I just used my 12 volt impact wrench (intended for unscrewing stuck wheelnuts on a car) for removing a stuck crankbox, that the previous owner totally messed up, without being able to remove it.
Torque wrench - especially with carbon frames, under/over tightening on some bolts can lead to disaster . . . but I'm getting a CC 4 today LOL Thanks for the tip - I used to use a fine ruler but the chain HAD to be off the bike - a hassle and not as accurate as the CC4 as the chain was not as properly extended as it would be on the bike. Cheers from MTL !
I bought a Trek Singletrack 930 brand new in 1996. Put tons of miles on it, on and off trail. FFWD to 2008 and I'm using it as my commuter to my job at a bicycle shop. The mechanic put that chain wear checker on and it went completely flat against the chain. The cassette and chainrings have worn with the chain as well. I have no issues withe gears skipping, even under power climbing a hill in near top gear. Not saying this Park tool doesn't work - just saying that when everything has worn together in over 10k miles of riding, it somehow still works together. If the chain goes, though, pretty sure I'll have to replace everything, lol. Best bike I've ever owned.
That's the problem. A couple of years ago my chain started skipping occasionally if I hit a large bump while under high load, so I figured it was finally time to replace the original chain after half an eternity of heavy use. Off course when I got a new chain on there about half the gears were completely unusable. These days I replace the chains while they still have some life left in them. Decent chains are pretty cheap compared to decent cassettes, so I see little point in squeezing every last km out of every chain. And when the time comes that the cassette won't accept a fresh chain I'll have a few worn in spares I might try.
25,873 km on my waxed KMC chain for my trainer bike. It's only just getting to show any measurable weak. Start clean, use Silca super secret, and your drivetrain will last longer than you will.
Good point: I need to get another one to cater for my 11-speed 2018 Ultegra Roubaix. Had meant to do so and forgot as I haven't ridden that bike for a bit
I've missed the point when my SRAM Eagle 12 speed chain went from almost no wear to, suddenly, 0.8% wear (as measured by digital calipers and by the total chain length). I'm glad to report that with the new chain there is no skipping. I think the recommendations for 0.5% on 11 and 12 speed drivetrains are somewhat conservative.
I bought one years ago when I had a chain that wasn't shifting well. (It was a Everest with Al side plates) It turned out that the chain wasn't longer than original, but it had a lot of side wear. There are two things to watch out for.
The diagram on that CC-4 clearly shows (seen at 3:07) the rear prongs of the tool being inserted in the outer links of the chain... Yet you are saying specifically to insert at the inner links. 🤷♂
He is correct. The diagram is misleading. Here is a video from Park Tool themselves showing using inner links. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iOaFF_4CqJg.htmlsi=i3WQ1b-KTjM1lpyQ
@@jimbolimbo so essentially everyone who buys this Park Tool and does not watch this GCN video are being directed to use it incorrectly by Park Tool themselves?? Edit: Direct responses from Park Tool addressing this exact question in that video you linked to: "Either will work but we find that sometimes when engaging in outer plates that the tip can ride along the inner plate and give a false reading. ." "Sometimes communication between departments is not perfect. Either way, the tool is effective but it is more predictable when used between inner links."
@@alpinekiwi It does not matter which way you measure. The Park/SRAM/Perdros/etc checkers are both based on Shimano CN-TL40/41 checker, which was the first tool that accounted for roller wear and which they are based. Shimano says use it in the outer plates, SRAM says use it on the inner plates. All that matters is you are pushed against the rollers.
Zero Friction Cycling looked at chain checkers, tested them, and found the Park CC-2 is wildly inaccurate. As the Escape Collective noted in a Geek Warning podcast, it's pretty well known that the CC-2 is not the checker to use if you want to correctly and accurately measure chain wear. I'm not sure why you guys think it's worth showing to viewers.
ZFC shills for stuff that they make, they aren't really objective. They claim on their site that their Zero Lube lasts for 1100 km per application which makes it the longest in the world. Both Chain L, Phil Wood oil and pretty much any mineral oil based lube can easily go over 2000km per application. The stuff ZFC makes is good for racing, but it's not the best for everything.
CC-2 is not useless if you understand that it's a relative measuring tool, not an absolute measurement device. I use my CC-2 to check each new chain, then monitor the chain wear going forward. I also have a set of Mitutoyo calipers for more precise measurements, but the CC-2 is quicker and gives me enough accuracy to know that a given chain is or isn't at the end of it's service life.😁
@@___Bebo___ , you haven't really paid attention to ZFC, have you? ZFC doesn't make anything, so that point is dead in the water. ZFC does testing and sells what does best in their testing. Testing from other sources confirms ZFC's testing protocol. If you think ZFC is shilling, you should send an email to them asking them about that. They're more than happy to discuss their testing protocol and what they sell. Oh, and there's no product on their site nor in their test results called "Zero Lube". You're making stuff up. It's also worth noting that ZFC has highlighted the fact that their testing "kms" or "miles" are not equivalent to road miles. Moreover, they're not measuring how long the lube stays on the chain, they're measuring the wear rate of the chain. There's little good that comes from leaving your pet lubes on your chain for 2000km, because with the grit that accumulates in your wet lubes, your lubes will turn into nice grinding pastes. You really should pay attention to what the man says. Clearly you haven't.
Good to see more encouraging of the corporate line of saying people have to waste their time and money while increasing the environmental impact of their cycling by replacing slightly worn chains for no good reason. The problem with this whole idea is that If you pass the wear limit even slightly, which can happen mid spin, especially if the spin happens to be in wet, gritty conditions, you get skipping gears anyway. I've had the replacement chain skip when the old chain was just on the replacement interval as determined with the more accurate Shimano chain checker (Most chain checkers don't account for play in the rollers in their measurements, giving premature replacement intervals). This then leaves you with the choice of either letting the chain wear into everything to get some value out of the cassette and rings which already skip with a new chain, or buying a new drivetrain anyway. Letting everything wear in together has given me no skipping gears ever in 30+ years of doing it (Trying the chain replacement was a brief effort a couple of years ago, which failed precisely because it added work for me and did no make the drivetrain last longer). Turns out even when the chain is worn to the point the rollers literally fall off it, the gears still don't skip - but I tend not to let it go that far as it's not exactly quiet at that point, and produces less waste for (hopefully) recycling. Since a compete drivetrain will run for 4 or 5 times as long as the chain replacement intervals with no intervention at all, apart from basic cleaning and lubrication, it's cheaper to do things this way in cost terms and environmental cost, and cheaper again if you value your time.
I've checked mine using the earlier version of the tool, found it to 50% worn, and replaced the chain for ~$10 rather than the whole drivetrain at ~$120. I hope to get many years out of the cassette and chainrings by staying on top of chain wear.
Alls u need is a normal ruler.A new chain will line up on 1 of the rivets at exactly the 12 inch mark.If that rivet starts to completely clear the 12 inch mark u need a new one. Been doing this for 30 years and never had a problem. Try it!
As an engineer I’d like to understand how the 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0% limits are established? Is there a scientific reason or simply an empirical/economic reason for different chain types?
As an engineer, I guess that Shimano have done durability testing and have shown that cassette and chain ring wear becomes non-linear (accelerates) beyond these "wear limits". The theory is that you replace the cheaper chain rather than the more expensive cassette and crankset. However, if you use cheap Sunrace cassettes and Ali Express cranksets you could just wear them all out together as an "assembly" as they all cost roughly the same amount and not get the same slippage till a bit later and they are worn to the same degree. Don't blame me if you go over the handlebars though 😁
The title of the video left me wondering. I own a belt drive bike, so I don´t need this tool. Now, does Ollie not consider me a cyclist? 😄 Even if I regularly do a tension test on my bike´s belt🚲
If your cassette or crankset have worn to some level, you will also find you can´t fit your new chain on them. That is what my bike mechanics told me after I failed to replace the chain by myself. Now I just take his suggestion: Keep riding until your cassette or crankset can not grab your chain tight and correctly, then replace all of them. Every day I ride 30km to work and it takes me at least 6000km to do such replacement (I don´t wax the chain because wax can not hold the wet winter weather in north Germany). Such tool is totally useless and just waste of your money. Don´t be victim of bike industry.
I replace my chain right away after installling. Wouldn't wanna risk wearign my cassette. So I just have a huge box of brand new chains and keep bolting them on the bike. I never even ride, only replace chains. And guess what? My cassete is in amazing condition. Checkmate, bike snobs!
While this tool does help, there is an important thing to know: Chain wear is not the same as chain stretch. When the chain stretches - it will ruin your sprockets, this tool will help you diagnose this and you can prevent it. All good. Chain wear though....you can't see it with this tool. And the problem is that the rollers within the links are going to start wearing out regardless of the chain stretch. This is why you should change your chain regardless of the chain stretch.
@@Howie57vernier calipers are very much still available and in use for accurate measurements. Top quality vernier calipers are around £50 plus to get the same level of accuracy on a digital caliper £200 plus.
I never found these types of tools to be accurate. I wore out drivetrains using a "fit gauge" like this one. Campagnolo gives a precise dimension for a worn chain and I use a Mitutoyo caliper to measure per Campy's instruction. The difference between a new and worn Campy chain is only about 0.020" (20 thousandths, 0.5 mm). So judging the "percent worn" as the weeks go by is much easier measuring it for real. Good-enough calipers are hardly more than the price of a chain, and you can use the calipers for home projects and vehicle maintenance.
supplement: if you properly wax the chain, it will last at least 6 times longer and you will almost never have to change the cassette if you reshape its teeth from time to time
@@makantahi3731How long do you want it to last? properly clean a chain and oil it….ive an ultegra chainset least 8 years old using three chains on rotation with good results…1000’s kms….🤷🏼♂️🥳
While this video is good and informative, I'd like to point out your nasty dirty chain in this demo, as well as "high tolerance" misleading the purpose of a CNC machined tool. It's highly precise with low tolerances, meaning it will be more accurate. Sorry, I don't usually do this, but this irked me a bit too much this morning. Keep it up, rest is good 🙂
Chain gauge tool is essential, and I can't overstress the importance of maintaining a clean drive train. I've been using a wax-based chain lubricant for over 25 years, and just like Mr Miyagi said in The Karate Kid: "Wax on, wax off!" Your chain, chainrings, and cassette should never feel greasy or leave black marks when you touch them. Wax rules, but only if kept clean!😁
Ollie is the new Sheldon Brown with his chain expertise. Another good way to visualize chain wear is to hang your old chain next to a new one, a long steel ruler is also good. I just replaced one on my ti mtb, it wasn't worn out but was stretched enough to not bother converting it to wax, much easier to start with a fresh chain. Big fan of Silca's hot wax, converting all my bikes to it.
Not really a chain expert. He (and GCN in general) often make beginner mistakes, sometimes even doing more harm than good (just look at the videos about clamping bikes and washing your bike with WD40).
@@izi941 There is nothing wrong with washing your bike in WD40 or using it as a chain lube for mountain biking. Putting WD-40 on your chain to clean it is safer than using degreaser which can snap your side plates. WD40 is a metal cleaner and a rust remover, works great on dirty chains.
Please, please don't promote the use of the cc2. It is horribly inaccurate and very easy to misuse. Thank you for promoting the correct use of the cc4.
That's what a waxed chain looks like, his just has a lot of wax on the outside. Also, Silca's wax (which GCN use) is actually dark-ish grey from the additives in the blend, apart from purely the wax.
So I checked my chain and just before a trip abroad got a new one which I changed at the beginning of that trip. Unfortunately the cassette was already heavily worn out and the new chain didn’t work properly. This ended up with expensive cassette replacement and lost riding time while abroad. So it is important you understand cassette wear also.
This was excellent. I love that you described exactly why the CC-4 is preferable. I worked with the mechanic who invented this type of chain checker in conjunction with Shimano, back at the Bike Gallery in Portland, OR. The other options at the time were not nearly precise enough. We used the prototypes in the shop and immediately got much better outcomes for our high-mileage riders, all-weather commuters, and big-hammer racers. It's one of many tools invented by the only genuine mechanical genius I fixed bikes with in a 20-year career. Park copied many of them. But if it leads to riders having better experiences riding their bikes (and supports always-beleaguered mechanics), that's what matters. Thanks Ollie!
CC-2 is plenty precise enough, but it lumps the elongation of the chain (which is important) with the roller slop (which is not). CC-4 pushes the rollers in the same direction by virtue of that finger pressure, thus excluding roller slop from the measurement. Ollie did not explain that.
Aww, poo. A chain wear tool? That's one more thing for me to worry about (😁). Fortunately, my grotty old bike is not the kind of glamorous recreational thing that appears on proper cycling channels such as GCN. It's a 55 lb steel-framed monstrosity from Halfords, now laden with panniers and racks for carrying groceries. It also tows a homemade trailer which can haul 150 lbs of gubbins, dooh-dahs, wotsits and stuff. I'm not proud of it. It's a tool. The bike cost me £130, brand new, over 15 years ago. [A direct replacement would cost precisely the same - £130 - which is probably less that most peeps reading this spent on their carbon-fibre and titanium water bottle mount...] I ride 70 miles a week, every week, in West Yorkshire in the gloomy north of England, where every wind is a headwind and the hills only go up, never down [joke]. The bike's done well over 50,000 miles. I'm skint, so the poor thing gets treated appallingly. I keep a chain on until it start missing gears. Then, rather than swap the chain, I just switch to a different gear and keep pedalling. I currently have access to three gears from a total of eighteen, so it may be getting close to the time when I consider thinking about buying some new bits... Yes, I'm a bad, bad, BAAAAD girl. Um... is waxing a chain anything like waxing your legs?🤔
The Park Tool CC-4 is a great tool. I'll disagree that the tool needs to be inserted at an inner link and not at an outer link. The CC-4 I have has a diagram right on the tool that shows inserting it between outer links. But it's a moot point. It doesn't matter if the tool is inserted between inner links or outer links. The tool pushes the rollers tight to the same side of the pins at all three places it's designed for. All the links have the same spacing (outer links don't wear out, the wear is inside the rollers and mostly where the pins contact the inner links) so the wear will be the same no matter where on the chain you place the tool, EXCEPT...if the tool bridges the chain's master link, then if the master link has worn differently than all the other links in the chain, it'll affect the chain stretch measurement. The other Park Tool in the video is not recommended because it pushes the rollers in opposite directions, which can result in showing the chain has more wear that it actually has, plus that tool only spans a few links. The CC-4 spans a lot more, reflecting the cumulative effect of many links, not just a few.
The CC-4 chain checker is not cheap. You can buy two or three chains for the price of the tool. Anything more than a 9 or 8 spd cassette is a money pit. Stick to 5 or 6 spd and save money. Better still go single speed. The CC-4 is better because it takes up the slack in worn rollers that do not contribute to chain "stretch". The other chain checkers do not allow for this and they indicate more than the real wear. You could be tossing a chain that is still good.
Referring to actual Sram Chain and Cassette technical instructions, the point to change the Chain is 0,8% on every Drivetrain up to 12-Speed. So forget about the 0,5% Mark unless you take it as a reminder. For Shimano there is no wear limit in Numbers. Only the Shimano TL-CN42 Chain Wear Checker.
I don't know the extent of your knowledge of chain waxing but I think you are being sarcastic. If the chain is a waxed one the apparent "build-up" on the chain links could be excess external wax resulting from leaving the chain in the molten wax too long after the wax heater had been turned off. The wax will start to cool and solidify so that when you lift the chain from the molten wax, instead of the wax that is on the exterior of the chain running off, it will stick to the chain. The hot Wax that is inside the pins and rollers does not run out. The excess exterior wax will simply flake off when the bike is ridden.
My only question is, with 11 speed usually first it will only drop to 0.5 at one place, most of time around the quick link but if you measure at several places on the chain other points are still fine, maybe with your hands applying some force it will go in but from it self it won’t. So when is it really 0.5? Should I replace the chain when it drops at one place and nowhere else or at this point still some life left in it and it’s fine until it starts to drop in several places?
use vernier caliper jaws for holes, below 119.75 mm is below 0.5%, over 120.00mm is over 0.75%, easy!?!?!?, measure on different spots/links many times
@@___Bebo___ quick or not are abstract terms, the mileage is important, but it is also important how the chain was maintained, so if it had good maintenance, then you can talk about whether the chain has worn out prematurely or not
@@makantahi3731 Do you think any pro riders carefully wax their chain, keeping it with ancient stressed side chain plates as long as possible to get more wear than the manufacturer intended? I doubt it, they probably toss the chain after a race. Even if you are from a crap country you should change your chain often.
Doesn't matter, if the chains not too stretched in use it won't prematurely wear the cassette and chainrings. Shouldn't never check a freshly waxed chain though, only one that's done some miles.
You think Park didn't think about that? I use the bottom of the line 3.2, and after a few years and a few chains, checking the chain has become a formality. When the shifting gets lousy, the chain checker just confirms what I already know. That chain is done.
I’d just use kmc chains…three or four on rotation every 200km…that’s usually one ride for me….very easy and fast to clean a chain in an old tub using some white spirit ….gets all the grit out….back on the road next day…easy to do on the road as well 👌🏻
SRAM AXS chains should be replaced at .8% wear. The manufacturer’s technical guide specifically indicates: “Flattop chains last longer than 10/11 speed road chains. Replacing a Flattop chain too early may prematurely wear the chainring and cassette.” As a side note, they are very durable, I wipe the chain with microfiber cloth, top up Silica SS drip-on wax once a week (=every 300-500km depending on dry vs wet conditions) and get easily 16K km out of a Force 12s flattop chain.
i got a question on 3:07 i see a lot of grey/black gunk, i assume Ollie using wax on his chain. i heard lots of good things about waxing your chain, but these grey/black gunk keep apearing on my chain/jockywheel/cassette. is it possible to do a video what is the level of waxing is right? cause i always see/think my chain is dirtier than i used normal lub. i use Smooth, even i follow the instruction of the wax lub, it looks sooo dirty after 1 short ride. (cleaned throughly chain + did not over wax) thank you
4k and minimal wear, meanwhile I go through ( cheap ) chains every 800km or so ( sunrace chains, on mtb with a Tongshen tsdzb2b so lots more torque going through that chain then I normally would put through it ). Now those chains are dirt cheap, so I don't really mind that much ( as long as I do as advertised in the video and change them before my cassette wears out, since then my wallet hurts more ).
You have the dislike button disabled, I thought I should let you know... No, you do not need that tool... You guys are smart, you can do better than this. I really enjoy your videos, please try harder to keep them interesting...
@2:10 the pointer points to inner plates with a roller between yet the pin is not in place to hold it. Seems the rollers don't spin around the pin, do they Ollie. You've got all the bits in front of you, now figure out that rollers don't rotate nor spin, they ROLL, hence the name. Look for the tangents and tangential contact(s), answers are there.
Just replaced chain on FG at 0.5 - it developed annoying rattling which was OK 30minutes after lubing and quickly came back again so I got fed with it. I must say cog started to show slight marks on teeth so I'm not so sure about 1% but that was cheap stamped cog - but I don't want to damage more expensive CNCd cog I used as replacement.
One method to extend the life of your cassette is to run two chains, swapping at regular intervals. Winter commuting in NE Scotland, I swap chains over every week. In summer It would be every three to four weeks. I managed to get three to four chain sets per cassette by changing them when 0.75% worn (9 speed cassette) over two to three chains when running them singularly.
it would be better to have 10 chains and every drive for ex. 1000km, but the best way is to reshape gears teeth when chain starts to skip on gear, you can reshape every tooth 10-15 times before is to weak and could break
@@pedallinraw 10 seconds per tooth is not a lot of time, every 2-3 chains, 2-3 cassette gears , and every 5-7 chains ring gears , in 10-30 minutes you can save money for new cassette
Weird that the cc-4 sticker seems to indicate to use the outer links in the diagram… I checked the manual and that indeed tells to use the inner links.
I don't know how do you use mathematical expression of percentages but in my opinion if you use percentage there is 💯 % of one whole unit. That means if you want to say half of sth (1/2 of whole piece) it is 50 % not point five (0.5). And the same is about 3/4 of one piece it is mathematically 75 % in percentage (not 0.75% as you say). Because you and the tool speeks about extension by one chain segment not percents. But anyway. Thank you for the correct way how to measure the chain! I think a lot of riders keep one of those tool but not everybody knows how to use ut in right way 👍
His mathematics are right. A new chain is set at 100,0% without wear. A worn one with 1% wear will have 101% of the length compared to the new specs. 8 or 9 speed chains can be driven until 1% wear, while more modern 12 speed chains are considered as worn with 0,75%. If you measure it with a ruler instead of such a tool it's the same, a new one has 25,4 cm over 10 double links while a worn one with 1% wear has 2,54 mm more
How often should one be checking one's chain? Obviously it will vary with the typical riding conditions, but is this something that can sneak up on you quickly?
I change chains every month so each link wears on a slightly different area of the tooth. Minimal wear. 3 waxed chains. The fancy park tool chain checker is the better buy.
