Stop trusting that chain wear gauge, use a ruler instead

I used to eyeball stretch with the Park tool until it said 0.5 on a chain I'd just installed last month, turns out the pins were worn and the gauge was lying. Now I measure 12 links on a steel rule every 300 miles, anyone else caught a bad gauge reading and paid for it with a cassette?

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eva_thompson26d ago

Ha, "paid for it with a cassette" is right. I once trusted my Park gauge so hard it told me my brand new chain was toasted, so I tossed it. Then my buddy pulled out a ruler and it measured fine. That chain is still running today and I'm out the cost of a new one for nothing. Meanwhile my actual worn chain had me skipping gears on a climb so bad I almost fell over a railing, and the gauge read 0.25 the whole time. Now I just use a cheap steel rule and it's never let me down, though I still keep the gauge around to confuse new riders.