worn out chain, do i need to replace chain rings and casette??

Took my bike in today b/c my rear shock locked up and wouldnt decopresses. LBS wants to charge me $50 for the shock service, fluid change an new seals. Thats all good, done deal.. The LBS tech also says my chain is worn out, and i should replace the chain, the rear casette and all 3 of my chain rings on the crank. :O

Is this normal for a chain change?

can i just change the chain itself and re adjust the derailleurs instead? Tech says shifting will be terrible if i just change out the chain.

I looked at my cassette and chain rings and they seem ok. There is some wear but it doesn't look like they need to be completely swapped.

thanks for any help


Jimmy

 

I changed the chain...
Chain started skipping..pedal took a chunk outta my knee...chain come off the rings...
If your components are fairly new then i dont think it would be too much of an issue. My components were 20 years old..just too worn to sport a new chain and work efficiently.

 

Don't know what gears you are running, I just had my tallboy serviced after 16-months of riding with Sram XX 2x10, they replaced the chain and small (26-t) front chain ring, the cassette wear was fine. I learned now to ride in the "big chain ring" as much as possible as it wears much longer than the small one (and focuses me to change cadence) You could get a second opinion on replacement parts needed from another bike shop. I had my work done at "The Path" in Orange as they are trusted and do great work...

 

Just because the chain is bad, doesn't means all the rings and cassette are bad. We change our chains so we don't damage the other components. If you caught the chain early, everything else should be okay. If everything IS that worn, I'd leave that well mated chain until it breaks (not likely). Otherwise, just change the chain. If the rest is badly worn, it'll shift pretty crappy out of the box. My bike is almost two years old and has about 2500 miles on it. I've replaced the chain twice and one middle chainring due to wear. Everything else is original shifts like a dream.

 

The bike is an 05 stumpy fsr. I am the second owner. First owner said he didn't ride it much. I got the bike in excellent condition. Over the last year and half i put about 350 miles on it. I get the bike back monday from the shock service. Ill talk to Rock n Road and see what they think. Will get a new chain and prob a middle chain ring. The cassette still looks great and i hardly spend any time in granny or the big ring.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I really didn't think that i had to change everything. just wanted some unbiased non shop opinions. Really appreciate what str does for newbies like me.

 

To solve this problem in the future buy a second chain. I swap out my chain about every 3 months, chains are cheap, entire drivetrains not so much! By rotating chains your cassette and chainrings don't wear to that one chain only. You can get much longer life out of your drivetrain by doing this

 

I 2nd that! just my "cassette" for my XX drivetrain is over $300.00! chain? $38.00

 

IF you keep you drivetrain clean, and IF you replace you chain BEFORE it's worn to the point of no return, you can get several years out of a good cassette. Almost nobody does this though. so if you replace the chain and it skips in the rear, or you get chain suck in the little ring, replace them. middle rings are usually visually trashed by this time so replace it too.

 

Clean?#-o and drag it around in the dirt intentionally?#-o that's a hoot, Fred! I don't clean mine too well, other than wiping off, but I just keep it well lubed by spraying HHS 2000 on it and the first time I can put my checker (made out of metal):lol: in all the way in at .75, the chain goes in the trash can. I stock a new chain at my house, always.
Road bike chains actually stay clean. kinda, well sorta.

 

As other have said, if you let the chain wear too much, there's a good chance your cassette is worn out and a smaller chance the chainrings are worn.

My wife and I ride a MTB tandem (think twice as much torque on the rear wheel). I put a new chain on after 1000 miles and didn't change the cassette, we could barely ride the bike because the chain was skipping all over the place. I had to order a new cassette, but the chainrings are fine.

 

Or

 

next time, get a handy dandy wooden chain checker

 

Freds chain cleaners are great. At the very least some solvent and a Park brush or even a tooth brush are your friend.

 

Do what I did with my 1994 Rockhopper: Change the chain. See what happens. If it skips and you get chain-suck (like I did), then you gotta buy the new drivetrain. Course I was a bad mommy to my Rockhopper. I never cleaned the chain. Only lubed it up when it was so loud on rides it was annoying, and I got 15 years out of that puppy....course three or four of those years I never rode once (pregnant, baby, pregnant, baby).......

Anyhou, I plan to change my chain religiously like those above with NightFury, and I now clean and lube my drivetrain after almost every ride.

 

Jimmy,
I'll step up in defense of your LBS.

Let me preface by saying that if my chain is worn, I replace it, and then look for symptoms of worn sprockets. 90% of the time, it will be fine when dialing everything in while riding up and down the street. Indication of sprocket wear is most evident under heavy load, the kinds of loads where you need to be climbing steep hills.

So back to the LBS. If they don't replace your cassette and chainrings, you might go out to the trail, have your ride diminished by bad shifting, and come back an unhappy customer. Some customers might not want to pay for further repairs, because the shop should have known if other drivetrain parts needed to be replaced.

Most customers wouldn't be able to explain what the real symptom is, (do an STR search on "chain skipping" and see how many state whether the problem is in the rear, on the front, and on which sprocket. See what I mean?) so the LBS guesses at where the problem is, maybe they'll get it right, maybe they won't.

They're betting that in regards to customer satisfaction, it's better to replace everything (since it's ALL worn to some degree) to guarantee that the bike will work perfectly when it rolls out the door.

Another bit of advice:
If you're going to ride more than a couple miles from your car, you really need to know how to fix a broken chain. Fixing a broken chain isn't much different than replacing a worn chain. It takes 10 minutes, maybe 15 if you've never done it before. Replace the chain yourself, learn, and be prepared for the day that your chain breaks on the trail. If you ride, it will.

 

Concur 100 percent with Mountain Biker Fred.

For what it's worth: I clean my chain after every ride and lube it. As needed, I do the full residue removal treatment with the chain cleaner solution and the Park Tool reservoir. I ran a chain for 2,000 miles once, and that was a lot of training for the Traverse, so tons of climbing miles on it.

Check the chain wear, and when it's just past 75%, swap it out. As said above: Chains are inexpensive compared to the drivetrain.

This will ensure long lasting chains and rings and cassettes. That's' my experience anyways.....

Jeff

 

If the chain wore too far, its verry possible that you do indeed need the complete drivetrain replaced......

Its been said already, check and replace your chains long before its too late.....

Use a chain checker, check after every ride, there are many types, from the cool blue park tools, all the way to knowing how to measure it with a ruler........

Remember as your chain stretches, it will deform the teeth to match it, thats the idea with chainging it sooner, that way it wont over deform the teeth and your ok with just replacing a chain.

 

I'm in the middle of this story with my XT 3x10. The drive train is 1 year old with about 2,500 hard miles on it. Chain was replaced due to wear, a few months ago. No BIG problems but occasional chain suck (I think) where I had to pedal backwards to get chain in position up front. Really rare but made me nervous. It wasn't hitting the frame or anything. I THOUGHT the chain would slip a little -- by slipping I mean the pedals moved an inch without any drive. I think. But cleaning every ride and lubing every ride made it "fine".

2 weeks ago my (2nd from original) SRAM chain broke under awkward pedaling conditions (somewhat my fault) so I put a powerlink on it and got home. Ordered up a new chain.

When the new chain arrived I debated putting chain on the old stuff... it's not that old and I care for it.

Figured why ruin a new chain so I ordered up a new cassette, and new granny and middle chain ring along with my new chain.

The current chainis measuring 1/16th stretched. Figured I would drive this into the MOFO GROUND! And then install new parts. I'm riding hard getting every last penny out of this drive train but it seems to have a new life.

The old drive train and chain is working perfect. I still clean/lube every ride and now doesn't slip/skip or suck.

I guess I have peace of mind knowing it could blow up in my face, and I have everything I need to start fresh without missing a ride.

However I didn't order a new big ring up front, so I'm wondering if I'm going to be OK if I install everything and leave the old big ring.

Who knows. I feel stupid buying all this new crap to replace my old crap and suddenly my old crap works perfect. However I bet if I wasn't prepared or if I sold my new drive train thinking I didn't need it, my problems would come back.