Wear level on cassette?

rcpro8 said:

You have a missing tooth on the top right... Probably not a good thing.

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Maybe not. A lot of cassettes are made that way to assist shifting.

Buy a new cassette. It looks like your smaller cogs have a fair amount of wear on them. A new chain on a half worn cassette will actually shift worse than if you continue using the old chain.

If you go ahead and put the new chain on it will shift normally on the cogs that are not worn so much but it will try to jump off of the worn cogs. Kind of like it's trying to shift by itself. No amount of cable adjusting will help either.

I suggest that you try it anyway just so you can experience what I'm talking about. But don't ride it too long like that or you'll mess up the chain. Or just don't use the gears that it's skipping in. Just kidding

I usually replace my chain and cassette every year. Although after a year it looks a bit more worn than yours. But not a whole lot worse. Along with the chain and cassette, I also replace the short piece of shifter cable housing that connects the frame and derailleur. It wears out fast because of the sharp bend and clogs with mud often. Many hard to find shifting problems are caused by that little piece of cable housing. It also gets beat up by trail debris.

AndrwSwitch said:

I can't tell by looking.

When I put a new chain on a bike, I expect an immediate improvement in shifting. Or at least no difference. If it gets worse, I pick up a new cassette.

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Time will tell! I hate waiting for a box of goodies to arrive... :madman:

hdparrish said:

How often do you replace your chain? Most folks with whom I ride swear by replacing it at least once each season.

I went two seasons once and had to replace the cassette. Of course, how often and how far you ride also enter into the equation.

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This is the stock chain. I purchased the bike used, *very* lightly used, and it doesn't have a lot of miles on it... maybe 3-400 from my usage at the most, and i can't say about the previous owner, however the original tires looked nearly new, and the chain still had factory lube on it. The owner said there were roughly a dozen or so pleasure rides on it, and that appeared correct to me.

Anyway, the reason i'm replacing it, is because i was too damn lazy to do any preventative maintenance, bluntly. I used this bike for commuting over this past summer/fall, and it resided locked to a handrail outside for 10 hours a day, over the span of 3ish rainy months. Its condition just got whittled away by dirt buildup and use with little lube, which obviously contributed to it's premature wear. It doesn't look corroded, has no stiff links, or any other issue that i've found, other than this measured 1/16" wear (and being dirty as all hell!). It was starting to squeak just before i stored it for the winter. I knew it was dry.

Originally i was just going to buy a chain cleaner and keep on chugging, but Chain Reaction had some nice deals on chains, so i just bought 2 new ones. Sheldon Brown's site recommends replacing them @ 1/16" wear, so, why not. Sounds good to me.

rcpro8 said:

You have a missing tooth on the top right... Probably not a good thing.

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It looks like it, but i think you may be looking at the downward reflection on the granny gear, of the second sprocket... I had to stare at it for a while, as i didn't remember seeing any obvious damage to it, as i was cleaning it earlier. It has a mirror finish, even with the mediocre job i did with wiping most of the crud off. All the spotty dandruff looking stuff is lint from the old rag i was using.

Here is the method I use for measuring chain and cassette wear.

Chains - measure out 24 links (as you did). The following measurements are a good guide.

12 to 12 1/16 inch - chain is good. No replacement needed unless very rusty
12 1/16 to 12 1/8 - chain is worn, in fair condition but recommend replacement
12 1/8 and up - chain is worn, and installing a new chain has a high percentage of inducing chain skip. Cassette and possible chain rings would need replacement.

You should be able to get an approx 3:1 ratio of components. But YMMV.

3 chains to a cassette, 3 cassettes to a set of chain rings. Chain rings can develop wear faster, if only using one the majority of the time. I've worn out middle chain rings before cassettes before due to the fact that I spend almost all my time in the middle ring.


What I would do is install the new chain you have ordered and go ride the bike. If it shifts great and doesn't skip, your good to go. If it does skip, double check your adjustments and replace the cassette if needed.