Shimano files patent for app that can tell you when bike tyres and disc pads need replacing

The data nerd in me thinks it would be really cool to have a plot of, say, chain wear

Do you have a reliable chain length device in mind which could accurately and reproducibly determine the distance from the front margin of the roller on an outer link to the front margin of the comparable roller on the next forward outer link with such precision that it could detect a week's wear? I could go for that, but at the moment I'm pursuing my 5 chains per cassette policy using the Rohloff tool which tells me when the chain has just lengthened 0.5% and 1.0%. I see the KMC tool with digital readout which claims 0.01mm lengthening 'accuracy' over 4 full links mentioned but I've never seen one in use. That woud imply an ability to detect 1/(25.4 x 4)% elongation on a new chain = 0.01%. That would be pretty good- 50 steps on the way to the first 'classic' wear mark of 0.5%. So, has anybody got one of these and has found that the elongation measure gives the same value if you measure several times at once, and gradually increases over the weeks and months and doesn't jump around?

I'm a metrologist by trade, so yes I'm fairly confident it could be done, even if the data were a bit noisy you could get clear trends with repeat measurements using consistent technique and correcting for any large changes in temperature.

As an example at work, we can measure the valve seat wearing on a diesel engine while it's running (takes maybe 100 hours to get a clear trend.) You could probably get chain wear while the chain was spinning if you really needed to.

andystow wrote:

You could probably get chain wear while the chain was spinning if you really needed to.

I need all my competitors to be using that app, then I need a back door so that at the push of a button they all get a message that they must change their chain 5 miles before the end of the race

I'm a metrologist by trade, so yes I'm fairly confident it could be done

However, nobody has admitted to having a precise, reliable device on which it can be and has been done- even the boring way of measuring elongation week by week

Please tell me that this is a cycling thread. Seriously thougth, having an app' for everything will just turn us into fools, using experience and your own grey matter really is the way to go. Education's all about developing one's own faculties yet we're encouraged, no seduced, into going headlong in the opposite direction. There's a good quote from Einstein on the topic, if only there were some way for me to find out what it is...

The thing is there is a difference between technically possible and commercially/ financially possible.

If the device to measure your chain wear cost the same as 10 chains with a promise to accurately predict when replacement would be needed to max chain life you would have to run it for a long time to pay for itself, and it would have to be robust, waterproof etc.

On the other hand my piece of metal marked at 0.75% and 1% wear cost me £3, and I use it maybe twice a year on each bike (except the wife's bike, which only gets used itself twice a year anyway!)

If you mean the one whose pic I attach then yes I own it and  it gives the same values (+- 0.01) when measuring at the same spot repeatedly.  But, it does NOT measure the same values all over the chain.  I measured a couple links down from the powerlink and then at the opposite side, once a month (1 month equals to roughly 900 km, this is a commuter bike).  If at time 'X',  it measures e.g. 0.25 elongation close to the link, it could measure 0.32 on the opposite side.  Assuming equal manufacturing tolerances (with which I'm not familiar) this suggests that wear is not even all over the chain. Please don't ask me how this is possible, I have no clue.   But the numbers stay consistent, meaning that when measuring a month or two later you might be at 0.38 close to the link but be at 0.46 on the opposite side.  Matter of fact, what I never did (just didn't see the point) was measure a perfectly new, just installed chain to see how the values at different spots compare then.  I usually swap around 0.60 (expensive cassettes).

On my kmc X1 epts, using my park cc2, I get more wear around the quicklink, least over the past couple of chains.

It appears that this digital tool is about £100 and hard to get. I have the Rohloff which gives an average measurement across just over 7 1/2" links to indicate 0.075 and 0.01 mm per link, but includes wear on the rollers. I'm going to get a Park Tools CC-4, which averages over 14 links and does a pretty good job eliminating the roller wear from the measurement, and indicating 0, 0.5% and 0.75% wear, corresponding to 0, 0.064 mm and 0.096mm per link- to see if it makes any difference to my new 5 chains per cassette regime: change chain at wear level 1, keep going through all 5 chains and then rotating back through the worn chains and binning each when it gets to wear level 2. I may consider not binning them, because on the last chain of my previous 4 chain regime Shimano 9-speed changing is still good with the chain much worse than level 2, with no skipping.

"Your ink cartridge, errrm, tires need replacement. We will send a service van." "But I just replaced them after punctures." "They must be replaced. Failure to replace the tires will void warranty and disable your vehicle. We will charge $200 on your credit card. Thank you."