Workshop Focus – When To Replace Your Bike Chain
Your bicycle chain is the link between the power you put down through the crank arms and the cogs on your rear wheel—that when turned, propel your bike forwards. That means your chain gets a tough time; it transmits all that power as it bends and stretches around your drivetrain. A bicycle chain is composed of inner plates and outer plates, held apart by pins, and with a bushing/roller on the pins that allows the chain to roll around cogs. All these metal surfaces touch each other as the chain works, which means friction. Bicycle chain lube goes a long way to helping reduce the friction on a bicycle chain (read my previous blog post on ' How to Choose Your Bike Chain Lubricant '. But, over time that friction will wear away at the inner-plates, pins and bushings of your chain, causing it to streeeetch… Chain stretch is a bit of a miscommunication of what is actually happening with your chain as it wears. Your chain does not stretch as such, but the distance between two bushings/...
