Second only to your legs, the drivetrain of a bike is an incredibly efficient way of transforming calories into forward progress. That is, until unless it’s dirty, poorly lubricated or worn out.  As a chain is used the rollers elongate and the chain effectively becomes longer.  This means that the individual links sit higher on the cogs rather than sitting down in the troughs.  This leads to accelerated wear on the cogs, and can get to the point where the chain and cog do not mesh well and the chain can skip over the top of the cogs.  This causes a moment of slippage that is very disconcerting, and occasionally dangerous.

Keeping your chain well-lubed and clean will slow down this wear, but nothing can totally prevent it.  Think of your drive train as a consumable in the same as tyres and brake pads.

When it comes to replacing your chain, we have a range of Shimano, SRAM, Wipperman and KMC chains to suit every gear set-up.  As for cogs, we’re big fans of Shimano and SRAM cassettes as well as Shimano, Blackspire and FSA chainrings.