What is it with Shimano chains??!?

[Sveky]

Ok let me say that im more than happy with the life of my current Ultegra Chain... currently its done over 25,000 km.
The chain is off the scales & cops all sorts of abuse such as changing with lots of pressure through the drive train riding in the rain lack of lub etc but it still shifts great!

[rkelsen]

Ok let me say that im more than happy with the life of my current Ultegra Chain... currently its done over 25,000 km.
The chain is off the scales & cops all sorts of abuse such as changing with lots of pressure through the drive train riding in the rain lack of lub etc but it still shifts great!

I call shenanigans. How much do you weigh? How powerful are you?

Did you mean 2,500km?

[sogood]

Ok let me say that im more than happy with the life of my current Ultegra Chain... currently its done over 25,000 km.
The chain is off the scales & cops all sorts of abuse...

Shimano marketing would like to talk to you.

[master6]

Ok let me say that im more than happy with the life of my current Ultegra Chain... currently its done over 25,000 km.
The chain is off the scales & cops all sorts of abuse such as changing with lots of pressure through the drive train riding in the rain lack of lub etc but it still shifts great!

Any chance of a photo of your cassette and chainrings?

[master6]

Ok let me say that im more than happy with the life of my current Ultegra Chain... currently its done over 25,000 km.
The chain is off the scales & cops all sorts of abuse such as changing with lots of pressure through the drive train riding in the rain lack of lub etc but it still shifts great!

Any chance of a photo of your cassette and chainrings?

[Sveky]

Ok let me say that im more than happy with the life of my current Ultegra Chain... currently its done over 25,000 km.
The chain is off the scales & cops all sorts of abuse such as changing with lots of pressure through the drive train riding in the rain lack of lub etc but it still shifts great!

I call shenanigans. How much do you weigh? How powerful are you?

Did you mean 2,500km?

No shenanigans, i weigh 79kg commute everyday (3 days a week through bobbin head) and ride weekends (about 380km a week).
I'd say I'm reasonably powerful as I average 35kph on the way to work.

I'll take some pics and post asap

[master6]

Ok let me say that im more than happy with the life of my current Ultegra Chain... currently its done over 25,000 km.
The chain is off the scales & cops all sorts of abuse such as changing with lots of pressure through the drive train riding in the rain lack of lub etc but it still shifts great!

I call shenanigans. How much do you weigh? How powerful are you?

Did you mean 2,500km?

No shenanigans, i weigh 79kg commute everyday (3 days a week through bobbin head) and ride weekends (about 380km a week).
I'd say I'm reasonably powerful as I average 35kph on the way to work.

I'll take some pics and post asap

I might have to consult some of my friends who have closer contact with the Vatican. Could we soon have "Saint Sveky"?

[wqlava1]

....and this miracle is a bit more verifiable than some others.....

[master6]

....and this miracle is a bit more verifiable than some others.....

Even this anglican ex alter boy might understand it

[Sveky]

hmm

[rkelsen]

That chain is very obviously beyond it's useful life. Look at the rollers. They're almost halfway between links.

Looking at the wear on the cassette, it truly is a miracle that your bike isn't skipping in every gear.

[Sveky]

It surely is a miracle hehe but yeah no skipping i suppose the chain has worn with the cassette so that helps.

New (long over due) running gear tommorrow!... i could get another 25,000km out it!

[master6]

It surely is a miracle hehe but yeah no skipping i suppose the chain has worn with the cassette so that helps.

New (long over due) running gear tommorrow!... i could get another 25,000km out it!

Would the RSPCA care?

[Zoiks]

Ok, so now that pics are posted up. Can someon explain to me how to see that this chain and cassette is very worn? I have no idea what im looking at

[rkelsen]

Ok, so now that pics are posted up. Can someon explain to me how to see that this chain and cassette is very worn? I have no idea what im looking at

Chain: Look at the position of the rollers, as compared to the outer plates. They should be centred, but are worn enough to be visibly off centre. In normal circumstances, you would discard a chain when the rollers are off centre by 0.125mm (one eighth of a mm) each. And some people discard them at half that amount of wear in order to preserve the cassette. My last chain ate my cassette, so I'll be doing that with the current one.

Cassette: Look at the tips of the sprocket teeth and the way that the teeth look like they've been pulled to the side. They haven't really been pulled to the side, but are worn enough to look that way. Using a new chain on this cassette will cause it to wear out prematurely.

Looking at these photos, I'd be amazed if the chainrings haven't been chewed up as well.

[Sveky]

yes its all been replaced!

Feels a little better

[twizzle]

Well, checked the chain last night, it's almost 2.5 months old, over 2,500km, never been lube'd or cleaned - NO MEASURABLE WEAR. I even got the vernier callipers out to double check. It's a KMC X10-SL titanium nitride coated chain.

[Nobody]

Well, checked the chain last night, it's almost 2.5 months old, over 2,500km, never been lube'd or cleaned - NO MEASURABLE WEAR. I even got the vernier callipers out to double check. It's a KMC X10-SL titanium nitride coated chain.

Good result. Too bad it wasn't the same model chain as you don't know if it the lack of WD-40 (degreaser) or a better chain.

"Titanium nitride coated" - Isn't that the coating they put on drill bits to make them last (a claimed) 3 times longer? You may have found a durability winner.

[twizzle]

Well, checked the chain last night, it's almost 2.5 months old, over 2,500km, never been lube'd or cleaned - NO MEASURABLE WEAR. I even got the vernier callipers out to double check. It's a KMC X10-SL titanium nitride coated chain.

Good result. Too bad it wasn't the same model chain as you don't know if it the lack of WD-40 (degreaser) or a better chain.

"Titanium nitride coated" - Isn't that the coating they put on drill bits to make them last (a claimed) 3 times longer? You may have found a durability winner.

I'm still using the 'wipe over with towel/WD40', same as with the previous chain, and that one wore out at the same rate as the chain before that which was ultrasonic kero cleaned and lubed with ProLink.

As for the Ti coating, from what I can see it's only on the outside of the chain, the side plates have no coating where the bushes/rollers are.

[Nobody]

Thanks for the reply. A good result anyway. I'm interested to see how long it lasts. It may well be worth the extra money.

[trailgumby]

Thanks, guys this has been a really useful discussion. The link to the pardo.net article was excellent.

You've convinced me to throw away my Park chain measuring tool and buy a steel tule or one of those Shimano TL-CN40 or TL-CN41 units.

On the subject of chains, I haven't been road riding a whole lot for reasons most of you know about, but since switching to Shimano XTRs on my mtbs I've been getting much longer life than out of the equivalent SRAM units.

The idea to run two or three chains and swap them out for cleaning is a good one I'll take up.

On the subject of lubes, a new one I'm about to try when I use up the last of my "Epic Ride" is "Purple Extreme" that supposedly has its roots in the mining industry. Will let you know when I get to it.