Customer Reviews

Park Tool Chain Wear Indicator

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Until recently I was blissfully unaware of chain stretch. My chainring and freewheel and chain all "grew up" together. All seemed okay until I finally got a bike tune up and I learned that one cannot just install a new chain in this case because the stretched chain has eaten thru the chainring and freewheel so much that a new chain simply will no longer fit (in retrospect, it makes sense, but at the time I just just annoyed that they refused to replace the chain without replacing chainring and freewheel as well, saying the slippage would make it nearly unrideable. I did convince them to NOT replace the freewheel and sure enough, the slippage was extremely annoying).

So now I have one of these and when the stretch exceeds 1%, I will just buy a new chain, rather than having to deal with replacing the freewheel and chainring as well.

Yes, you can measure chain wear by holding a rule to the chain and measuring the length between pins over 12 inches. But, you need a hand to make the chain taut and a hand to hold the rule at the first pin and another hand to hold the rule at the pin twelve inches along. This tool does a good job and you can use one hand only. It is well worth what it costs.

Hi folks,

This is a "go or no go" gage either it fits into the chain which means the chain on your
bike needs replacement, or the gage does not fit into the chain which means the chain is
still good. So your asking does it do the job--YEP works fine!!!

This handy tool takes the guesswork out of chain maintenance. Sure it is possible to use a good metal ruler to measure a 12" chunk of chain. Line up the 0 mark of the ruler at a rivet, look 12" down the chain. If the first rivet after 12" of chain is under 1/16" longer than the 12" mark it is still OK. If it is between 1/16" and 1/8" too long then it is "iffy," and if it is longer than 1/8" then it must be tossed or your cog(s) & freewheel(s) are in jeopardy of rapid wear too.

This gauge does all this eyeball measurement stuff for you. It'll tell you right off if the chain is good/iffy/no-go by simply placing it on the chain and seeing if one or the other end slips into the chain notch. You don't have to put the bike on a stand or bend down on your knees and get a flashlight or squint to read a ruler in your dark hallway where you store your bike. A blind man could use this tool or you could teach your 5 year old kid to use it.

Why do things the hard way?

Very simple to use. One way it indicates the chain is almost ready to be replaced. Should order chain at this time. The other way indicates chain needs to be replaced.

There is not much to say about this item as the tool does exactly what it is supposed to do: gives you an indication of the wear in your chain. It is very useful to have a simple gauge of the chain wear and it is completely up to you to judge whether to replace the chain or not.

The product is well made in metal and should probably last forever. Recommended.

Simple tool to measure chain wear. Sure enough my curent chain needed to be replaced. By my expereince without a tool like this it is hard to detect chain wear based on other symptoms until the chain is badly worn.

This is a piece of metal about 5 inches long. It does its job, is sturdy, but is way too expensive for what it is. If I had one as a prototype, I could make one from scrap metal in about 5 minutes. That about says it.

I agree with the other positive reviewers - the tool does the job. I had read in several bicycle forums and blogs where people say this tool does not work for narrow chains that are used on 10-speed cassettes. The debate is that the tool tells you it is time to replace when the chain isn't actually worn. I have a KMC 10S chain and the tool indicates that I needed to replace the chain. It so happened I had access to a brand new identical chain, so I tried the tool to see if it would give me a false result. The tool works fine. It did not indicate the need for replacement of the new chain - not even close. Hopefully this result will put that debate to rest.

On my first bike, I didn't know anything. I let the chain stretch. Ruined my front crankset teeth. Ruined my cassette. Blah blah $100 bills flying out of the wallet (ok it was right at just one bill) but I digress. I could have just bought this little tool, checked it every week, and replaced it with a $15 dollar chain when it gets to the .75 stretch. Cost - 1 chain checker. Having a drive train that isn't ruined? Priceless.