Thought I'd share this with you all as I've just run the three most popular chains back to back in an effort to get the best setup. Might help someone out at some point in the future!
The contenders were:
Shimano Dura Ace 7901
KMC X 10SL
SRAM PC 1091 (Red)
Mech's are Dura Ace Di2. / Dura Ace 11 - 27 Cassette.
I've recently changed the chainset from a Dura Ace 7950 standard double to a compact and purchased the SRAM PC 1091 at the same time to go with it. According to all the research I did the SRAM 1091 was an excellent chain. I already had the Dura Ace 7901 as that's what I was running with the double chainset and I found a brand new KMC X 10SL in the garage (think this was purchased for another bike - since sold). So I sized all three chains for the compact chainset and ran them back to back over a short loop.
One thing to note whilst the KMC and SRAM can be installed either way round the Shimano chain only goes on one way, with the writing on the links facing out towards you. The inner and outer face plates are cut differently to aid shifting on the Shimano chains.
As for sizing, Shimano's method is to thread the chain round the big chainring / smallest sprocket and through the jockey wheels, then cut the chain at the point when the jockey wheels are vertical to the floor. I find this leaves the chain slightly short when running on the big chainring / largest sprockets so I always add One link to this measurement.
(see the Shimano tech doc that covers chain size: http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/t...70/SI-5X20A-003-ENG_v1_m56577569830696756.pdf)
The chains were all fitted using a KMC missing link and the gears re indexed on a bike stand before running the loop.
Firstly I ran the Shimano chain, on the stand the rear gear change was immediate and very crisp, bang bang bang up and down the cassette, no hesitation whatsoever. Drive chain noise is evident but it's just the mechanical noise of the chain running on the cassette and through the jockey wheels. (Not overly loud but louder than one of my other bikes that's running a SRAM cassette and chain combo, which is why I wanted to experiment with a SRAM chain on Dura Ace to see if it was quieter). On the short loop the performance was as on the stand. Immediate gear changes / no noises in any gear combination other than the background noise described above. Front and rear shifts all effortless even under load out of the saddle.
Next up the SRAM chain, on the stand the first thing that was noticeable was a slightly reduced drive chain noise, looks promising I thought, then I did some shifting on the rear mech, the difference between the SRAM and Shimano was massive, much slower shifts, the chain seemed to drag itself between sprockets and on some points was actually hesitant at changing, especially noticeable when up on the larger sprockets moving back down the cassette. I re indexed a couple of times and did some fine adjustments to get the changes performing better. They improved slightly. Out on the road under load the changes at the rear were OK but still prone to hesitation coming back down from the top end of the cassette, front end changes were fine. Overall drive chain noise was slightly lower than the Shimano chain but there was another issue, when applying out of the saddle load on the three largest sprockets there was a clicking noise on each pedal revolution. Highly annoying!
Next up the KMC chain, on the stand shifting performance was immediately better than the SRAM chain, not far off the Shimano's performance but not quite there. Drive chain noise was on a par with Shimano's but no improvement. Out on the road the performance was exactly as on the stand with good shifting in all gear combinations. However this chain exhibited the same issue as the SRAM chain, a clicking noise on every pedal revolution when applying out of the saddle load on the three largest sprockets :-(
So back on went the Shimano chain, no re indexing from the KMC and again it performed perfectly with none of the annoying clicking experienced with the other two chains, so the Shimano chain is staying on.
So maybe you can believe some of the Shimano hype about their chains and the different profiles of the inner and outer plates giving the perfect shift. It certainly works for me. I guess when you use components from the same manufacturer that should give you the best performance as they are all engineered to work together, but you never know do you
Anyway time for a brew then I'd better do some work..............
The contenders were:
Shimano Dura Ace 7901
KMC X 10SL
SRAM PC 1091 (Red)
Mech's are Dura Ace Di2. / Dura Ace 11 - 27 Cassette.
I've recently changed the chainset from a Dura Ace 7950 standard double to a compact and purchased the SRAM PC 1091 at the same time to go with it. According to all the research I did the SRAM 1091 was an excellent chain. I already had the Dura Ace 7901 as that's what I was running with the double chainset and I found a brand new KMC X 10SL in the garage (think this was purchased for another bike - since sold). So I sized all three chains for the compact chainset and ran them back to back over a short loop.
One thing to note whilst the KMC and SRAM can be installed either way round the Shimano chain only goes on one way, with the writing on the links facing out towards you. The inner and outer face plates are cut differently to aid shifting on the Shimano chains.
As for sizing, Shimano's method is to thread the chain round the big chainring / smallest sprocket and through the jockey wheels, then cut the chain at the point when the jockey wheels are vertical to the floor. I find this leaves the chain slightly short when running on the big chainring / largest sprockets so I always add One link to this measurement.
(see the Shimano tech doc that covers chain size: http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/t...70/SI-5X20A-003-ENG_v1_m56577569830696756.pdf)
The chains were all fitted using a KMC missing link and the gears re indexed on a bike stand before running the loop.
Firstly I ran the Shimano chain, on the stand the rear gear change was immediate and very crisp, bang bang bang up and down the cassette, no hesitation whatsoever. Drive chain noise is evident but it's just the mechanical noise of the chain running on the cassette and through the jockey wheels. (Not overly loud but louder than one of my other bikes that's running a SRAM cassette and chain combo, which is why I wanted to experiment with a SRAM chain on Dura Ace to see if it was quieter). On the short loop the performance was as on the stand. Immediate gear changes / no noises in any gear combination other than the background noise described above. Front and rear shifts all effortless even under load out of the saddle.
Next up the SRAM chain, on the stand the first thing that was noticeable was a slightly reduced drive chain noise, looks promising I thought, then I did some shifting on the rear mech, the difference between the SRAM and Shimano was massive, much slower shifts, the chain seemed to drag itself between sprockets and on some points was actually hesitant at changing, especially noticeable when up on the larger sprockets moving back down the cassette. I re indexed a couple of times and did some fine adjustments to get the changes performing better. They improved slightly. Out on the road under load the changes at the rear were OK but still prone to hesitation coming back down from the top end of the cassette, front end changes were fine. Overall drive chain noise was slightly lower than the Shimano chain but there was another issue, when applying out of the saddle load on the three largest sprockets there was a clicking noise on each pedal revolution. Highly annoying!
Next up the KMC chain, on the stand shifting performance was immediately better than the SRAM chain, not far off the Shimano's performance but not quite there. Drive chain noise was on a par with Shimano's but no improvement. Out on the road the performance was exactly as on the stand with good shifting in all gear combinations. However this chain exhibited the same issue as the SRAM chain, a clicking noise on every pedal revolution when applying out of the saddle load on the three largest sprockets :-(
So back on went the Shimano chain, no re indexing from the KMC and again it performed perfectly with none of the annoying clicking experienced with the other two chains, so the Shimano chain is staying on.
So maybe you can believe some of the Shimano hype about their chains and the different profiles of the inner and outer plates giving the perfect shift. It certainly works for me. I guess when you use components from the same manufacturer that should give you the best performance as they are all engineered to work together, but you never know do you
Anyway time for a brew then I'd better do some work..............
