Chain wear, often called chain stretch, becomes a concern with comprehensive cycling. The use is removal of material from the bushings and pins (or half-bushings, in the Sedis design, also, called “bushing-much less”, where the bushing is section of the inner plate) rather than elongation of the sideplates.[8] The tension made by pedaling is insufficient to cause the latter. As the spacing from link to link on a put on chain is longer compared to the 1⁄2 in . (12.7 mm) specification, those links will not precisely fit the spaces between teeth on the sprockets, leading to increased wear upon the sprockets and possibly chain skip on derailleur drive trains, in which pedaling tension causes the chain to slide up over the tops of the sprocket teeth and skip to the next alignment, that reduces power transfer and makes pedaling uncomfortable.

Since chain wear is strongly aggravated by dirt engaging in the links, the duration of a chain depends mostly on how well it really is cleaned (and lubricated) and will not depend on the mechanical load.[6] Therefore, well-groomed chains of heavily used racing bicycles will most likely last longer than a chain on a lightly used city bike that is cleaned less. Depending on use and agricultural Chain cleaning, a chain can last only one 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) (electronic.g. in cross-country make use of, or all-weather use), 3,000 to 5,000 km (2,000 to 3,000 mi) for well-maintained derailleur chains, or more than 6,000 kilometres (4,000 mi) for flawlessly groomed high-quality chains, single-gear, or hub-gear chains (preferably with a full cover chain guard).[9][10]

Nickel-plated chain also confers a measure of self-lubrication to its moving parts as nickel is usually a relatively non-galling steel.[dubious – discuss]

Chain wear prices are highly variable, so alternative by calendar is probable premature or continued use of a worn chain, damaging to back sprockets. One way to measure wear has been a ruler or machinist’s rule.[11] Another has been a chain wear tool, which typically has a “tooth” of about the same size entirely on a sprocket. They are simply positioned on a chain under light load and statement a “go/no-proceed” result-if the tooth drops in every just how, the chain ought to be replaced.

Twenty half-links in a new chain measure 10 ins (254 mm), and alternative is recommended prior to the old chain procedures 10 1⁄16 inches (256 mm) (0.7% wear).[5] A safer time to displace a chain is when 24 half-links in the outdated chain measure 12 1⁄16 ins (306 mm) (0.5% wear). If the chain offers put on beyond this limit, the rear sprockets are also more likely to put on, in extreme cases followed by the front chainrings. In this case, the ‘skipping’ mentioned above is liable to continue even after the chain is replaced, as one’s teeth of the sprockets will have become unevenly worn (in extreme cases, hook-shaped). Replacing worn sprocket cassettes and chainrings after missing the chain replacement window is a lot more expensive than simply replacing a put on chain.