# Shimano Chain Life - Road



## johnroth26 (Oct 11, 2009)

I'm new to road cycling and have a Shimano DA-7900 chain that I have about 4600 miles on. I clean (not degrease) the chain and other drive train components after every ride and lube the chain with Pro Link. I check the chain for wear with Park's CC-3 about once a month but the chain is not showing any wear. I realize that chain life will vary but any feedback on actual mileage on Shimano chains would be appreciated. I have noticed some minor drive chain ticking / clicking and wondering if it may be the chain. 
Currently riding a 2009 Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3.


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## pdh777 (Oct 7, 2005)

I have experience with 3 major brands of chains. Also like you I clean and lube after almost every ride. Live in Colorado so the chain wear is going to be quicker than in a flat area. Riding conditions will certainly be a factor in chain life.
1 Climbing, puts more torque and therefore strain on the chain. 
2) Climbing also forces you to use more cogs on the cassette more often - also putting more stress on the chain.
3) Colorado uses a gravel chemical mix called magnesium chloride to treat the roads for snow. Unfortunately the dusty residue from this mix tends to stay around all year - therefore putting more grit and grime in your drive train - also speeding up wear on the drivetrain.

I rode for 2 weeks in the flats of Michigan this summer - over that time I cleaned my drivetrain twice - before cleaning in both cases the drivetrain was cleaner than one day of riding in CO. Also only used 3 cogs on the cassette - in CO I use them all.

1) SRAM 1090 - lasts the longest at about 4,500 - 5,000 miles. Also the noisiest and least smooth shifting.
2) KMC10SL - lasts the second longest at about 4,000 miles. Smooth shifting and quiet. The one I regularly use now.

If your chain is skipping it very well could be you need to replace it. Also check your cassette for wear - although my experience has been that I get a lot more life out of the cassette due to regular cleaning and lubing than I will from a single chain.

3) Shimano DA - Only get about 2,500 - 3,000 miles - also smooth shifting and quiet.


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## Uncle Grumpy (Jul 25, 2005)

The Park Tools are great as an indicator because they are simple to use and give you an idea of wear.

Someone will pipe up and say "use a metal rule to check" and that's a more accurate method and you should do it when you have more than the 8 seconds it takes to use the Park Tool.

You're cleaning and lubing okay, so keep that up, though after every ride is overkill depending of course on the conditions and the length of the ride. Shimano chains will last a long time.

As for the noise, it could be anything. Could be gear adjustment, chainring bolt loose, bottom bracket noise, shoe lace on crank arm, crank arm itself, rear skewer, crank arm of chain tapping front derailleur cage, Cannondale Synapse frame about to explode*... the list goes on.

If you're not up to speed with wrenching, your shop will sort it all out.

Grumps

* I made that up. Only aluminium Cannondale frames explode**

** Exaggeration. A crack does not always result in an explosion, as such.


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## jmess (Aug 24, 2006)

Ssh, don't tell people about Pro Link gold. It will upset them to know you can get long life from a chain without going through 50 different ways to clean your chain. I have used Pro Link for 4 years and see 2500-3000 miles of hard riding on a chain. So at 4600 I would change it as preventive maintenance; you got your monies worth out of it . There will probably be 20 more posts after this one ranting about measuring chain stretch and different chain lubes. Just keep doing what you are doing and enjoy the ride.


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## ti bones (Feb 24, 2007)

johnroth26 said:


> I have noticed some minor drive chain ticking / clicking and wondering if it may be the chain.
> Currently riding a 2009 Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3.


I have never used a dura ace 7900 chain but some people reported problems with the quick link wearing faster than the chain and clicking and apparently Shimano quit making the quick link from what I understand. If you have a quick link on your CN-7900 this could be your problem, although I would have expected it to have started making noise a long time ago if it is the quick link problem.
Here are some reviews on Excel sports and here is another reference to it.
Tom


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## Hank Stamper (Sep 9, 2009)

I get about 2000.

A few factors. I'm pretty good about maintanence, but not perfect. I ride a lot of hills aggressively and seem to shift quite often. None of my miles are what I'd term casual, and I'm closer to a masher than a spinner. 

So I'd expect I'm on the low end as far as how long chains last.

I've never replaced one because I was having ticking/clicking or any other problems though. Only because the measurement thing says it's time.


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## C-40 (Feb 4, 2004)

*search...*

This topic gets discussed more than any other. A search on chain life will bring up a huge amount of info.

A Park chain checker is the worst possible tool for measuring chain wear. If you discount the .25% false wear that it reports with a brand new Shimano chain and consider .75% to actually mean .5%, even that amount is exaggerated since it includes the wear of a roller at each end of the measurement, that can be nearly as large as the elongation that you are trying to measure.

FWIW, a Campy chain will far outlast a SRAM, Shimano or KMC chain. If cared for properly, elongation will not even be a factor in deciding when to toss a chain.

Here's a repeat of something I posted in November:

A park chain checker does not measure elongation; it measures elongation, plus the wear on two rollers. Some chains will show .25% wear on a Park chain checker when new, but this is not wear, it's the normal difference in roller diameter and clearance that exists among brands. This false wear should be subtracted from any future reading. Even then, the tool will always gives exaggerated readings. A precision scale is the only practical tool for measuring elongation.

If you want to maximize cog life, I'd use at least three chains in a rotation and never leave one on for more than its half life. If you get that third chain into use with no chain skip, you can continue using the cassette for the entire life of all three chains and never encounter chain skip.

When you're on the last half of all three chains, use a scale, not a Park chain checker to get the true elongation. Place the end of the scale on the edge of a pin. When the pin at the opposite end of the scale exposes nearly half its diameter, you've reached .5% elongation.

If you use Campy chains and lube them adequately, they will never show this much elongation, but they will wear out, just not as fast. With a Campy chain I have to rely on checks of the roller spacing to know when the chain is shot. Even then, the amount of wear to consider as worn out, is somewhat arbitrary. I toss mine when the roller spacing is .035-.040 inch greater than a new chain. It's takes me up to 6,000 miles to reach that point. The elongation is still a fraction of the "allowable" .5% after 6,000 miles. IMO, the chain was shot due to the roller wear and the side clearance increasing to almost twice that of a new chain.

If you leave a single Campy chain in use on a cassette for 5-6,000 miles, it is likely to cause chain skip on one or more cogs, but it depends on which cogs are most-used and how well the wear is spread among the cogs. I use the 19-21-23 a lot for climbing and the 19 was the first to go. I found this out by following the mistaken advice from some "experts" who claimed that you'd never get chain skip if the chain was not elongated by .5%. I proved this to be wrong a second time with Ti cogs and a chain with only 4000 miles on it. That chain had almost no measureable elongation, but still wore out the 19-21 cogs. Ti cogs last about half as long as steel, so I've never bought another Ti cog since then.


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

I get over 12,000 miles .......(your mileage may differ)

(I have never had to replace an 8 speed cassette, I never had to replace a nine speed cassette, and I've never had to replace a 10 speed cassette)

I have worn out 7 speed freewheels, but that was when I tried to make my chain last "crazy" long.

I still have about 5 nine speed cassettes that I use on one bike, and 4 10 speed cassettes that I use on another bike. (usually one cassette for doing the bulk of my training, and the others on different wheels for racing)


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## acid_rider (Nov 23, 2004)

and if you are too lazy to follow C-40 very good advice, like I am, then I just wipe and ProLink lube my Shimano chain every ~300-500km (depending on weather) and it seems to last me about 6000 miles, before I replace both chain and cassette together. In my case that is about 10-12 months of riding per chain/cassette combo. Like C-40 I never buy Ti-cassettes, I stick with 105/Ultegra cassettes or Campag Centaur/Veloce equivalents, if this is your religion. 8^)


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## johnroth26 (Oct 11, 2009)

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I think I'll try replacing the chain. I recently replaced the Ultegra 6601 bottom bracket with a DA-7900 bottom bracket. While the cranks felt smoother it didn't fix the clicking / ticking. I replaced the bb because the the drive train clicking / ticking is happening in about the same crank position on the down stroke (4:00-6:00 Oclock). I don't believe a new chain will fix this problem but given that I have 4600 miles on it, I'll go ahead and change it anyway! Thanks again for all the feedback.


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## Gevorg (Sep 18, 2006)

Here  is my data.
I get 2500-3500 miles out of 10 speed Ultegra chain ( I ride hard very hilly terrains and I weigh around 210-220 lbs) I am assuming someone that weighs 160lbs will get 4500 miles out of the chain. My 10 speed cassette lasted more then 15,000 miles, I replaced just as a precautinary measure. My 9 speed ultegra chain lasted 2000-2500 miles and cassette about 10,000 miles. My middle chainring on 9 speed lasted 18,000 miles. granny and big chainring are 18,000 miles.
I usually keep tarck of the chain mileage and if mileage is above 2,000 and I have some shifting issues, first thing I do I repace the chain.
Now about your clicking noise. It can be caused by following
1. Loose chainring bolts
2. Shimano SPD pedals require greasing the spindle body about every 6-7,000 miles (once a year)
3. check for bent tooth on th echainring if it is happening on only one of the chainrings only
4. Check rear skewer for proper tightness ( 90% of the problem)
5. Loose mounting of the crank, use plastic torx to tighten the crank arm on spindle and recheck


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## ralph1 (May 20, 2006)

I run a DA 7800 chain mated to an Ultegra cassette, I clean and lube weekly (or more if rain is involved) and I always replace both after 10,000kms. Thats around a year of riding for me.

cheers

ralph


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## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

I replace my chains at about 5,000 miles, and I use Ultegra 9-speed on all of my road bikes. I replace them at 5 K more out of principle than need. My 9-speed cassettes usually last about 10,000 miles.

Most cyclists will get substantially less chain wear with 10- or 11-speed groups (C-40 excepted). I used to have Chorus 10-speed group on one of my bikes but sold it -- in part because chain wear was so poor. My Chorus group would start shifting poorly at about 1,500-2,000 miles. However, my main reason for getting rid of my Chorus group was to make all of my bikes compatible. With 4 road bikes, it is a pain having one Campy and 3 Shimanos. Now all of my bikes are Ultegra/Dura-Ace and I can swap wheels and other parts as needed.


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## johnroth26 (Oct 11, 2009)

Thanks again for the additional information. First some additional info about my setup and typical routes. Drive train components:

* Crank and Chain Rings: Ultegra SL 6650 Compact (Original Equipment)
* Bottom Bracket: DA-7900 (Ultegra 6601 Original Equipment was replaced recently)
* Chain: DA-7900 (KMC X10 Original Equipment was replaced shortly after buying the bike)
* Rear Der: DA-7800 (Original Equipment)
* Front Der: Ultegra 6600 (Original Equipment)

Routes: 

I ride hard on very rolling and hilly terrains up to about 8-10% grades. Average ride distance is 35-50 miles 3-4 times per week. One ride per week typically includes hill repeat training.

Rider:
I weigh about 178 lbs, which has not varied more then 1-2 pounds either way since I started cycling in May.

Interesting Notes:
I have been on three rides since my last post. I have not yet replaced my DA-7900 chain and the oddly enough, the drive train clicking / ticking has gone silent. I have not made any changes since recently changing the Ultegra 6601 bottom bracket with a DA-7900 bottom bracket to try and fix the noise. As noted in my last post, the cranks felt smoother but the new bb didn't fix the clicking / ticking noise. The noise was happening in about the same crank position on the down stroke (4:00-6:00 Oclock) on both side. At first, I noticed it only on the left (drive) side, then both sides on the down stroke. 
I retorque ALL fixing bolts on the bike every two weeks, including chanrings, crank arms, deraileurs, cables, brakes, etc.), so I don't believe anything is loose. 

A previous post mentioned the Shimano quick link that used to come with the 7900 chains. After about 2500 miles, my quick link started making a clicking noise so I replaced it with a pin and the noise went away. But that was more then 2000 miles ago! 

In short, I'm scratching my head at this point! 

I'll likely keep the same chain (~4700+ miles) on it for the next few rides to keep things consistent to see if the noise reappears.

Thanks again for all the feedback.


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## GeneT (Feb 17, 2008)

I had about 5500 miles on the last SRAM PC991, wiped and lubed frequently with TRI Flow but not after every ride. I am going to have to give the 3 chain rotation a try, sounds like a great idea to maximize cassette life. A few years back the cost of 9 speed ultegra casettes and PC991 chains were very close but not any more. It's far easier to get a good deal on a chain.

I can tell you what not to use, the Wipperman stainless steel wonder chain. I put one on the old touring bike and after a while started having shifting problems. Before I associated it with the relatively new chain I put a wipperman on the road bike and had the chain break, NOT at the master link at mile 269. I replaced both chains the touring bike shifing problem went away.


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## khat (Sep 22, 2009)

I have a 7900 chain with just over 1K and having shifting issues. I check the chain and found it to be okay one of those chain go no go checker. If I check it with the quick link within the tool it says it is worn out. I replaced the link with Wipperman link. I haven't road the bike since it start to rain. I am not a wet weather rider.


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