Bike does not like my new KMC X11 chain..

[Dead Man]

Was time for a new chain.. I've been waiting for months for my old DA chain to gage bad so I could put on a KMC X11 gold chain for some bling. Finally was able to force my no-go gage between links this week, so I broke the chain and installed the KMC.

First ride... Doesn't seem to shift across my 6800 cassette as quietly or cleanly as the DA chain, which was always really quiet and smooth, so long as I timed my shift right.

The chain is noisy. Sounds like jockey noise any time I am on the lower half of the cassette in the large ring. Dropping to the small ring and moving back into the higher end of the cassette eliminated the noise, but this kept me in the small ring for rollers I'm normally still in the big ring for... Which led to the third (but not final) problem I had with this chain- dropped it when I accidentally went into small/small, tapping for more gears on a rise I am normally in my big ring for. Obviously it's not advisable to go sm:sm, but it seemed kinda bull**** to drop the chain because of this. I don't think I've ever dropped chain on this bike before.

Was it just the jerkiness of the shifting combined with the sharp chain angle that bounced it off the little ring? ****in not cool.. This is my race bike.

And lastly, the chain skipped over the 11t When hammering on it. Have a couple fast steep rollers that I can stay in 50:11 for if I stomp hard, coming back into town from the mountains... Crunch crunch crunch! Skipped over at least one tooth per mash. Given how diligent I am about cleaning and lubing, and how closely I monitored my chain stretch, I'm pretty astonished I still managed to
blow out the cassette. Not entirely sure I believe it. Is it possible the KMC chain is a hair too tight for shimano tooth spacing or something?

I'll buy a new cassette since they seem to be universally on sale right now. But I sorta want to buy a 9000 chain to go with it and trash this KMC chain. Think a new cassette will play significantly nicer with the KMC?

Anyone else have sub optimal results from these supposedly super dope ass chains?

[Cicli]

Sounds like a worn cassette.
I will buy the KMC if you dont want it. Those shift great for me.

[jlwdm]

I think the best solution is what Cannondale is doing for Pierre Rolland at the Tour - a new CeramicSpeed UFO chain every day. List price is $131. Plus it is good for 2-5 watts. Probably good to hire a mechanic also.

Jeff

[Ralph]

Don't think anyone says they are super doper or superior to Shimano or Campy chains. But for most of us, they work well, are relatively cheap, and come with a quick link. I use them. Sounds to me like either your cassettee is well worn, chainrings worn, or both.

[Dead Man]

I paid more for this chain on sale than I've ever paid for a DA chain... sucker wasn't cheap.

I'll try new cassette first. Just having a hard time believing it's worn out - I gauged that old chain constantly and kept it well lubed. Cassette should be fine.

[Dead Man]

I think the best solution is what Cannondale is doing for Pierre Rolland at the Tour - a new CeramicSpeed UFO chain every day. List price is $131. Plus it is good for 2-5 watts. Probably good to hire a mechanic also.

Jeff

Had to google that one. wow..


But they advertise it as only good for 200 miles, so I suppose that's exactly what it exists for.

[carpediemracing]

Sounds like a worn cassette.

+1

Sounds like the chain isn't meshing with the (used) cassette. That's not the chain's fault. The kickers is skipping on the 11T.

That or there's a stiff link in there, which is possible.

I haven't used any 11s stuff but the various 10s KMC chains I've used have been great. I get whatever chains I can stock up on so typically my chains are (all 10s) Record, DA, KMC (the SL with the hollow pins which satisfies my inner weight weenie as well as whatever normal nice KMC). I think I'm on the final of a slew of KMCs, I believe I have 3-4 DA chains and maybe 2-3 KMCs next in queue. Two orders I haven't even unpacked, just stuck them in my parts box when I got them a few years ago.

I will give you this - the Shimano chains I've used are the quietest of them all, save the hollow pin KMC. I only had a couple hollow pin KMCs because they cost a lot more, else I'd get them more regularly.

[Ralph]

Chainrings wear also.....and make noise. Your old chain probably wore at same rate as the cassette and chainrings wore....staying quiet. Base KMC chains with quick link pretty cheap online, E bay, UK, etc.

[AngryScientist]

your cassette is shot. you waited too long on that DA chain. chain checkers only check total elongation. chains wear out @ the rollers/bushings along with elongating.

you ride in the pacnw, everything wears out faster there.

[Dead Man]

Roger. Pretty solid consensus on the cassette. Well that's actually kinda good news... 'cause I was super stoked about the new chain. and yea - it's the hollow pin/high end variety. Good ****.

Western (local to me) has 'em on sale for $50... will grab one today

Thanks bros

[beeatnik]

DA 9000, Hollowgrams, New Chorus 12-29 cassette and gold KMC chain.

Shifts great but super noisy on big/bigger. It even clicks a little here and there.

[chromopromo]

I used a KMC quicklink on my Ultegra 6800 chain and I couldn't stay in the 11 tooth cog. I was having this problem on my new 6800 group. I Adjusted everything several times but I keep jumping at of the 11 tooth cog whenever I applied serious force. After careful observation, I figured-out that the chain was skipping on the KMC quick-link. Replaced the quick-link for the standard shimano pin and now everything shifts smoothly. I would stay with Shimano chains for shimano 11 speed groups. Overall, I find the 6800 11 speed more finicky than my 10 speed stuff especially on the front.

[Cicli]

I used a KMC quicklink on my Ultegra 6800 chain and I couldn't stay in the 11 tooth cog. Adjusted everything several times with now luck. After careful observation, I figured-out that the chain was skipping on the KMC quick-link. Replaced the quick-link for the standard shimano pin and now everything shifts smoothly. I would stay with Shimano chains for shimano 11 speed groups. Overall, I find the 6800 11 speed more finicky than my 10 speed stuff especially on the front.

Thats weird. I just broke my shimano 11 chain for cleaning and reinstalled with a KMC link. Its perfect. Even in the 11.

[chromopromo]

Thats weird. I just broke my shimano 11 chain for cleaning and reinstalled with a KMC link. Its perfect. Even in the 11.

I love the KMC links and have used them successful on all my ten speed bikes but for whatever reason it didn't work on this 11 speed set-up. It may depend on your chain-line.

[carpediemracing]

I don't run 11s but I have 39 cm stays. KMC link works fine, been using them for probably 6 years now on two bikes, except for one or two Record chains. I bought the damn Campy chain tool so I used it for those chains.

[CunegoFan]

Had to google that one. wow..


But they advertise it as only good for 200 miles, so I suppose that's exactly what it exists for.

Actually I think those chains are mainly bought by triathletes to use on their one IM a year so they can move from 40th in their age group to 39th.

[marciero]

Interesting about using KMC links with Shimano chains. Had wondered about that.

Regarding wearing of the various drive train parts, since they all wear in together, a worn chain works fine on a similarly worn cassette, up to a point. So rather than replacing chain and cassette you simply can replace neither for a while. Eventually, I've seen the chain will skip on the ring rather than cassette when the teeth start to wear on the shoulders/sides more as the chain lengthens, with the U-shape of the teeth becoming skewed in the direction of pedal force. At this point you can see daylight between chain and chainring teeth as the chain rides up on the sides.

I recently replaced chain and cassette on one bike and it started skipping on the old chain ring. A trick I used while waiting for the new ring was to rotate the ring by one bolt on the five-bolt spider, since the wear is far greater in the two areas 180 degrees where you apply greatest force on the pedals, and this seemed to work. An interesting experiment would have been to replace only the ring and not the chain or cassette.
Admittedly, this sort of life-extension is probably not acceptable on a racing bike.

[Dana Kilalps]

I tried your experiment.
I replaced a badly skipping Chorus chain ring with a Stronglite and kept using the worn chain and cassette. The chain ring and Chorus cassette had 44,000 miles and the Wippermann chain had 38,000 miles, so very worn. The Stronglite ring began skipping badly after 8,000 miles to where it tolerated no mashing. There was no skipping on the cassette.


Interesting about using KMC links with Shimano chains. Had wondered about that.

Regarding wearing of the various drive train parts, since they all wear in together, a worn chain works fine on a similarly worn cassette, up to a point. So rather than replacing chain and cassette you simply can replace neither for a while. Eventually, I've seen the chain will skip on the ring rather than cassette when the teeth start to wear on the shoulders/sides more as the chain lengthens, with the U-shape of the teeth becoming skewed in the direction of pedal force. At this point you can see daylight between chain and chainring teeth as the chain rides up on the sides.

I recently replaced chain and cassette on one bike and it started skipping on the old chain ring. A trick I used while waiting for the new ring was to rotate the ring by one bolt on the five-bolt spider, since the wear is far greater in the two areas 180 degrees where you apply greatest force on the pedals, and this seemed to work. An interesting experiment would have been to replace only the ring and not the chain or cassette.
Admittedly, this sort of life-extension is probably not acceptable on a racing bike.

[11.4]

I used a KMC quicklink on my Ultegra 6800 chain and I couldn't stay in the 11 tooth cog. I was having this problem on my new 6800 group. I Adjusted everything several times but I keep jumping at of the 11 tooth cog whenever I applied serious force. After careful observation, I figured-out that the chain was skipping on the KMC quick-link. Replaced the quick-link for the standard shimano pin and now everything shifts smoothly. I would stay with Shimano chains for shimano 11 speed groups. Overall, I find the 6800 11 speed more finicky than my 10 speed stuff especially on the front.

I believe there's a right-side-up on the KMC quick link and KMC says that if you install it backwards, it will specifically bounce on the 11 tooth cog.

[marciero]

I tried your experiment.
I replaced a badly skipping Chorus chain ring with a Stronglite and kept using the worn chain and cassette. The chain ring and Chorus cassette had 44,000 miles and the Wippermann chain had 38,000 miles, so very worn. The Stronglite ring began skipping badly after 8,000 miles to where it tolerated no mashing. There was no skipping on the cassette.

Interesting. So the ring just wore out faster, which would make sense.

[oldpotatoe]

I believe there's a right-side-up on the KMC quick link and KMC says that if you install it backwards, it will specifically bounce on the 11 tooth cog.

That's Wipperman/Connex link..which does do that if mounted upsidedown..not the KMC.

[marciero]

can I sneak a question in here- Are these quick links- SRAM and KMC-interchangeable on Shimano and SRAM chains as long as you match 9,10,11 speed?

[oldpotatoe]

can I sneak a question in here- Are these quick links- SRAM and KMC-interchangeable on Shimano and SRAM chains as long as you match 9,10,11 speed?

yes...in a pinch, you can also use the 'lower' speed on a 'higher' speed chain..in a pinch..When Campag first came out with 10s, we used 9s spam links all the time w/o issue. On 11s(using a 10s link), it may be a little noisy.

[OtayBW]

So much for bling! :D