My bike has about 40 thousand kilometers on it and the chain is all dried out, making a weird noise. I want to know roughly how much it's going to cost me to get it replaced at a shop, whether it's something I can do myself or if I should leave it to the professionals.
The cost really depends on the bike and the shop, but changing the chain with sprocket and chainring can run you anywhere from about $150 to $400, more or less, depending on where you live and what brand you use. If you've never done it before, it's better to take it to a professional because you need specific tools and it has to be properly aligned, otherwise everything's going to wear out fast. What you can do yourself is keep it clean and lubricated every so often so it lasts longer, that'll save you headaches down the road.
You can change the chain yourself if you've got basic tools and some patience, but here's the thing: besides the chain you're also gonna need to replace the sprocket and chainring (the teeth wear down together), and that makes the job way more complicated. At a shop they'll have it done in a couple of hours, whereas if you do it at home you might end up spending the whole afternoon on it. If you've never done it before, honestly it's safer to leave it to the pros because if you mess up the alignment or the tension, the chain can slip off while you're riding and that's pretty dangerous.
If the chain is dry and making noise, chances are the sprockets are worn too, so changing just the chain without touching anything else almost never works out well. I once tried doing it myself at home (terrible idea, by the way) and ended up going back to the shop because the new chain was slipping on the old teeth, so in the end I paid more.
The smartest thing is to take your bike to a shop where they check everything together - chain, sprocket and chainring - and get a quote. The price varies a lot depending on where you live and what bike you have, but if the labor seems expensive to you, you can always get a second quote somewhere else before deciding.
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