ANSI Double Strand Chain. Pluses: Strong, long-lasting, definitely up to the challenge. Minuses: takes roughly a gallon of 90 weight gear oil to lube after each ride. A 92-tooth length of it weighs 113 pounds. This will raise the weight of my bike up to 137 pounds - not an insurmountable disadvantage, as long as the course is entirely downhill and I don't have to start, stop, turn, sprint, or turn the pedals.ANSI Double Strand Chain
Hip Hop Bling Chain. Pluses - not terribly expensive, bling factor even higher than Wipperman, totally stylin'. Minuses - not very useful for powering a bike; kind of heavy on your neck while riding; getting shot by West Coast rappers in senseless feud. Oh yeah, and Crunk may not be dead, but it is pretty Two Years Ago.
Bling Chain
Ball and Chain. Pluses: lighter than my Surly Cross Check. Less punishing on hilly courses too. Will help me sneak into Joliet on Wednesday nights - they do a mean hash on Wednesday nights. Minuses - harder to clear barriers placed on uphill runups; tough to keep a smooth pedal cadence; probably not much use for actually powering the bike.
Ball & Chain
Tiger Claw Wu-Shu Whip Chain. Pluses: Powerful chain; useful for serving the Emperor and defeating the ninjas of Dragon Clan; only $19.95 from reputable Taiwanese Martial Arts Supply Houses near you; helpful when eviscerating your many enemies. Minuses: No master link, assault charges if you try using it in a race; not very helpful for driving the bike forward, unless you happen to be driving it forward like the rest of your enemies, lamenting your cruelty and begging for mercy. Not legal in NY, CA, MA, and the Shin Yuan Province.
9 Section Wu Shu Chain Whip
S&M Barbie Whips 'n' Chains. Pluses - definitely more stylish than the Ultegra 10 Speed chain. Sexy, in a disturbing, shamefully tacky and really sad sort of way. Cheap, in a number of respects. Minuses: Again, no good for driving the bike. Little girls in the neighborhood will be permanently warped if they see you riding around with this. You'll probably get arrested by the FBI for suspicion of child abuse. Still, it's probably more reliable than the SRAM chain, at least when I'm using it...
5 comments:
I'd venture a guess that your chain woes come from the same place as mine. A combination of excessive leg strength and excessive mid-torso girth.
Not long after I had my second serious attempt at discontinuing the family name on the top tube I was steered towards those fiddly little reusable joining links (being a big fat lazy trackie I couldn't be stuffed finding a 10spd image for you).
There's a bunch of different kinds out there so check which your LBS recommends (mine's so grubby I can't even see the markings). I haven't had a single chain failure since I switched 10500 miles ago.
Mike, your diagnosis of the causes is correct. However, the SRAM 8 Speed Mountain Bike chain is the one I snapped this time, Shimano Ultegra 10 was the kind I snapped last summer. For the record, RetroGrouches everywhere say the SRAM Powerlink - the reusable joining link think - is subject to failure, sketchy and so forth. For the record, the chain didn't fail at the power link. It failed about a dozen links upstream, where a set of plates on one link twisted into a "Y" shape as the pin came out.
There's really only one solution then. Swap the 'cross machine for a recumbent and regrow that beard.
Go singlespeed and rock a fat track/BMX chain. Those things will hold up.
Jim, great post, top five for sure. How about taking up chain smoking? Pluses: cooler than The Fonz, no cardio whatsoever, prison currency if you ever need it. Minuses: a fistfull of diseases, no cardio whatsoever, probably not cheaper than bike parts in the long run.
-KP
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