Chain wear, often called chain stretch, becomes an issue with comprehensive cycling. The wear is removal of material from the bushings and pins (or half-bushings, in the Sedis design, also, called “bushing-less”, where in fact the bushing is section of the internal plate) rather than elongation of the sideplates.[8] The strain developed by pedaling is insufficient to cause the latter. Because the spacing from connect to link on a worn chain is longer compared to the 1⁄2 in . (12.7 mm) specification, those links will not precisely fit the areas between teeth on the sprockets, resulting in increased wear upon the sprockets and perhaps chain skip upon derailleur drive trains, where pedaling tension causes the chain to slide up more than the tops of the Transmission Chain sprocket teeth and skip to the next 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 does 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’s cleaned less. Based on make use of and cleaning, a chain can last only one 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) (electronic.g. in cross-country use, or all-weather use), 3,000 to 5,000 km (2,000 to 3,000 mi) for well-taken care of derailleur chains, or even more than 6,000 kilometres (4,000 mi) for properly groomed high-quality chains, single-gear, or hub-equipment chains (preferably with a full cover chain guard).[9][10]

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

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

Twenty half-links in a new chain measure 10 ins (254 mm), and alternative is recommended prior to the old chain actions 10 1⁄16 ins (256 mm) (0.7% wear).[5] A safer period 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 worn beyond this limit, the trunk sprockets are also likely to wear, in acute cases followed by the front chainrings. In cases like this, the ‘skipping’ mentioned above is liable to keep even following the chain is changed, as one’s teeth of the sprockets will have become unevenly put on (in acute cases, hook-shaped). Replacing worn sprocket cassettes and chainrings after lacking the chain replacement window is much more expensive than simply replacing a worn chain.