What makes a good chain good?

[swee'pea99]

Looking for a new chain for my fixie and I'm bemused by the range of options, not to say prices.

Now, I can understand why a good wheel or tyre costs more, never mind a gear mech, but why should I spend £15 or even £10 (never mind the £30+ quite a lot go for) when I can get a brand new chain for £1.99? Will there be a difference? One I'd actually notice?

 

[Crankarm]

I used to ask myself this question until I bought a Shimano HG93 chain from CRC about two years ago for £11.99 in one of their price crash sales. I previously used el cheapo SRAM and Seddis chains. In comparison these cheapo chains didn't last as long and didn't flow any where near as well as the HG93/XT and Dura-ace chains I now use. They scrub up like new every time as they use far better plates and pins. I have a small stock I bought when they were £15.99 .

 

[Mr Pig]

[quote name='swee'pea99']I can get a brand new chain for £1.99[/quote]

Like that link. Chain-£1.99. Chain wear indicator- £8.99 ;0)

I've never used a dirt cheap chain, but I'll bet they're s***! Very rarely do cheap parts or tools turn out to be good quality, it's not a hard thing to figure out.

 

[tyred]

But for two quid, I would condsider it worth the gamble. What've you got to loose?

 

[andrew_s]

If it turns out to be fast wearing, you could knacker your sprocket and chainring so you can't put a new chain on quite quickly - eg 500 miles.
You've then the choice of getting a new sprocket & chainring, or pressing on until the chain is really dead. If that turns out to be only 2500 miles, you've lost money instead of saving it.

You've either got to find someone who's used one and taken note of how long it lasted, or take a chance.

 

[jimboalee]

But for two quid, I would condsider it worth the gamble. What've you got to loose?

The chain on a lonely country lane.

 

[jimboalee]

To be honest, bike chain is banged out in such quantity, if they sold it in plastic bags and not the pretty card boxes, they could sell it for £2 and still make a profit.

Another case of us being ripped off.

 

[tyred]

If it turns out to be fast wearing, you could knacker your sprocket and chainring so you can't put a new chain on quite quickly - eg 500 miles.
You've then the choice of getting a new sprocket & chainring, or pressing on until the chain is really dead. If that turns out to be only 2500 miles, you've lost money instead of saving it.

You've either got to find someone who's used one and taken note of how long it lasted, or take a chance.

If it is made from genuinely substandard material, I'd expect it to snap rather than wear out.

 

[kyuss]

I've used a few dirt cheap chains in the past and they really aren't worth it. They stretch really quickly (weeks rather than months) often taking a sprocket or chainring on their way out if it doesn't snap first and leave you in a hedge on a lonely country lane somewhere. I'd rather spend a tenner on a KMC z610hx any day of the week.

 

[Mr Pig]

What've you got to loose?

If it snaps under load, quite a lot possibly!

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks all. Ok, I'm sold. It'll last longer, it won't knacker anything else, and it won't leave me stranded in dingley dell at the witching hour. Sounds worth a tenner to me. (Having said which, I ended up going for a KMC X8.93 for £8.08, with free delivery.)

 

[jimboalee]

A pedal cycle chain 'Snap' in use

You're pulling my plonker.

A rivet might come adrift from the plate.
This will start making a row or the chain will lift on the sprockets.

But snap? Metal failing in tension? Surely not.

 

[swee'pea99]

As strange coincidence would have it, precisely that happened to me just t'other day. The chain didn't snap to the extent that it completely parted and ended up lying on the road like a greasy metal bootlace, but I did eventually trace a clicking noise, an oddity in feel, and the fact that it threw the chain twice under pressure going uphill, to the fact that one of the side plates had indeed broken, and some of it fallen off. So tho' the chain hadn't completely snapped, it was at that point being held together only on one side.

 

[02GF74]

I've seen a chain with one link snapped. Not on one of mine but this was on a poorly maintained bike.

and as wot ^^^^ said, wouldn't it be great to buy chain by the metre and not have to pay for fancy packaging, gggrrr.....................

 

[Mr Pig]

My mate's chain snapped, bang, clean in two. So I guess it can happen.