Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley With modern 11-speed (and up) drivetrains, it’s important to keep track of chain wear because if you use a chain for too long it will begin to wear. It’s not that older chains didn’t wear too, such as 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 9- and 10-speed ones. It’s just that […]
  • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    3 days ago

    Check new chains with any chain checking tool before relying on it for anything. As a former pro Buyer for a chain of shops, I have seen many mechanics make a fool of themselves by using a chain checker on every bike they encounter and then telling a customer that their barely ridden bike is in need of a new chain soon. If your chain checking tool fails to show new chains as such, you are convoluting accuracy with precision. If all chains run a little long, measuring them to the shorter specification is worthless. The only relevant measure is the baseline length of the chains you purchase and not their accuracy to a published standard. The fallacy of chain checkers is the relevancy of the standard.

    As of 2014, I tested most chain checkers that are regularly available from the major distribution channels like QBP and Hawley. None of them consistently measure Shimano, SRAM, or KMC chains as new using new stock in a store.

    The only use I recommend for chain checkers is when you have one for yourself. Measure your new chain and write down both the locations of measure and the measurement. You need to use the quick connect link or the press pin as a locator to measure a few links ahead of and behind. This creates a deterministic way of measuring the stretch over time in a useful way. Since accuracy is rubbish, and only precision matters, your choice of tool is only relevant in how well it can repeatably indicate the same level of precision.

    The underlying issue is that there are no checks or regulations that enforce the standards accuracy of bicycle chains, or cogs for that matter. If there is such an authority that I am unaware of, as of 2014, it was wholly and grossly ineffective. Any chain checker that tries to pin a floating value to an accuracy measure is assuming a calibrated and regulated standard.

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    I got the CC-4 (doesn’t have the 1% mark) after using their CC-3.x for a while.

    I didn’t know about why the CC-4 was more accurate until I went through like three chains in a very short period of time.

    Apparently, the CC-3 was telling me that I was past a certain wear limit, when in fact, I wasn’t even close. An expensive lesson to just get the best tool from the start.

    I don’t even know why Park Tool offers the CC-3.x anymore. Is there any advantage to having this type of tool not being accurate?