Is it really worth spending out on chains?
I tend to just go for and basic Shimano deore or SRAM chain. Which ever is cheapest in line.
I always guess a £10 chain would wear at the same rate as a £20, £30,£40 chain.
Or am I just a bit tight?
I'm of the same opinion, whatever's cheapest in the width I need. I just think more expensive chains are a bit shinier, and maybe a bit lighter.
I've never broken a chain in 29 years of mountain biking. So I don't expect it makes the slightest bit of difference!
I tend to stick with Shimano, and whichever one I can get at SLX or above.
No reason not to use the others.. just habit I guess
I just get a chain around the £10 - £15 mark, usually KMC. Don't think I've ever bought a £40 chain so no idea if it's better or last longer. Without riding the same trails in exactly the same conditions I don't think you'd be able to judge.
Anyone willing to buy a cheap chain and an expensive one, link them together and run half and half to get a definitive answer?
I do run expensive chains but on the understanding that I'm not getting a longer lasting chain, but one that is easier to clean/less likely to show signs of rust.
I tend to go midrange Sram - found cheaper chains seem to rust easily.
On my ht there is a Shimano chain that seems tonrust at the barest hint of a went rode even when I’ve cleaned and lubed it after.
The Sram chain on my fs gets a lot muckier / wet a lot more often, gets treated the same but doesn’t rust.
I suspect the Sram chain is higher up the range than the Shimano one though.
Sound like I’m not to only one then.
Cheers!
I bought an interesting 10 speed chain from China on eBay recently. It has the embossed "X" design of KMC chains, but is stamped Shimano around the ends of the links.
I know KMC make a lot of Shimano's chains, and I wondered of this one had been part of a batch that had been double processed...
It was cheap, and is working fine.
I used to buy lighter ones, because I'm a tart, but then I had a disaster with a KMC slotted one and chainsuck at 10 Under The Ben, every time it jammed it'd bend a link because there was so little metal in it. So now, I just have whatever the cheapest I can find is- GX on my Eagle, KMX 93 on everything else
