Cyclists - how many miles do you get out of your drivetrain?

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Cyclists – how many miles do you get out of your drivetrain?

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March 29, 2007 at 2:28 pm

#691977
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

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just had to take my bike in for repair, the drivetrain has completely had it, gonna need new chainset, sprockets and chain (around £70, perhaps more :yakk:)

I thought I had only done 1600 miles on this bike since I got it around this time last year but checking my calculations its probably nearly 3000 miles [1] (my journey to work is 7 miles each way!) – is this a normal sort of lifespan for these components?

I suppose £70 repair costs isn’t all that bad, cheaper than any other form of wheeled transport..

[1] About 4828km for those on here outside the UK
March 29, 2007 at 2:58 pm

#882686
1

SdZ

@sdz

Member
Yep sounds about right. My GT has had it all replaced about 6 months ago. I brought the bike new around 3-4 years ago. I probably dont cycle as much as you but i must do around 25 miles a week in total.
March 29, 2007 at 2:59 pm

#882689
1

So not a good look

@so-not-a-good-look

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Havnt been out on mine much this winter,but now spring is here will be out a lot more,anyways when i was using it for both work 25mile round trip 5 days a week and leisure about 100-150 2 days a week i would expect in a year to replace 2 chains and one rear sprocket,front chainrings replace about once every two years (or less if a nice anodised wicked set came on the market lol)
March 29, 2007 at 3:51 pm

#882681
[deleted]

@[deleted]

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you can always extend the life-span of your componants with some regular maintainance. wd-40 and a toothbrush on your gears, taking the chain off to soak in wd-40 every month or three, then a thorough greasing and/or oiling (you can tell i have slap-dash approach) will help your bits stay smooth for years. richards bicycle book is a good reference for a better, more in depth explanation of biycle maintainance.

ive just dug my old bone-shaker out the shed for a spruce-up, i couldnt beleive hoe expensive lube is these days.. i spent nearly £30 on lube, oil, grease and Wd40 alone. plus a chain-key which was like a tenner or summat. proper scam. might just be poncey winchester tho, i dont remember paying that much in brizzle.
March 29, 2007 at 4:39 pm

#882682
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

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USE wrote:

you can always extend the life-span of your componants with some regular maintainance. wd-40 and a toothbrush on your gears, taking the chain off to soak in wd-40 every month or three, then a thorough greasing and/or oiling (you can tell i have slap-dash approach) will help your bits stay smooth for years. richards bicycle book is a good reference for a better, more in depth explanation of biycle maintainance.

Ah, but I do these things fairly regularly (used to be every month and admittedly I have been a bit more slack recently but I still try to do it every quarter), if I get the chance I will clean sprockets until I can see the identifiers on them (was often a post-rave Sunday afternoon job for me when/if I didn’t feel like sleeping :laugh_at:)

I also own all three editions of Richard’s Bicycle Book, (I collect books on cycling, old and new)

My daily ride involves a hill at each end and a lot of gear changes (it is not true that all of East Anglia is flat :laugh_at:) so I suppose that is always gonna cane the drivetrain (plus my mileage has doubled from living in Reading).

Quote:

ive just dug my old bone-shaker out the shed for a spruce-up, i couldnt beleive hoe expensive lube is these days.. i spent nearly £30 on lube, oil, grease and Wd40 alone. plus a chain-key which was like a tenner or summat. proper scam. might just be poncey winchester tho, i dont remember paying that much in brizzle.

I think a lot of prices in bike shops are fixed across each region (if not the whole country) as much of the stuff comes from the same distributors…

if you don’t mind online shoppping try wiggle (http://www.wiggle.co.uk) for stuff like oil, grease, cleaning items (I still prefer to get bikes and other components locally when I can)
March 29, 2007 at 5:04 pm

#882690
1

Digital-A

@digital-a

Member
you should all take up bmx :weee: much better for you

and the parts last much longer … i found anyway
March 29, 2007 at 5:22 pm

#882687
1

Raj

@raj

Member
Think it depends which manufacturer’s parts you use too – some definetely last longer than others…
March 29, 2007 at 6:08 pm

#882683
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

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Raj wrote:

Think it depends which manufacturer’s parts you use too – some definetely last longer than others…

any particular recommendations? TBH though at my price range its either Shimano or Suntour (plus various generic Taiwanese/Chinese manufacturers) anyway…
March 29, 2007 at 7:07 pm

#882688
1

Raj

@raj

Member
I have had great service from [poorly maintained :shy:] Shimanos – they have gone on and on and on [used to cycle everywhere too:wink:] in a very hilly place

Think the last drive train fitted [to my mate’s bike] may have been something else but cant remember what and am too lazy to go and look just now [was given to me when it became clutter in his shed] will look the next time I go out there and let you know
March 30, 2007 at 1:05 am

#882685
1

globalloon

@globalloon

Member
my second hand shimano parts have lasted 2 years with slack maintenance (the occassional squirt of 3 in 1 and some minor adjustments), but then i only use it for maybe 3 hilly miles a day and some weekend caning
March 30, 2007 at 2:12 pm

#882684
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

Moderator
Staff
just got the bike back, am impressed as as well as the work to fix the drivetrain the mechanic even adjusted the v-brakes and re-did the cable ties which hold the speed display sensors to the frame (previously they were held on by sticky tape and pieces of twisted telecom cable as the original cable ties had long given up after all those miles…)

Ended up with an SR Suntour chainset, SRAM chain (these seem to get good reviews) and Shimano cassette… Lots of bikes seem to have this combination of Suntour in front and Shimano in the back these days…

Was cheaper than I expected – £57 including labour but I ended up buying a pair of new pedals anyway for just under a tenner – traditional silver metal “rat-trap” style as fitted to old style touring bikes… (normally these cost more than a tenner but they were the last lot Raleigh were importing as people don’t buy them as much these days)

I did not like the plastic resin “comfort” pedals originally fitted, my trainers would sometimes slip on the pedals if conditions were a bit damp…
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