Chain Replacement
- Thread starter BTfl
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Deacon Blues
Well-Known Member
My Pedego RidgeRider's chain needed to be replaced at around 1000 miles too.
mrgold35
Well-Known Member
I have two 2016 Radrovers with +3500 miles on each of them with original chains. High desert 5000-6000 feet that is very hot, dry, sandy, and dusty in the southwest with less than 10 inches of rain/snow per year. I usually clean and lube with dryer Teflon or wax based lubricants weekly if I trail ride a lot. Only clean or lube every 2-3 months if I'm 100% paved road or work commuting. Both ebikes seems to operate without issues (so far).
legsofbeer
Active Member
Haven't measured the chain, though my mid-drive buddies are telling me to, but 1500 miles and no problems. I have completely cleaned the chain twice and use tri-lube.
Mine look OK too, no skipping or anything like that but when I measured them they were surprisingly stretched. It’s surprise me I figure better safe than sorry, chains are cheap and easy.
legsofbeer
Active Member
How much did the chains stretch relative to what a regular road or mountain bike would stretch with that mileage?
More then .75
Can you tell me what symptoms one might experience, if the chain has gone south?
I am experiencing a loud metallic "pop" when I put a medium amount of downward pressure on a pedal, especially the left pedal, for some reason. I replaced the original pedals, as one had gone bad and the "pop" seems to be more frequent. The noise seems to be coming somewhere near the front crank area. I cant make it happen on the bike stand, due to the amount of downward pressure needed. I have nearly 1400 miles on a 2019 Rad Rover, with some hard, desert riding on it. Chain has been cleaned and lubed twice, since acquiring.
To measure a chain, must it be removed from the bike?
I have tightened all hex head bolts on the front crank, as well as the rear axle nuts. None were loose. Derailleur adjusted, as are the brakes. No out of roundness observed in the rear wheel.
That could be the chain popping on the back sprockets I don’t know, go to park tool on YouTube they can explain it better than I can. As the chain Get stretched you don’t even notice ,After I put on the new chain shifts are crisp and a lot less chain noise
1/16 inch on one pair of links, or the entire chain length? The other poster mentioned 3/4 inch, that's still not a lot on a 50 inch ?? chain
This all seems a bit overkill to me and will be a bit wasteful. (save the earth and all that) The tolerances are not that tight on this stuff. You could be replacing the chain once a month. The Chinese manufactures will like you though.
The Rad electric motor drives the rear wheel directly so cannot stretch the chain, only pedal effort can do that. So as regards the derailleur, gearset, shifter, cables etc its just a normal bike. You generally don't wear our regular bike chains in a 1000 miles.
Mid-drives will break chains more often because the combined motor and pedal torque.
Over 1/16" over the total length of the chain. More than the acceptable level of stretch, according to Park Tool. Who, I dont believe, are in the business of selling chains.
A 68 lb bike with a 200 lb guy, putting his all into the pedals at Pedal Assist 5, going up steep rocky slopes (and still not making it, due to the incline), is not something "regular bike chains" are asked to do, I dont believe.
I do not know if chain stretching at 1000 miles is good or bad. I peddle it most of the time in PAS 2 or 3 , I don’t think it’s a bad deal to buy a nine dollar chain every 1000 miles to get more out of the free wheel and sprocket in the long run.
smorgasbord
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Note that as your chain stretches, it wears the chainring and rear cogs to match. Ironically, if you wait too long, swapping in a new chain will then cause problems with skipping and such - which means you need to change out the chainring and/or rear cassette as well. This is why being on top of chain stretch is so important.
It is true that hub motor bikes don't put excess strain on the chain like mid-drive bikes do.
For information on chain stretch, wear, and care, check out this thread.
It is true that hub motor bikes don't put excess strain on the chain like mid-drive bikes do.
For information on chain stretch, wear, and care, check out this thread.
1/16th " is about 1/800 of the chain length.Tolerance of less than 0.125 %. Good luck with that, I bet I could take a case of those brand new chains and find they didn't meet that spec. After a couple of days of riding none of them would.
The B-tension adjustment on a Shimano compensates for this.
Now 1/16 of total length would make sense, that's huge (3 inches or so)
As I already said PAS energy on a Rad with a rear electrical hub motor , is not applied via the pedals/ chain/ deraileur / gearset. Only the rider can apply pedal energy .
I have seen plenty of larger non electric mountain biker folks going up very steep grades, true the combined bike + rider weight (say 230lbs) is less but they are providing all the required energy via the pedals/ chain. Heck that's why some of them complain about us electric guys , they think we are "cheating".
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smorgasbord
Well-Known Member
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It does not. Here's Calvin from Park Tool explaining the Shimano derailleur adjustments.
There is no adjustment to compensate for chain stretch. When your chain stretches too much, you should replace it.
Normally, measurements of chain stretch are done per 12" of length. Again, I recommend reading this thread to more information.
From your recommended thread: This is for a 12 inch chain Replacing a chain at the 0.5%-0.75% thresholds will help your cassette and chainring last longer, which is why that's the recommendation.
Poster never quoted 12" of chain, I queried that and they said replacement should occur at more than 1/16 inch for the total length of the chain. 0.125%. That is 6 times less than recommended. A new chain out of the box would not meet that spec.
I question the math !
1/16 of an inch stretch on a 50 inch chain is negligible. Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying you even need to adjust it, in normal operation the derailleur tension will take up any minor slack.
Mid-drive guys get paranoid about chain stretch, for good reason . They can break chains/ gears more often.
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