SO how often do you change your crankset

Joe Matchette

In a recent thread there was a discussion about how often people change out their chains and other minor items.  But what about Chainrings?  IIRC, Al T's Local Bike Store said to change it with every other chain swapout....

[Maybe I am just looking for justification to get a new crankset (current one is two years old...don't know how many miles...).  Especially since Competitive Cyclist is selling Ultegra Cranks for $165 right now.] 

So what say you? 

• Have you ever changed out your crankset based on time?
• Have you changed it out based on wear?  (but how do you measure that...eyeball it??)

Thx,

Joe

Paul Hough

Hey Joe - I changed my crankset rings once based on wear. How did I know? Two broken teeth on one of the rings. That was on a bike I no longer have and had FSA rings. Since then, I went from 1 to 3 bikes (and gave the old one to one of my kids). These bikes are 3 to 3.5 years old each and have Dura-Ace/Sram Red on them...looking fine.

Interestingly, I took my Trek Madone to the shop last week for a new chain. I bought the 5 years Red Shield warranty ($279 back in Dec 2009) and this was the 2nd chain on that bike. Trek also replaced the rear cassette and cable housings. The bill without the warranty would have been $364. Counting the previous chain and a couple of other routine service visits that warranty has more than paid for itself. But the key thing is the front rings are fine despite the general rule that after 2 changes new rings are in order (BTW, I never heard of that rule). There is no reason they should wear out that soon if you are using a chain guage to replace it timely.