Chain stretch – what is it?
The term ‘stretch’ is used to describe the process of wear. As it wears the chain gradually becomes longer. It is not made of elastic but steel and in actual fact it is not stretching at all but wearing. As it does so the tiny amount of wear on each of its 100 or so links adds up and it means that the chain, when pulled tight, is longer than it started when new. This is a perfectly normal process and continues until the chain is worn out.