So with the understood best practice to swap the chain and cassette at the same time, do you people who are running different wheelsets have a chain for each of them?

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Bikes: Raceur, Beateur

If you change the the chain every 3-4000kms the cassette wear is reduced a lot

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http://fairwheelbikes.com/cycling-blog/ ... ee-z5.html

Sure, but if you have say a race- and a training wheelset -- do you have an extra chain for each of them?

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Bikes: Raceur, Beateur

You could. I run SR with out a quick link so Na..
I just Gota new wheel set with a new cassette and chain.. There is only 2k on the other cassette so I should be fine.. An elongated chain will mess up a cassette more than anything else in the whole world so if you bin em before that happens you should be able to swap between the wheels with out too much drama

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http://fairwheelbikes.com/cycling-blog/ ... ee-z5.html

You only need to change the cassette and chain together if it left long enough for the cassette to be worn. Normally if the chain is changed sooner than that the life of the cassette is prolonged. I would have no trouble running he same chain on different cassette so long as the chain is not left to wear badly and the cassettes are in good condition.

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www.thecycleclinic.co.uk

If a chain is in good enough shape to use with one cassette, it's good enough to use on any other cassette that's not worn out. In fact, a moderately used chain will work fine on a cassette that is too worn out to mate properly with a new chain.

The only time a cassette needs to be replaced is when you get chain-skip with a new chain. With Campy 11 speed, I expect to get at least 3-4,000 miles from a chain and three chain's worth of life from the cassette.

One exception to this rule is cassettes with Ti cogs. Expect half as much life from them. I've used them for riding in the Colorado mountains, where the 19 and 21T cogs were heavily used and wore out the 19T in only 4,000 miles, using only 1 chain. That chain only had about .15% elongation, so the chain pitch was fine and not the cause of the rapid wear. The Ti cogs are so soft that they get a hooked tooth profile, quickly.

Between my wife and I, we have three bikes and five wheelsets.

The wheels are swapped regularly. I do not change the chains until they are worn out. I do not replace the cassettes until they are worn out.

On average, we get 2k-3k miles out of each chain and probably 10k-12k miles out of each cassette.