12 speed chain replacement

[Super Sywurm]

I currently have a SX chain with a SX groupset and a Rapide 32t Oval chainring.  The chain has currently 3200km on and still going  The chain will need replacing in a couple of km's.  Which replacement chain would be the best for the setup, keeping in mind I do mostly dry Northern Cape XC/Marathon riding.

[RobertWhitehead]

My opinion: Shimano lasts way longer than SRAM. People here talk about 1500 - 3200km on their SRAM chains and or cassettes. 

 

I ride 1x11 (I don't see the point of 1x12) and I have an XT drivetrain. I got 4900km on the chain before breaking the quick link. The chain was between 0.5 & 0.75 wear when that happened. I then slapped a KMC on the same cassette and I now sit on 5000km. 

 

I currently have a SX chain with a SX groupset and a Rapide 32t Oval chainring.  The chain has currently 3200km on and still going  The chain will need replacing in a couple of km's.  Which replacement chain would be the best for the setup, keeping in mind I do mostly dry Northern Cape XC/Marathon riding.

[Super Sywurm]

My opinion: Shimano lasts way longer than SRAM. People here talk about 1500 - 3200km on their SRAM chains and or cassettes.

 

I ride 1x11 (I don't see the point of 1x12) and I have an XT drivetrain. I got 4900km on the chain before breaking the quick link. The chain was between 0.5 & 0.75 wear when that happened. I then slapped a KMC on the same cassette and I now sit on 5000km.

I have read somewhere that the pitch of the Shimano and Sram teeth is not complete the same. In short, a Shimano chain on a Sram cassette will wear out more quickly.

 

Correct me if I am wrong.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Super Sywurm

[TheoG]

I have read somewhere that the pitch of the Shimano and Sram teeth is not complete the same. In short, a Shimano chain on a Sram cassette will wear out more quickly.

 

Correct me if I am wrong.

 

That might be the case since the chains are made for use on the same brand but I think this is hugely over stated, The wear might be slightly more or less but would be difficult to even quantify unless one do dedicated lab tests.

 

Better if you can stick to brand on brand, but imho, its not the end of the world if you don't.  The chain pitch is identical, shifting may be slightly better or worse and wear would be slightly better or worse.

[RobertWhitehead]

That may very well be true. I built a bike last week and for the love of me the bloody chain would not stay on the chain ring. It kept climbing off and I could not get it to stay put. I had a brand new XT chain on a SRAM NW ring. The moment I swopped it for a SRAM chain everything fell into place. 

 

Made me hate SRAM even more. 

 

I have read somewhere that the pitch of the Shimano and Sram teeth is not complete the same. In short, a Shimano chain on a Sram cassette will wear out more quickly.

Correct me if I am wrong.

[Super Sywurm]

That may very well be true. I built a bike last week and for the love of me the bloody chain would not stay on the chain ring. It kept climbing off and I could not get it to stay put. I had a brand new XT chain on a SRAM NW ring. The moment I swopped it for a SRAM chain everything fell into place. 

 

Made me hate SRAM even more. 

I like Shimano more, but it feel like Sram is more compatible with other brands and easier to work with.  That said, I had no problems with any Shimano or Sram products. 

[dasilvarsa]

KMC Chains Work on Both Sram and Shimano (non Directional)

[TheoG]

That may very well be true. I built a bike last week and for the love of me the bloody chain would not stay on the chain ring. It kept climbing off and I could not get it to stay put. I had a brand new XT chain on a SRAM NW ring. The moment I swopped it for a SRAM chain everything fell into place. 

 

Made me hate SRAM even more. 

 

That's just weird, especially on a NW chainring I would expect no issues, on the cassette yes surely, but chainring, I don't understand ...

 

I use 3rd party chainrings, Race Face & Csixx, both no issues with a Shimano chain.

[DieselnDust]

That may very well be true. I built a bike last week and for the love of me the bloody chain would not stay on the chain ring. It kept climbing off and I could not get it to stay put. I had a brand new XT chain on a SRAM NW ring. The moment I swopped it for a SRAM chain everything fell into place. 

 

Made me hate SRAM even more. 

 

 

Shimano 12 speed chain has chamfers on the inside of the inner plates that only meshes with a Shimano chainring and cassette. Your hate is misplaced since the incompatibility is with the Shimano components.

 

PS; Easy to get a 4000km out of Shimano in Gauteng. Guys are running SRAM XX1 chains to 8000km in Gauteng.

[Steady Spin]

XTR chain and SRAM chainring. No issues at all. Runs like butter.

 

Will see how long the chain lasts up here in GP. I don’t do muddy rides so it should interesting.

[DieselnDust]

XTR chain and SRAM chainring. No issues at all. Runs like butter.

 

Will see how long the chain lasts up here in GP. I don’t do muddy rides so it should interesting.

 

 

of course there won't be problems because the little camfers Shimano make a bog noise about are so slight they actually almost do nothing except scare shimano fanboys into preaching to the shimano sheep that the sky will fall if any SRAM components are mixed into the drivetrain

[Steady Spin]

of course there won't be problems because the little camfers Shimano make a bog noise about are so slight they actually almost do nothing except scare shimano fanboys into preaching to the shimano sheep that the sky will fall if any SRAM components are mixed into the drivetrain

Exactly. Which is why a SRAM cassette is on the cards for me. The hubs i have doesn’t have a microspline driver available sadly and i’ll never use Sunrace again as long as i live.

[Super Sywurm]

I just replaced my 12 speed SX chain with 4477km on.  I replaced as soon as I noticed the wear at 0.5.  I replaced it with a GX chain.  My plan is to replace 2-3 chains on one cassette and then go back to first chain, until cassette is no more.

[BMXER]

8 hours ago, Super Sywurm said:

I just replaced my 12 speed SX chain with 4477km on.  I replaced as soon as I noticed the wear at 0.5.  I replaced it with a GX chain.  My plan is to replace 2-3 chains on one cassette and then go back to first chain, until cassette is no more.

Why?

A chain wears, replace with new as per the relevant measurements and you will get many miles on a single cassette. 

Using an old worn chain, to me is like pouring used engine oil into your car once you hit 100 000 km on the clock. 

Edited July 7, 2021 by BMXER

[Dup08]

Washed the bikes on Sunday and after cleaning the chains decided to do a quick wear check. To my surprise my GX chain was sitting at .5 after only 1750 km's. Wifes GX chain still good, but she has done about 1000km's. (12 speed groupsets)

Replaced with an XX1 Black chain and did some hard uphill pedaling in the most worn gears, no slippage so cassette is still good it seems.

[Ozzie NL]

On 3/15/2021 at 4:27 PM, DieselnDust said:

 

 

Shimano 12 speed chain has chamfers on the inside of the inner plates that only meshes with a Shimano chainring and cassette. Your hate is misplaced since the incompatibility is with the Shimano components.

 

PS; Easy to get a 4000km out of Shimano in Gauteng. Guys are running SRAM XX1 chains to 8000km in Gauteng.

As they say in the ads: Who are these people???

I do not get more than 3.5k km on XX! chain