So up to like 2002, SRAM chains were great compared to their shimano counterparts. I'd ocassionaly break them, but nothing like the ~3 runs that a shimano chain would last on a DH bike...
After 2002 I've put a few shimano CN7701 duraace/xtr mushroom-pin chains on my bikes. These things were amazing, I actually wrapped one like 2.5 times around my hub and it destroyed my rear wheel, I had to rebuild it from scratch pretty much, but amazingly the chain didn't even break, it was all twisted up but still well intact. I had a few of these, and I never took one off because it broke, only after it had stretched and was time to replace.
So as of late, I put a PC69 on my bike cause it was "fairly cheap" and the local bike shop didn't have a CN7701 (naturally).
Put it on my bike about a month ago.
Climbing today in the granny and POP, it spit out a pin and broke. It had been so long since I actually "broke" a chain it came as a shock. I know the 69 was a little cheaper, but I was hoping for "heavy and strong", in line with the "3 truths" of components. I took off the bad links, and put a KMC "missing link" thingie in there and was on my way...
Oh well, SRAM was a failed expirment, back to SHIMANO chains for me. Unfortunatly shimano has a bad rep for chains, due to the older designs, but there is new stuff out there that is different (the mushroom pin) that has worked awesome for me, I've been through phases where I was replacing a chain every month, sometimes shimanos, sometimes srams, etc, but in 2004, shimano seems to be on top of it.
Oh yeah, the point of this post is not just to distrub the SRAM Nazis, but to raise some awareness about a good product, the CN7701.
After 2002 I've put a few shimano CN7701 duraace/xtr mushroom-pin chains on my bikes. These things were amazing, I actually wrapped one like 2.5 times around my hub and it destroyed my rear wheel, I had to rebuild it from scratch pretty much, but amazingly the chain didn't even break, it was all twisted up but still well intact. I had a few of these, and I never took one off because it broke, only after it had stretched and was time to replace.
So as of late, I put a PC69 on my bike cause it was "fairly cheap" and the local bike shop didn't have a CN7701 (naturally).
Put it on my bike about a month ago.
Climbing today in the granny and POP, it spit out a pin and broke. It had been so long since I actually "broke" a chain it came as a shock. I know the 69 was a little cheaper, but I was hoping for "heavy and strong", in line with the "3 truths" of components. I took off the bad links, and put a KMC "missing link" thingie in there and was on my way...
Oh well, SRAM was a failed expirment, back to SHIMANO chains for me. Unfortunatly shimano has a bad rep for chains, due to the older designs, but there is new stuff out there that is different (the mushroom pin) that has worked awesome for me, I've been through phases where I was replacing a chain every month, sometimes shimanos, sometimes srams, etc, but in 2004, shimano seems to be on top of it.
Oh yeah, the point of this post is not just to distrub the SRAM Nazis, but to raise some awareness about a good product, the CN7701.