Time for some maintenance

So far I've only had my Specialized Venge for about four months. In the past I've usually been one to do all my equipment overhauls or part replacements either at the beginning or end of a season. Take the chain for example, It's the most abused part of your drivetrain. As it sees more and more use, each of the 110 odd links start to stretch and elongate the chain as a whole. That lengthened chain then starts to mesh higher up on the teeth of the cassette which in turn causes the cogs to wear down even faster. If left alone for too long, eventually the chain will start slipping off the gears. If that happens, it's too late to just replace the chain as the cassette will be too worn for a new chain.

This is a common problem we encounter in the shop. We inform the customer that their chain is nearing the end of its life and recommend it's replacement. If they wait too long, a $30 dollar repair can become closer to $100.

I almost didn't follow my own advice. 4500km on a road chain is a bit too long I think. I used the chain checker at work and it checked out in the 100% of chains that need replacing. I installed a new Ultegra chain in the hopes I wouldn't have to replace the Ultegra cassette at the same time. The problem with owning expensive bikes is that the price for parts is way higher than most other bikes. Customers are shocked (and sometimes even angry) when we tell them that the chain on their $4000 dollar mountain bike is $80 instead of the $25 one they just saw a customer with a CCM walk out with. In my case, the chain was $65 and the cassette would be $130.

I give the whole drivetrain a cleaning when I replace the chain because it doesn't make sense to install a new chain on a dirty bike. As I go to remove the cassette from the free hub I run into a little difficulty....
Each of the cogs are jammed onto the splines and completely stuck. Thank god the shop has a chain vice tool - it's the best for gripping the cogs so I can spin them off the freehub.

So once I finally got all of the gears off I was able to survey the damage. I don't know if it has anything to do with the lightweight materials used in the freehub body construction that makes them easier to dent, but maybe it was just the massive amounts of power I'm laying down :P 

 At the end of the day I finished the clean, installed the new chain and didn't experience any slippage. Next time I'll swap it all out a little sooner. Hopefully I won't have destroyed the splines by then