Estimating chainring wear while purchacing online

[mac.]

Looking to buy a used crankset online. Does anyone have any tips for what to look for in images as red flags that the chainring(s) might be a little too worn?

Specifically I'm looking at this Force 22 set (https://images.craigslist.org/00808_8j7zEbzA3fE_1200x900.jpg). Asking price is $150 and claim is ~1000 miles. Seem reasonable?

[BertoBerg]

Try this:

https://youtu.be/8LqTmvuf6tw

[kppolich]

Looking to buy a used crankset online. Does anyone have any tips for what to look for in images as red flags that the chainring(s) might be a little too worn?

Specifically I'm looking at this Force 22 set (https://images.craigslist.org/00808_8j7zEbzA3fE_1200x900.jpg). Asking price is $150 and claim is ~1000 miles. Seem reasonable?

Looks good, around 500-1500 miles on them i'd guess. Clean up and ride.

[jemoryl]

I've often wondered about this. My most used bike has an alloy Campy Record crank from the last series before they went carbon, with the original chainrings (53/39). I keep reading about people here needing to replace their chainrings so I recently compared the teeth on mine to a brand new ring I have in reserve. It isn't clear that there is much difference, which is remarkable, since that crankset must have over 10k miles. Having said that, I try not to ride in the rain and maintain the bike regularly.

[charliedid]

Looking to buy a used crankset online. Does anyone have any tips for what to look for in images as red flags that the chainring(s) might be a little too worn?

Specifically I'm looking at this Force 22 set (https://images.craigslist.org/00808_8j7zEbzA3fE_1200x900.jpg). Asking price is $150 and claim is ~1000 miles. Seem reasonable?

Looks new.

If the pedal is 6 o'clock, look at 3 and 9 o'clock for wear.

[Hindmost]

I'd be hard-pressed to judge from a photograph unless the ware iwas excessive. The wear and nicks on the inside of the big chainring gives an indication of how many times the chain has been up and down.

[m_sasso]

I am going to be a dissenter here, compare the large ring teeth too the small ring teeth. The teeth on the large ring are pointer, the trough spacing where the rollers seat are wider. The height and width of the large ring teeth are significant smaller than the teeth on the small ring and a new large rig.

There is no typical "hooked" shark finning present, you don't always get it, however there is the typical "thinning profile" shark finning.

That large ring has seen good bit of wear and I would estimate it has 50 to 25% of it's useful life left or if you prefer 50 to 75% done.

Compare the large ring tooth profile here.

https://cdn.mantel.com/images/product.php?image_id=20414&w=760&h=570

[Clancy]

I’m agreeing with Marc on this one. Pass and keep looking, plenty around

[charliedid]

I'm sticking with my answer :)

[AngryScientist]

it's much more difficult with modern chainrings to determine wear than older rings. modern stuff shifts so well due to heavy shaping and profiling of the teeth. once they get the beginning of the "hook" shark tooth shape, they are well on the way to death, but there is a lot in between.

i'd be hard pressed to determine the % wear on a ring from a picture, other than to say they are good to ride or shot; go/no-go.

those look fine to me, and definitely have life left in them, that's about all you can say definitively from that photo, IMO.

[jemdet]

You have to give it a good discerning squint, just like you would when you're sizing up a frame without dimensions.

Black, shaped chainrings will look more worn than an 8V Campy 135 from back in the day. It's the loss of coating and the shaped tooth profiles.

That being said - the SRAM crankset pictured is one that I would continue to ride if I owned it, but not one that I would buy used.

[kramnnim]

I don't see any issues with the teeth. You can go by how much/little of the black anodization has been worn off.

[Dave]

Looks fine to me.

[Old School]

Definitely a lot of wear to me. I am the self proclaimed king of buying used crap, and I wouldn't buy that.
What I am seeing is the silver in the troughs of the chainring. Those are very hard anodized, and once it wears downward to where you can easily see that, I pass.
Also, not just wear on every other tooth, but wear on each tooth, despite there being virtually no sign of being shifted regularly to the little ring, and then back up into "the other pattern". Note the little ring seems virginal.
Plus, the price seems still a bit high, plus, for supposed 1000 miles, it just doesn't look right.
You could try it with factoring the price of a new big ring

[spoonrobot]

The mileage is probably closer to 4000

[mac.]

Thanks for the opinions everyone. The part of me that wants to finish my build wants to believe the favorable opinions, but I think in this case I'll error on the side of caution 😅