Chain Stuff

We have tried a lot of different chain lubes lately. It seems like we always go back to the Ceramic lubes from Muc-Off. They seem to perform the best without leaving a heap of residue to clean off your cassette and pulleys. We use the Dry for 80% of our riding, if there are a lot of river crossings or a bunch of rain in the forecast, we will opt for the Wet version. 

This little guy is actually really good at getting the chain clean. The biggest reason we love it, is that it has a magnet in the bottom. Red Clay and Dirt found in Georgia and Alabama were we ride most often, tends to have a lot of metal in it. So the magnet helps pull that metal out and keep our chains lasting that little bit longer. 

This $11 tool, will save your $600 cassette and chainring. How? Easy, check your chain stretch and check it often. Chains stretch as they wear. A good cleaning and quality lube helps keep them from wearing out to fast, but all chains wear as you ride. Problem is, you can't see this wear with your eyes, so use this tool to check and see if you are ready for a new chain. 11 and 12 spd bikes, if the 0.5 drops in, replace your chain. If you wait, you are going to put excess wear on your cassette and chainring and end up needing to replace them as well. 9 and 10 spd riders, you get a little longer, 0.75 on the gauge and it's time to replace. 

Crazy Cheap Insurance. Eventually, you are going to snap a chain on a ride. It happens to everyone. Why not carry a $2 insurance plan on your bike at all times? I keep an old bread tie or race plate tie and loop a set of these on my brake cables. Then if you have a good multi tool that has a chain breaker, you can push out the bad section, throw this in it's place, and keep riding.