SRAM PC-48 or not?

Hi,

I use an old bike for rides in the winter, through mud and dirt.
On this bike, I now put a SRAM PC48 chain. This chain is cheap: 6.5 euro's.
I have the impression it doesn't last very long (to be honest I hardly ever
clean it) and I wonder if it would be a better choice to buy more expensive
chains.

My question is: will these expensive chains last longer and would it be wise
from an economical point of view? I mostly change 2 to 4 105 8S sprockets
when I change the chain.

Thanks, Derk

"Derk" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I use an old bike for rides in the winter, through mud and dirt.
On this bike, I now put a SRAM PC48 chain. This chain is cheap: 6.5
euro's.
I have the impression it doesn't last very long (to be honest I hardly
ever
clean it) and I wonder if it would be a better choice to buy more
expensive
chains.


When you keep not cleaning the chain the answer is NO.

My question is: will these expensive chains last longer and would it be
wise
from an economical point of view? I mostly change 2 to 4 105 8S sprockets
when I change the chain.

Measure the elongation and when the chain is to long put on a new cheap PC48
chain. A chain cost as much as one or two sprockets.

Lou

Hi Lou!

Lou Holtman wrote:

When you keep not cleaning the chain the answer is NO.
Well, I rinse the chain when I wash the bike after mud has accumulated on
the bike. I then wipe off the chain with a cloth and spray some teflon lube
on it.

Considering the price, I'm not going to spend hours on cleaning it and I
have bad experience with degreasing chains. Apart from that it's not good
for either the user or the environment, I fear. I got this degreeaser all
over my hands when I still used it and I don't want to look like the guys
from the Parktool ads, who have blue hands. Or are that just gloves?

http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/CM5.shtml

Greets, Derk

Derk wrote:
Hi Lou!

Lou Holtman wrote:


When you keep not cleaning the chain the answer is NO.

Well, I rinse the chain when I wash the bike after mud has accumulated on
the bike. I then wipe off the chain with a cloth and spray some teflon lube
on it.

Considering the price, I'm not going to spend hours on cleaning it and I
have bad experience with degreasing chains. Apart from that it's not good
for either the user or the environment, I fear. I got this degreeaser all
over my hands when I still used it and I don't want to look like the guys
from the Parktool ads, who have blue hands. Or are that just gloves?

http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/CM5.shtml

Greets, Derk

Derk, I agree with you that degreasing chain is a dirty, time consuming
job. I also agree that is does more harm than good. I never do that
either. I use a chain lube that keeps the dirt from the innards of the
chain. The dirt on the outside is easily removed with a garden hose and
just cold water. Onced installed I never remove the chain from my bikes,
until they are worn. On my road bike I get a mileage of 10000 km with
one chain using that chain lube and cleaning method.

Lou
--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

Lou Holtman wrote:

On my road bike I get a mileage of 10000 km with
one chain using that chain lube and cleaning method.
So what chain and lube do you use? I grease my summer bike chains with
Rohloff oil.

Greets, Derk

Derk wrote:
Lou Holtman wrote:


On my road bike I get a mileage of 10000 km with
one chain using that chain lube and cleaning method.

So what chain and lube do you use? I grease my summer bike chains with
Rohloff oil.

Greets, Derk


A colleague of mine developed a wax based chainlube primary for ATB use.
I was one of the testriders when he developed it.
It was terrible in the beginning but I think it is pretty good now and I
use it for the last two years for my roadbike also. It lubricates OK,
it's much much better then teflonspray in wet conditions, it keeps the
dirt from the inside of the chain and cleaning is soooooo easy. Just
rinse it with cold water. It has some minor drawbacks too. You have to
degrease a new chain carefully (just once) and lubricate the chain costs
a little more time.
More information in Dutch at:
www.supremeblack.nl

Rohloff oil is pretty good to by the way.

Lou
--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

Per Derk:
Considering the price, I'm not going to spend hours on cleaning it and I
have bad experience with degreasing chains. Apart from that it's not good
for either the user or the environment, I fear. I got this degreeaser all
over my hands when I stil

I use PC48's. Haven't kept very close track of wear, but the one that I do
know the life of lasted about 5,000 miles of mountain biking.

All I do is wipe the thing off with a shop rag (grab the top section chain with
the rag, rotate the pedals one way about 4 turns one way, grab the bottom
section and turn the crank the other way....then I dribble some ProLink on it
and wipe it one more time. Takes longer to describe than to do and I only do
it when I become concious of the chain's needing it.
--
PeteCresswell

I recently plunked down $35 bucks for a Park Chain Cleaning unit. In
the past I have used the "remove chain from bike, soak in kerosene
overnight" technique on both chains and freewheels. I usethe Park
Cleaning Unit on both chains of a used tandem whose chains had not
been cleaned in about 5 years and which had been stored outside. The
results were simply amazing.

With this chain cleaning unit, in five minutes you can clean your
chain without getting dirty, in your front yard with your bicycle
turned upside down (I know that's not kosher but I don't have an
appropriate work stand right now, and a tandem is a big hulking thing,
and our grass is soft ...) The chain gets cleaned entirely within the
unit so you can do it without getting yourself dirty. Simply amazing.

Since Park invented the tool (if I remember correctly), I buy the park
unit. I don't want a cheaper unit because if it takes 5 minutes more
per cleaning I'm wasting an hour a year on this and that's not worth
it to me.

The chain life is proportional to how often you clean it. If you pay
extra $$$ zoot $$$ for a chain, chances are you're getting nickel
plating (better shifting), thinner plates (9/10 speed), or drilled or
hollow rollers. As far as I know, only the wipperman stainless chain
is made of a significantly different alloy from all the other chains
marketed on earth, so all carbon-steel chains should all stretch at a
similar rate. However, if you don't clean your chain, you will wear
it out faster and wear out your freewheel or cassette faster. Also, a
clean chain should shift faster since the links pivot and flex more
easily and freewheel gunk will not delay engagement.

Many stages of the tour de frace have been won on the sedisport $4.99
black chain (the original price back in 1975 - now known as the SRAM
PC-48), so I don't think you'll derive much functionality from buying
anything more than an SRAM PC-48. I buy PC-68's when I have silver
freewheels. If I have black freewheels, I buy PC-48's.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

I recently plunked down $35 bucks for a Park Chain Cleaning unit. In
the past I have used the "remove chain from bike, soak in kerosene
overnight" technique on both chains and freewheels. I test-drove the
Park Cleaning Unit on both chains of a used tandem whose chains had
not been cleaned in about 5 years and which had been stored outside.
These chains were nearly frozen. The results were simply amazing.

With this chain cleaning unit, in five minutes you can clean your
chain without getting dirty, in your front yard with your bicycle
turned upside down (I know that's not kosher but I don't have an
appropriate work stand right now, and a tandem is a big hulking thing,
and our grass is soft ...) The chain gets cleaned entirely within the
unit so you can do it without getting yourself dirty. Simply amazing.

Since Park invented the tool (if I remember correctly), I buy the park
unit. I don't want a cheaper unit because if it takes 5 minutes more
per cleaning I'm wasting more than an hour a year on this and that's
not worth $10 to me.

The chain life is proportional to how often you clean it. If you pay
extra $$$ zoot $$$ for a chain, chances are you're getting nickel
plating (better shifting), thinner plates (9/10 speed), or drilled or
hollow rollers. As far as I know, only the wipperman stainless chain
is made of a significantly different alloy from all the other chains
marketed on earth, so all carbon-steel chains should all stretch at a
similar rate. However, if you don't clean your chain, you will wear
it out faster and wear out your freewheel or cassette faster. Also, a
clean chain should shift faster since the links pivot and flex more
easily and freewheel gunk will not delay engagement.

Many stages of the tour de frace have been won on the sedisport $4.99
black chain (the original price back in 1975 - now known as the SRAM
PC-48), so I don't think you'll derive much functionality from buying
anything more than an SRAM PC-48. I buy PC-68's when I have silver
freewheels. If I have black freewheels, I buy PC-48's.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

Donald Gillies wrote:

Since Park invented the tool (if I remember correctly), I buy the park
unit.

I thought Vetta had their version out a little earlier, but both have
been around for a long time so I may be mistaken.

The chain life is proportional to how often you clean it.

Sounds great. Currently I clean my chain once every 10,000 miles
when I take off the old one and put on a new one. So if the
chain life is proportional to cleaning frequency I can expect to
get 20,000 miles/chain if I clean it twice as often (every 5000 miles)
and if I clean it every 1000 miles it should last for 100,000 miles.

Do you have any experimental evidence to support this proportional
relationship between cleaning frequency and chain life?
AIRC, the last time someone on this newsgroup actually tried a
controlled experiment on cleaning vs. chain wear the rather surprising
result was that the half of the chain getting regular cleaning had
somewhat faster wear than the half that was left dirty.

I'm not yet convinced that cleaning is actually detrimental, but I
certainly have doubts about any theory that I can have an exposed chain
last a lifetime just by cleaning it every few hundred miles.