May have made chain too short - am I out of a chain?

[Chainlube]

You guy's are driving me nutz with saying that chains stretch, or do they wear? Just for the heck of it I went out and tried to see if my steel bicycle chain would stretch. Nope no stretch at all, rock solid steel. My OCD is coming out, never mind and carry on!

You're absolutely right, they wear. All the little pivot points wear and makes the chain longer. Having a super tight chain will make them wear faster.

 

[rusty.western.flyer]

You guy's are driving me nutz with saying that chains stretch, or do they wear? Just for the heck of it I went out and tried to see if my steel bicycle chain would stretch. Nope no stretch at all, rock solid steel. My OCD is coming out, never mind and carry on!

 

[rusty.western.flyer]

"Stretch" isn't what you think it is. Chains stretch about 2% over it's service life. Doesn't seem much, but if your chains is ~3 feet, then you will have about `3/4" chain stretch when the chain is ready to replace - that's more than a whole link.