When To Replace bike Chainrings And Cassettes

Although the drivetrain of your bike is not classified as a consumable item, like brake pads are - it's true that if you do enough mileage, or poorly maintain the drivetrain of your bike - you can expect to wear the drivetrain, requiring replacement components and parts. In this post, we look at how to understand when your drivetrain needs replacing, and how you can extend the life of your bicycle drivetrain with some simple maintenance.

One of the biggest indicators of your drivetrain needing an overhaul, is an obvious reduction in the precision and speed of gear changes - this is the first sign of what is usually a worn bike chain, which has stretched. If you continue to ride with a worn out chain, the worn out chain will also wear out the bike cassette as well as the teeth of the chainring. It’s important to remember that your drivetrain wears at the same time, you can extend the life of the complete drivetrain by keeping it clean, free of muck & dirt which can cause premature wear, and keep the system fully lubricated. The chain is the first thing to monitor, and you can purchase chain chcking tools from the likes of SRAM.

One of the biggest mistakes that cyclists make is just replacing the chain when it's worn out, often this does not improve performance, as the brand new chain is running on tired and worn cassettes and chainrings. Although you do not have to replace the cassette and chainring when you replace a chain, it’s important to remember to check the condition of other components, when you replace a part.

The easiest and best way to check whether or not your cassette is worn and needs replacement, is to use a new chain and if the new chain skips, you know it’s time to replace the cassette. Cyclists who are confident on the tools will find replacing a cassette a very easy task, that can be done in a matter of minutes, with the right tools. Those tools being a chain whip and a lockring tool - commonly referred to as a cassette tool.

The best way to know when you need to replace chainrings is by ear! It's very difficult to see visually, when a chainring does need replacing. The best way to tell that an inner chainring is worn is something called chain suck, which is when the chain does not release smoothly at the bottom part of the chainring. Visually, if you can see daylight between the teeth of the chainring and the chain - it's time to replace.

Manufacturers of components and drivetrains do not provide us with intervals or mileage amounts for replacement drivetrain parts, as there are too many variables to track. Riding conditions and maintenance make it too difficult to predict when a drivetrain needs replacing, so it's important to check drivetrain condition and performance regularly.