Chain maintenance

The subject of chain maintenance can seem like religion, people have have definite views and defend their chain maintenance regime vocally.  I'm not going to make any recommendations, I'm just going to publish actual data.

Bike is a hard tail mountain bike used for commuting every day, rain or shine.  It does about 17 miles a day about two thirds on road, the rest on gravel tracks and a 200m section of muddy (in winter) bridleway.  The life of the chain is defined as when it either snaps or it spins on the sprockets.  Its more cost effective to run the chain till its knackered and replace the chain and sprockets rather than replace the chain at 1% stretch.  The chains start to spin on the sprockets at about 4% stretch, shifting starts to deteriorate at about 3% stretch.  If I changed the chains at 1% stretch then that would be about every 500 miles.  Based on current costs for chains, chain rings and cassettes, the chain rings and cassette would have to last about 6 chains or 3000 miles to make it cost effective to change chains at 1% stretch.  I really don't know if they'd go that far.
 
Chain life cleaning and lubrication
Shimano (unknown type, came with bike) 1550 never cleaned, sprayed with WD40 every few days
SRAM PC951 2025 taken off bike, cleaned in degreaser, lubed in oil bath every 100 miles
SRAM PC951 1660 taken off bike, cleaned in degreaser, lubed in oil bath every 100 miles
SRAM PC951 1440 taken off bike, cleaned in degreaser, lubed in oil bath every 100 miles
SRAM PC951 2014 taken off bike, cleaned in degreaser, lubed in oil bath every 100 miles
SRAM PC951 1927 never cleaned, sprayed with WD40 every few days
SRAM PC951 2026 never cleaned, sprayed with WD40 every few days
SRAM PC951 2504 never cleaned, sprayed with WD40 every few days
     
 
So, which method of chain care do I now use?

The answer is "both".

On my commuting bike I run the same wheels all the time so I now use the "never clean the chain, spray it with WD40" regime.  Trust me, it saves a lot of time.

On the weekend fun bike, I have different set of wheels with different tyres on so I can quickly select the most appropriate tyres for the prevailing conditions.  The bike gets cleaned after every ride and so the wheels and chain get taken off. I have two chains on the go at any one time, one in degreaser/oil bath, the other on the bike.  They get swapped over after every ride.  The chains get binned at 1% stretch so that the whole system works together.

 

 

 
 
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