Buying A New Chain

[Young Howard]

Have used KMC chains for years on my MTBs work great and last a bit longer than Shimano, Chain Reaction do em cheap

 

[e-rider]

My Shimano chain that came with the bike lasted only 300 miles! Wouldn't buy another - plus you need those ridiculous links.

After much research on CC and elsewhere, I replaced it with a KMC X8 99. Lasted about 700 miles. A lot less mileage than some are getting and I'm not a grinder. Replaced that with same and still showing less than 0.75 at about the same mileage. I expect to have to replace it soon. All have been on the same cassette. I've decided to try SRAM next and fit a new cassette. If the SRAM turns out to be made of cheese, I'll try something else... Having said all this though, the KMC has been trouble free and is a doddle to change.


Everything else being equal (ie maintenance), I reckon what works for one may not, for various reasons, give the same results for someone else. It may be just a matter of seeing what works best (much like other bike kit).

And there's an old saying: Buy cheap, buy twice...

I think your wear gauge must be out. I get a minimum of 2000 miles out of any chain no trouble at all

 

[Proto]

Just for info, Chain Reaction are flogging Mavic 10sp** chains at a bargain price at the mo, as little as £9.00 each. Not certain, but I've read somewhere that they are made by Wipperman, so should be decent quality.

I bought three just before Christmas. They look excellent. Quick link included, too.

** Can't see any reason why you can't use these with 9sp set-up.

 

[mgarl10024]

Hi all,

Thanks for all your replies.

I went for an SRAM chain in the end (they seem to have a good name and their power links look easy enough for a first timer like me!). I went for the PC850 (they do PC830, PC850, PC870 and PC890). From what I could tell, the 830 was a budget chain and some people were reporting stretching at low mileages and even snapping! The 850 seemed better and had better reviews. The 870 and 890 seemed just chrome plated which I didn't think would make a lot of difference in terms of durability.

£9.96 delivered from CRC. We'll see how I get on!

Thanks again,

MG

 

[jay clock]

I am a Wipperman man..... http://www.wiggle.co.uk/wippermann-connex-808-8-speed-chain/ £15. Nice and silvery in colour, easy link provided. These work fine on Shimano. Just put a new one on my winter bike today and it is now smooth as anything.

 

[ColinJ]

I usually use cheap SRAM chains and they seem to be fine.

I'd expect to get thousands of miles from a road chain that was only used in good weather. A chain used in the winter is a different thing though!

I've heard of Fiona's technique before. A friend used to run 3 or 4 chains which he kept in numbered plastic boxes soaking in lube. He'd swap to the next chain in the sequence about once a week and reckoned that it greatly extended the working life of his cassettes and chainrings.

 

[mgarl10024]

Just for info, I run 2 or 3 chains concurrently, swopping them whenever I remove a chain for cleaning.

I've heard of Fiona's technique before. A friend used to run 3 or 4 chains which he kept in numbered plastic boxes soaking in lube. He'd swap to the next chain in the sequence about once a week and reckoned that it greatly extended the working life of his cassettes and chainrings.

I've read about the technique in a few places and it sounds quite good. If I get on well with this new chain after a few hundred miles, I'm tempted to order two more - running each of the new ones for a few hundred miles to catch up with the first, then rotate them regularly.

I'm intrigued though as to how most people do it though?
- You take the old chain off
- then clean it somehow (overright in a submerged in degreaser?)
- then wash off the degreaser somehow
- then dry it?
- then store it in lube? I guess you wouldn't want to store it dry.

Thanks,

MG

 

[andrew_s]

Try measuring the chain instead of using the gadget. My SRAM 9 speeds are doing 2,600 miles without damaging the cassette. The pins start off at 1/2" centres. When a foot length has expanded by 1/16" measured on a steel rule then bin it. The cassette should be fine. If it gets past that then expect to replace the cassette. If it gets to 1/8" over then the chainrings are suffering and things really get expensive.

Measuring with a ruler is the best way of deciding when a chain is worn. Chain checkers can be pessimistic, and may show a new chain as being already at the wear limit without ever having been used. Unless you don't mind throwing good chains away, always double check with a ruler.

Campag chain instructions tell you to measure chain wear over 11 links using a vernier caliper, and to discard the chain if you get a measurement over 132.6mm. The measurement is between rollers pushed in opposite directions in exactly the same way as a chain checker works.
This post on the CTC forum is from someone who decided to try a SRAM PC830 instead of his normal Campag chains, and found it was measuring up as worn out by its first clean, at 200 miles. He'd still got the offcut from when he fitted the chain, so he measured it and found that it too was showing up as being worn out. Out of interest, I measured a new unused KMC X9L the same way, and got an answer of 132.56mm - about 0.03% away from being worn out, without having previously been out of the box.

The problem arises because checkers push the roller on the left to the left, and the roller on the right to the right. They therefore have to make some sort of assumption about how much a roller moves when pushed. If they assume a roller is a relatively tight fit, and you show it a chain that's got looser rollers, it will show the chain as being more worn than it is.

The checkers are always going to be pessimistic. If they were optimistic, you'd sometimes get a new chain slipping on the cassette even though the checker showed the old chain as being OK. That would generate a lost more complaints than throwing good chains out would, which mostly wouldn't ever get noticed.