Tech/Maintenance

[AustinBike]

1 hour ago, Tree Magnet said:

Slide hammer would be a good name for a band. That’s my contribution I guess.


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Or a good name for a sex move.

[Big_papa_nuts]

22 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Or a good name for a sex move.

THE Slide Hammer.

 

I hate Urban Dictionary.

[Cafeend]

22 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Or a good name for a sex move.

I tried this last night , she was not impressed

[AustinBike]

16 minutes ago, Cafeend said:

I tried this last night , she was not impressed

She walked in on you? 😉

[AntonioGG]

Proper Mojo thread!

[WLemke]

Bike has not been shifting great over the past two weeks. Pulled out the DAG and my hanger was in near perfect alignment. Messed with the cable tension knob. It helped a little but shifting was still a bit on the sloppy side. On Monday I dropped my chain while riding, which has never happened before. Felt like an idiot because I didn’t think to check for chain wear. Sure enough I popped in my chain wear gauge and the chain was just past .5%. 
 

it always amazes me that half a link of extra length can make such a difference in drive train quality. Anyways, new chain is on and looking forward to the trails today. 
 

[Chief]

I went too long on last chain. When I replaced it my bike sounded like a chainsaw turns out the chainring was toast, also smoked the cassette. Need to stay on top of chain wear from now on. I don't know about sram as far as how their chains wear but Shimano lasts about 1500 miles.

[Barry]

I always keep my chain handy until after my first ride on a new chain!

 

Interestingly chain life can have a lot to do with your cassette and chain ring--aluminum chainrings and cogs mean much more regular chain changes. In the old days of 2x and 3x, aluminum rings would wear down on me at a rate of about 4-500 miles per chain. So if I went over about 400 miles on a chain, I knew I was killing my aluminum chainrings. But with narrow-wide and 1x, I'm able to get 1000+ miles on a chain, and I got 6000+ miles out of a chainring last year. And then my first version of the e13 11sp cassette was aluminum for the largest 3 cogs. And I was wearing that 3rd down cog at a rate of about 3-400 miles. Thankfully e13 changed it up so that only the 46 tooth is aluminum, and now again I can get upwards of 1000+ miles on a chain without killing the cassette.

[throet]

14 minutes ago, Chief said:

I went too long on last chain. When I replaced it my bike sounded like a chainsaw turns out the chainring was toast, also smoked the cassette. Need to stay on top of chain wear from now on. I don't know about sram as far as how their chains wear but Shimano lasts about 1500 miles.

I'm going to expose my complete ineptitude here where it comes to bike maintenance. So a few weeks ago the chain broke on my main ride. Instead of repairing it, I figured I'd just replace it since it's probably been a couple of years on that one. Before just slapping a new chain on though, how can I tell if it's also time to replace my chain ring or cassette? I've actually never replaced my chain ring (Race Face N-W) and have been riding that bike hard for 3.5 years. The cassette was changed once due to damage, but it's probably been a couple of years. In the past I've just let the LBS tell me when to replace parts. 

[WLemke]

4 minutes ago, throet said:

I'm going to expose my complete ineptitude here where it comes to bike maintenance. So a few weeks ago the chain broke on my main ride. Instead of repairing it, I figured I'd just replace it since it's probably been a couple of years on that one. Before just slapping a new chain on though, how can I tell if it's also time to replace my chain ring or cassette? I've actually never replaced my chain ring (Race Face N-W) and have been riding that bike hard for 3.5 years. The cassette was changed once due to damage, but it's probably been a couple of years. In the past I've just let the LBS tell me when to replace parts. 

When the teeth on your cogs start to look like shark teeth.

Example

[Cafeend]

1 minute ago, WLemke said:

When the teeth on your cogs start to look like shark teeth.

Example

I'd like to think that it would never get to that extreme point

[mack_turtle]

sometimes it's obvious that a chainring or cassette is worn out but other times it's not. in the end, sometimes you can get more miles out of a cassette than you expect. my test in the shop was always to put a new chain on a customer's bike when the wear gauge says the chain is worn past a certain point, then take the bike out and ride it up a hill, testing all of the cassette cogs and chainring combinations. if any of the cogs or rings slip, it's time for a new cassette.

[Barry]

13 minutes ago, throet said:

I figured I'd just replace it since it's probably been a couple of years on that one. Before just slapping a new chain on though, how can I tell if it's also time to replace my chain ring or cassette?

The older, "stretched" chain will wear the wear down the teeth of the cogs and chainring. The primary issue is that your new chain will skip over your old cogs or chainring when you apply a lot of power to them in a climb. Or in some cases you can just have bad shifting. 

 

Back in the 9 speed days I was really happy with my ProLink chain length checker. But I've tried a couple of newer 11 speed chain checkers, and they never seem to be as reliable. 

[Chief]

If your chainring is very worn it will try to suck the chain up when you pedal and also make a lot of noise. If your cassette is worn it will have a tendency to skip when under load like when climbing something steep. I have a Park chain checker and the Prolink. The Prolink is not that accurate the Park is better. 

[Bart]

I pretty much ride the NW Austin area trails alot off 360, and those techy trails can stretch a 12 sp. chain quick, especially when your grinding away in that big cog most of the time. My new Trance came with an Eagle chain and that didn't last too long. 

[natas1321]

Related but a little different, I have on occasion broken or lost a few teeth on a couple of cassettes in the past and was wondering what causes this.

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[Big_papa_nuts]

2 hours ago, natas1321 said:

Related but a little different, I have on occasion broken or lost a few teeth on a couple of cassettes in the past and was wondering what causes this.

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I have only ever seen this on SRAM cassettes. Usually 950s, but I did see an 1250 with a big chunk out of it recently. If I had to make a guess on the cause I would suspect shifting under high load.

[Chief]

3 hours ago, natas1321 said:

Related but a little different, I have on occasion broken or lost a few teeth on a couple of cassettes in the past and was wondering what causes this.

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Shifting under load. I've seen quite a few Sram cassettes missing teeth or bent, never seen a Shimano cassette do this. Sram is lighter than Shimano. Lighter is usually less durable. 

[throet]

4 hours ago, Chief said:

Shifting under load. I've seen quite a few Sram cassettes missing teeth or bent, never seen a Shimano cassette do this. Sram is lighter than Shimano. Lighter is usually less durable. 

Not sure if you remember that XX1 cassette that I was going to have you straighten for me, but after closer inspection, I found at least one tooth on it that was broken off. Believe it was on the third biggest cog. Guess it's heading to the scrap metal heap now. Definitely was from shifting under load but I've since broken that bad habit. The XX1 that I replaced it with seems to be holding out pretty well. Curious though what insights folks have on value vs. performance across the SRAM line of 11-speed 10-42t cassettes. 

  

[Chief]

18 hours ago, throet said:

Not sure if you remember that XX1 cassette that I was going to have you straighten for me, but after closer inspection, I found at least one tooth on it that was broken off. Believe it was on the third biggest cog. Guess it's heading to the scrap metal heap now. Definitely was from shifting under load but I've since broken that bad habit. The XX1 that I replaced it with seems to be holding out pretty well. Curious though what insights folks have on value vs. performance across the SRAM line of 11-speed 10-42t cassettes. 

  

I know people really like Sram for how well it shifts but for me the cost is just insane for any of the higher end Sram stuff. Just look at the prices of those cassettes you listed. I can't justify that kind of money for wear and tear items, you can get a Shimano XT cassette for $70. As well as how many times I've seen a sram cassette bent or missing teeth just from normal use I'm out on Sram. You do have other options for a cassette though maybe look at Sun Race for an option or talk with ATXZJ he's been down the drivetrain rabbit hole more times than I can count.😂 I just installed a Sun Race cassette on my bike I haven't been out to test it in the trails but it shifted fine on test around neighborhood.

[AntonioGG]

@Barry that’s very low miles on a chain.  I get low miles when I ride Rocky Hill a lot but otherwise I get 1000+ if I keep the chain clean and lubricated.  I’ve tried many lubes.  The one that gave me longest life also retained grit so it was good for most trails but not Rocky Hill.

I don’t wait to get to 50% wear either on my chain. 

i never replaced my high end sram cassette with the same.  I’ve used cheaper sram with no issues.  The billet XX cassette is a work of art though and it hangs in my garage.

 

 

[ATXZJ]

20 hours ago, throet said:

Not sure if you remember that XX1 cassette that I was going to have you straighten for me, but after closer inspection, I found at least one tooth on it that was broken off. Believe it was on the third biggest cog. Guess it's heading to the scrap metal heap now. Definitely was from shifting under load but I've since broken that bad habit. The XX1 that I replaced it with seems to be holding out pretty well. Curious though what insights folks have on value vs. performance across the SRAM line of 11-speed 10-42t cassettes. 

  

Currently running the XG-1195 with 44t expander after a trip to CAT and Bandera i quickly realized my fitness was not up for a 32/42 combo.  GX cassettes and above will shift about the same but the biggest difference is weight as the X0 & XX are machined out of one piece of metal while the GX are multiple cogs pinned together. Only the NX 11-42 was the worst i've used. IMHO, I noticed more of an improvement by swapping a sram eagle chain on my 11spd than anything.  11spd sram with a stock cage max out with a 46t cassette but still work really well. Depending on your hub, you can just swap the driver and be done with the XD stuff.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Chief said:

 or talk with ATXZJ he's been down the drivetrain rabbit hole more times than I can count.😂 

a lot of truth to this

[AustinBike]

22 hours ago, Chief said:

I know people really like Sram for how well it shifts but for me the cost is just insane for any of the higher end Sram stuff. Just look at the prices of those cassettes you listed. I can't justify that kind of money for wear and tear items, you can get a Shimano XT cassette for $70. As well as how many times I've seen a sram cassette bent or missing teeth just from normal use I'm out on Sram. You do have other options for a cassette though maybe look at Sun Race for an option or talk with ATXZJ he's been down the drivetrain rabbit hole more times than I can count.😂 I just installed a Sun Race cassette on my bike I haven't been out to test it in the trails but it shifted fine on test around neighborhood.

I ran a Sun Race for about a year or so. It performed well, but the nagging issue I had was that every shift sounded "hollow", unlike a Shimano or SRAM shift that sounded more "substantial". Never had an issue, but it always sounded cheap.

[Barry]

21 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

@Barry that’s very low miles on a chain.  I get low miles when I ride Rocky Hill a lot but otherwise I get 1000+ if I keep the chain clean and lubricated.  I’ve tried many lubes.  The one that gave me longest life also retained grit so it was good for most trails but not Rocky Hill.

My current set-up is working quite well, and letting me change my chain ~ 1000+ miles. Since the e13 9-46 11sp only has one aluminum cog, and it's the 46 tooth, AND that individual cog is replaceable, then I can comfortably run the chain for a while without fear of having to replace an entire drivetrain.  

 

I'm currently and for about 1.5 years running a two lube approach. For the 4 or 5 wetter winter/spring months, I'm using ProLink ProGold Xtreme. And for the 7 or 8 dryer months, I change over to Finish Line Dry. I also switch over to Finish Line Dry if we go down to Big Bend or up to Palo Duro--even if it's just for a couple of days.  I used ProLink for maybe 15 years with no issue. But the first time I went to Palo Duro with ProLink was absurd. I actually had to get back to the car to clean/relube every 5 or so miles. It's the same kind of thing at Big Bend and even a dusty Walnut, but it takes about 15 or so miles for it to really start grinding. Finish Line Dry is great in those situations.  

[June Bug]

This may be of use -- also posted in the Gravel thread. 

From bikepacking.com   Mullet Drive Trains: Pairing Road Shifters with Mountain Bike Derailleurs and Cassettes