Time To Change The Chain And Sprocket

Bought the Kettler Spirit in July and not long after, a Park Tool Chain Checker. Have been regularly cleaning and oiling it and now and again checking it for stretch.Well, bit of a surprise, the smaller part of the Chain Checker went fully through, indicating I need a new chain. The larger part didn't, so I don't need a new chainwheel thankfully...

Chainwear, "stretch" and replacement frequency seems to come into the "how long is a piece of string"  category and you'll likely get a different answer from whomever you ask. I've decided to use the Chain Checker indicator to warn me when to change the chain and leave it at that. Keep things simple. Quite cheap and gives me a bit of practice in maintenance too. It's quite easy to forget when you only do these things occasionally.

You should also change the sprocket at the same time as the chain as an old sprocket can wear out a new chain fairly quickly. So I did. This entails removing the cassette joint first - the parts that connect the gear cable to the hub so you can change gear. Thought I would photo this for this post.

Incidentally, the bike was running fine - no skipping or anything, I just like to be proactive with bike maintenance to minimise nasty surprises and expense...I've learnt from experience...

I decided to follow the instructions from The Total Bike Maintenance Book, but there are more than a few Youtube videos as well as the Shimano Technical documents that you'll find elsewhere in this blog and the internet.

I must have done around 1200-1500 miles on it, riding it most days; I didn't use the computer for the first few months because the instructions looked complicated. Once I'd figured them out and got it working, I've since done 449.65 miles. So maybe it was to be expected that a new chain was due. I shall pay more attention to the mileage this time.

First you need one of these to split the chain...

My new circlip pliers from Robert Dyas - make short work of removing circlips that some hubgears (like the Nexus) come with; better than messing about with screwdrivers

first line up the yellow dots to remove the first part of the cassette joint...

...and then the red...

Lay the parts of the cassett joint out in the sequence you took them off like the book sez...

The Nexus sans cassette joint

The shiny new 19 tooth sprocket fitted - you can get ones with less or more if you want different gearing.

Cassette joint refitted...

Sorted...you're supposed to fit the new chain as well by the way, not just the new sprocket, otherwise you won't be able to ride the bike...

Attach gear cable to cassette joint...

The job went smoothly first time - and the bike's been fine touch my head, I mean wood...probably a first, I've had enough cans of worms when it comes to bike maintenance, you think it's going to be a simple job but...

With the wheel off, thought I'd clean inside the mudguard - was very easy and came up like new, think I'll do the front one next.