3,000 miles

I forgot to mention, I cleared 3,000 miles for the year on my way down Broadway this evening. Over 2,000 of those miles have been on my Trek. I should probably have the chain checked soon. I've heard some people say every 1,000 miles, and others say they go 4,000 or more.

I'm a fan of the ruler method. A whole chain segment (2 "links") is exactly, almost precisely an inch long, or half an inch between rivets. If you line a good steel ruler up to the apex of a rivet, then all the other rivets should be extremely close to landing on half-inch or whole-inch marks all the way down the ruler. Measuring 23 links, the rivet whould line up perfectly with the 11 1/2" mark on a new chain.

If the chain is worn say .006" per link (six one thousandths of an inch), it would be impossible to tell by the naked eye. Measuring nearly a foot of chain, that .006" per link would be amplified 23 times. The rivet that should line up with 11 1/2" would be visibly past the 11 5/8" mark. At that point, damage is probably occurring to the cassette, so hopefully you catch it before it goes that far out of whack!

I keep my chain clean and well lubricated, so I'm hoping that my chain is still in good shape, or at least in "borderline" shape and not causing any harm. I just don't have time to check it tonight.