brand new chain on a worn cassette that has wear patterns in the tooth profile (where the 'valley' of the tooth profile is elongated). New chain on worn cassette may bring skipping.

[DaveVelo]

The purpose of rotating chains is to ensure you don't put a brand new chain on a worn cassette that has wear patterns in the tooth profile (where the 'valley' of the tooth profile is elongated). New chain on worn cassette may bring skipping

Mi scusi ,
I see no difference between having three worn chains and one worn chain. The directive is to replace the old chain "before it wears the gears too much". You're going to get sprocket wear no matter what, but if it's kept at a minimum, you're good to go with two, and if you're a flat lander, maybe even three chains before the cassette is shot.

One last item: If your old chain begins skipping, you may have already passed the threshold. My old chain jumped a couple of times but I was lucky. The new chain is settling in.

Stammi bene,