chain stretch, cassette wear and joining links

When it comes to chain wear do people generally agree that over 12 chai
links
1/8th of an inch extra means you've left it too late
1/16th of an inch means it's time to replace the chain
and any less means it's still got some life

I don't really want to buy one of those little chain measuring things.

Please excuse the use of inch units in this post. I'm not a foreigne
or someone who won't let go of imperial. It just seems a tidy unit t
use when talking about chains

--
xisle

xisle Wrote:
When it comes to chain wear do people generally agree that over 12 chai
links
1/8th of an inch extra means you've left it too late
1/16th of an inch means it's time to replace the chain
and any less means it's still got some life

I don't really want to buy one of those little chain measuring things.

Please excuse the use of inch units in this post. I'm not a foreigne
or someone who won't let go of imperial. It just seems a tidy unit t
use when talking about chains.
Bush mechanic rule of bruised and battered thumb: Pull your chain awa
from the front of your big chainring. If you can see daylight, then it'
time to start thinking about a fresh chain. Lots of daylight? Thin
harder, even about new chainrings.

M "Chaincheckers are all very well, but they always seem to say th
same thing"

--
mfhor

In article ,
xisle wrote:

When it comes to chain wear do people generally agree that over 12 chain
links
1/8th of an inch extra means you've left it too late
1/16th of an inch means it's time to replace the chain
and any less means it's still got some life

1/8th over 12 inches is about 1%, so yes, that's a good rule of thumb.

I don't really want to buy one of those little chain measuring things.

FWIW, they can be less accurate than the method you're using.

--
Shane Stanley

xisle wrote:
When it comes to chain wear do people generally agree that over 12 chain
links
1/8th of an inch extra means you've left it too late
1/16th of an inch means it's time to replace the chain
and any less means it's still got some life

Sheldon says so, so it must be true.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html

But if I change the chains early (1/16"), should I hang onto them, until
the sprockets wear down, and then start using all the part-worn chains,
discarding them at 1% wear (1/8") to avoid chainring damage?

That seems much more practical than swapping the chains every week/month
as a recent thread suggested.

Please excuse the use of inch units in this post.

Chain link pairs are exactly 1", so its normal.