Chains, cassettes and all that jazz

migrantwing

So, with all the fancy contouring on cassettes nowadays, that supposedly help with smoother, crisper changes and 'Super Narrow 10-speed HG unidirectional chains and Hyperglide sprockets', what difference does it make, if any, putting a bog standard non directional specific KMC chain on a cassette against the likes of, say, an expensive Dura Ace chain? Are there wear issues, drops in quality of gear changes etc.

Just interested to see what people think, or have experienced.

Frank the tank

I've always used KMC chains on my bikes, Shimano chains in my experience are crap.

declan1

migrantwing wrote:

So, with all the fancy contouring on cassettes nowadays, that supposedly help with smoother, crisper changes and 'Super Narrow 10-speed HG unidirectional chains and Hyperglide sprockets', what difference does it make, if any, putting a bog standard non directional specific KMC chain on a cassette against the likes of, say, an expensive Dura Ace chain? Are there wear issues, drops in quality of gear changes etc.

Just interested to see what people think, or have experienced.

I've only used cheap Shimano chains on cheap Shimano cassettes, and with downtube shifters and a Shimano 600 groupset I get lovely fast, smooth changes. I haven't experiences Dura-Ace or equivalent so I don't know how much better they are...

markos1963

I always use KMC chains because of the quicklink, it means I'm more likely to take it off and give it a proper clean in white spirit. I get a whole seasons riding out of one without any problems. Every second season I change my cassette and always use either 105 or Ultegra depending if there are any offers on. DA looks nice and probably shifts better but the cost differential is just crazy.

unixnerd

I've always used KMC chains on my bikes

I tend to use KMCs because they use normal pins and I can work on them with a normal chain tool or a quick link. My new bike has an Ultegra chain, looks nice but I'm not sure what I'll replace it with once it's worn out.

Recently bought a Park Tools Cyclone chain cleaner. Ran it on three bikes yesterday and was surprised how much rubbish it collected. Probably not as good as removing the chain to soak and clean it but far easier so I'm more likely to use it.

crankycrank

I've been using the KMC chains on my Shimano Ultegra 6500/6600 equipped bikes for a few years but everytime Shimano comes out with a new version of chain I'll try it out. Havn't noticed any difference in shifting quality yet so I always go back to KMC. Lasts longer, less expensive, comes with a quicklink and works brilliantly. My riding partner who has 6700 Ultegra was conned into getting a DuraAce chain by his bike shop after ignoring my advise to get a KMC because they told him the DuraAce would shift better. After it wore out at less than 2K miles he decided to try the KMC X10.93 as it cost less than half of the DA. He can't tell any difference in shifting and now he's a convert.