New Chain - shifting troubles

If your chain was badly worn and you had used it in that condition for
a lot of miles, chances are it has worn down the cogs as well and now
they won't mesh nicely with a new chain. It is best to renew the chain
often (inexpensive) before it creates significant cog wear. Otherwise,
you need to replace both chain and cogs which can get pricey.
The situation is beautifully explained - with pictures - by Sheldon
Brown (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html)
Best wishes,
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
(www.wellspokenwheels.com)

Nigel Grinter said:

If your chain was badly worn and you had used it in that condition for
a lot of miles, chances are it has worn down the cogs as well and now
they won't mesh nicely with a new chain. It is best to renew the chain
often (inexpensive) before it creates significant cog wear. Otherwise,
you need to replace both chain and cogs which can get pricey.
The situation is beautifully explained - with pictures - by Sheldon
Brown

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html

Worn sprockets do not affect shifting but they skip under load because
there is a chain pitch mismatch but that does not affect moving the
chain from one sprocket to the next (shifting). When a chain wears,
its pitch elongates (often called stretching) so it rides at greater
radius on the sprocket around which it is running.

With time, wear pockets ,into which the out-of-pitch chain prefers to
run, develop at the larger radius. Subsequently a new 1/2" pitch
chain will run well under no, or light load, but when heavily loaded,
it will ride into the pockets at the larger radius and will not engage
the next sprocket tooth that is now more than 1/2" away. This is what
causes chain skip and it demands a new sprocket.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/chain-care.html

Jobst Brandt

I guess that raises a natural question - how many miles or how often should
the chain be replaced?

How do I determine whether the cassette needs to be replaced - or need to
adjust the derailluer some?

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Quoted message said:

If your chain was badly worn and you had used it in that condition for
a lot of miles, chances are it has worn down the cogs as well and now
they won't mesh nicely with a new chain. It is best to renew the chain
often (inexpensive) before it creates significant cog wear. Otherwise,
you need to replace both chain and cogs which can get pricey.
The situation is beautifully explained - with pictures - by Sheldon
Brown (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html)
Best wishes,
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
(www.wellspokenwheels.com)

take the Chevy option - replace everything.
siriusly, the chain goes with the cassette - there are no options
if the chain ring is down to a near point or pointed at the teeth
outside
then, yup, the CR goes to - no reason to expletive deleted a new chain
right?
while there might as well get new bearings for the BB, repack and
adjust.

There's no good answer to that except "It depends". It depends on how
and where you ride and how often you clean and lubricate the chain. If
you're a 140 lb breath of air with a fluid, high speed spinning style
or a 260 lb gorilla who never gets out of the 11-tooth sprocket makes a
difference, as it does if you ride on dry roads v. dusty, grit-laden
trails or in the wet a lot, and as it does if you painstakingly clean
and lube your chain after every ride v. a once-a-year oiling (whether
it needs it or not!).

I'm 160lbs, not a gorilla, ride on good roads in the dry (as far as
possible) and clean and lube my chain at least 6 times a year. My
chains last me at least several thousand miles, but I never ride them
until they are worn out, preferring to renew them before they have a
chance to do much harm to the sprockets. The best measure of chain
wear is the "stretch" that occurs over time. Again, Sheldon Brown has
words of wisdom:

"The standard way to measure chain wear is with a ruler or steel tape
measure. This can be done without removing the chain from the bicycle.
The normal technique is to measure a one-foot length, placing an inch
mark of the ruler exactly in the middle of one rivet, then looking at
the corresponding rivet 12 complete links away. On a new, unworn chain,
this rivet will also line up exactly with an inch mark. With a worn
chain, the rivet will be past the inch mark.
This gives a direct measurement of the wear to the chain, and an
indirect measurement of the wear to the sprockets:

If the rivet is less than 1/16" past the mark, all is well.

If the rivet is 1/16" past the mark, you should replace the chain, but
the sprockets are probably undamaged.

If the rivet is 1/8" past the mark, you have left it too long, and the
sprockets (at least the favorite ones) will be too badly worn. If you
replace a chain at the 1/8" point, without replacing the sprockets, it
may run OK and not skip, but the worn sprockets will cause the new
chain to wear much faster than it should, until it catches up with the
wear state of the sprockets.

If the rivet is past the 1/8" mark, a new chain will almost certainly
skip on the worn sprockets, especially the smaller ones."

Hope this helps.

Best wishes,

Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
(www.wellspokenwheels.com)

chain use requires inspection - even with a thorough cleaning after or
before every ride, individual link inspection for free movement, no
binding is necessary to avoid the unwornchain except for links 58,59
and 62 all at 1 1/4" lengths
this is easily done - tired, long ride, suns going down -picturesque
and you been riding cross chained the last 15 miles with dirt in 58...