Chain wear, often called chain stretch, becomes an issue with considerable cycling. The use is removal of materials from the bushings and pins (or half-bushings, in the Sedis style, also, called “bushing-much less”, where the bushing is portion of the inner plate) rather than elongation of the sideplates.[8] The tension created by pedaling is insufficient to Leaf Chain trigger the latter. Because the spacing from connect to link on a worn chain is longer than 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 on the sprockets and possibly chain skip upon derailleur drive trains, where pedaling tension causes the chain to slide up over the tops of the sprocket teeth and skip to another alignment, that reduces power transfer and makes pedaling uncomfortable.

Since chain wear is strongly frustrated by dirt getting into 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 often last longer than a chain on a lightly used city bike that is cleaned less. Depending on use and cleaning, a chain can last only 1 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) (electronic.g. in cross-country use, or all-weather make use of), 3,000 to 5,000 km (2,000 to 3,000 mi) for well-preserved derailleur chains, or even more than 6,000 kilometres (4,000 mi) for properly groomed high-quality chains, single-gear, or hub-gear chains (preferably with a complete cover chain guard).[9][10]

Nickel-plated chain also confers a way of measuring self-lubrication to its shifting parts as nickel is a relatively non-galling metal.[dubious – discuss]

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

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