Chains!

[kennbenny667]

I broke my third nine-speed chain today. I'm starting to get quite pissed with breaking nine-speed chains. I broke my first chain 2 times before I wore it out. It lasted about six months. The chain I broke on my commute today was about 2 months old. I have never broken a link on my seven-speed, and I attempt to ride trials and street with that bike! The seven-speed is a hardtail. My FS is the nine-speed bike. It is the NRS/Ellsworth frame design. I don't believe the chain is stressed/streched very much compared to a hardtail. I put about a hundred miles a week on the chain. Any thoughts?

[riderx]

Originally posted by kennbenny667
Any thoughts? Nine speed sucks. :D Probably not what you wanted to hear.

Seriously though, I'd try a different brand of chain. Also make sure you aren't installing the thing wrong. If it's a Shi+mano, you can't reuse the pins - at least that's my understanding, but I don't use them. Or 9 speed for that matter.

[Dr.Spoke]

tough one!
A different brand of chains may help. But, I usually find that chains break from incorrectly fitting in the first place or abuse ( not enough cleaning/lubing), or crap chainrings.
This is no real help, sorry!
Some of my customers swear by Sram Chains; but I only ever use Shimano!

[Andy in Wi]

I've been having bad luck with sram's nine speed offerings. My connex 909 seems to be working pretty good (use a sram powerlink with it instead of the included master link). Otherwise, rohloff chains are pretty much the best you can get.
-WiBA

[kennbenny667]

I've been using the standard shimano 9speed chain. I think I might look into a few of you'se guy's suggestions. I am a little leery of a non shimano chain on an almost entirely shimano drivetrain(raceface rings). I've heard some quips about crossing systems/manufacturers. Thanks for the advice!

[Rotifer]

9 spd chains definitely break more frequently (I've never used the more expensive brands like Rohloff). But one should be replacing the chain every couple of months anyway so i see it as an incentive to do so - ya know. They're cheap.

[Dr.Spoke]

Don't worry too much about mixing brands, if it's made for 9 spd. (6.5 mm pin) then it'll work! I've even used a Campag 10 spd. on a mountain bike (Shimano), but this is probably not ideal.

[The Gordo]

I've been running the same Sedis chain for longer than I care to admit. I do keep my bike very clean... But I just always get the highest quality Sedis (it's silver) that I can find and have never had any trouble. Oh yeah but's it's 8 speed. F*** 9 Speed, it's dumb, thin, week and useless.

I hope sincerly that I can always find enough 8 speed parts to keep my three rigs running. As of now, I am committed to not being party to the 9 speed clampdown!

[EBasil]

I'm with you, Gordo. I use Sachs-Sedis chains on my bikes, and have done so with Shimano drive trains for over a decade of love and happiness. I just built up a new, old bike, and needed a primo 8 sp chain: SRAM produces the Sachs chains now and they are still excellent, even if I couldn't find the top-end 8sp chain anymore (the PC68 is still great).

[Mauriceman]

I had trouble with Shimano chains and those funky pins back in the 8 speed days, switched to Sedis/Sachs/Sram and never looked back.

[Subscription Guy]

Ditto what Mauriceman said.

Gee, does that make me a "yes man?"
:D
Buy a SRAM chain and worry not.
;)

[Raymo853]

PC-5x series chains are cheap, last long and have never left me down with the 8 speed MTB or 7, 8 & 9 speed road bikes I have had and I love the speedlink.

[SynicGeek]

Wait wait wait... Commuting on a 27 speed FS MTB? Get real, get a brakeless fixie with a 70's era Sedis or Regina and then just ride.
Brett

[Dr.Spoke]

Hej Synicgeek!
Some of us don't have the luxury of a smooth commute!
As the crow flies I've got 20km. of forest to come near to town, with a 5km. ride through town to work. By road, I must Add at least 10km. to this!
Week-in-week-out, 27spd. FS is looking viable.

I normally ride SS, but I've found after a bad day I look for the tough stuff...a couple of inches travel helps ( and NO!, you can't check with my wife!!!!)!!!

[kennbenny667]

I would love to have the financial stability to have more than one bike, but since I could only afford one bike, I figured I'd buy a bike that could be applied to any riding scenario. Also, if I get out of school early I can ride staight to the trails. It's the best of both worlds in my opinion.

[JerseyDevil]

Your sample size is too small to be statistically valid, therefore it would unwise to draw any conclusions from this small amount of anecdotal evidence.

Likewise, any rider that hasn't had experience with hundreds of chains, with thousands of miles on each of them, is at best providing another smattering of anecdotal evidence, not statistically vaild "proof" of anything.

Plus, asking people for input usually results in reports of "problems," producing a biased sample (you don't get a representative number of reports from the thousands of users who've had no problems).

Please don't take this personally, it's just a topic that's been in the back of my mind, and this was an opportunity to spew back, Sub Guy.

[EBasil]

Sample, shmample...I just scored Sachs 80 chains from Cambria, after I got their flier! The tip-top of the Sachs 8-speed chains, it used to be $40, and I got two for $15 each! All plated, chamfered, slip linked and even punched side plates for a savings of at least a gram... :P

Bada-bing, bada-boom! This ought to last me until the drivetrain wears out and I'm forced to upgrade to 12 speed Shimano (2004 model year).

[glenzx]

In 3 years on my FSR, I broke/wore out/killed/popped pins, etc... 7 Shimano 9-speed chains. I install them flawlessly, maintain my bike and have newer raceface rings and an XT cassette in the rear with an XTR Rear derrailleur. Then at the beginning of last spring I got the high-end SRAM chain (PC99??) at my LBS for about $40. A little steep, but it went ALL LAST YEAR and through the winter to this day. Still shifting smooth, still working well. I do keep it clean and lubed (white Lighting for us dry-west folks) just the same as the shimano chains.... go figure. Though not THOUSANDS, it's a fair cross-section. Now I'm saving my pennies for a Rohloff as I've seen the light that a good chain can give!

Note: I indeed used those weird extendo-pins that you snap off after the pin is installed... exactly as described in the instructions...

[AdDaBiker]

Ok i will make this easy. The best chain for the money is a Sram chain. Sachs chains are the same as sram because sram bought sachs a few years back. These chains are the best.

For you guys that have any Questions about the HG or IG chains from Shimano. YOU MUST USE SPECIAL PINS WHEN YOU REPLACE OR FIX YOUR CHAIN. The pins dont look like normal pins. They have an extra peice atached that you snap off when the pin is pushed in.

As for the POWER LINK is usaly never falls unlike other quick link designs. So your best bet is to put one in and forget about it. If you want to be safe cary an extra power link with you. If you dont need it one of your buddys mite riding on an shimano chain.

I am a mechnic from NY and this is what i have found in my own riding and from the custumers. We sell mainly SRAM chains at our shop. Most pepole swar by them as you can tell from the feed back.