New chain and block

The rear block and chain are in dire need of replacing. I was gonna get Shimano
as that is what is on the bike at the moment. The guy in the LBS said not to as
it was a softer metal and won't deal well with the general crap and grit that
occurs from trail riding. He recommended a brand, SRAM I think, saying that it
was made of tougher materials and would taking a beating. Has anyone had any
experinces of this maker? Does anyone know of a tough, hard wearing bike chain
and block?

I don't think the guy was just trying to palm of stock as the SRAM stock he was
carrying was between £5 and £10 cheaper than the Shimano stock. ( I dunno I was
just thinking of commision. Maybe I'm wrong)

So any opinions?

Gadget

On Mon, 01 Mar 2004 21:19:06 +0000, Gadgetfreaky2k wrote:
He recommended a brand, SRAM I think, saying that it was made of tougher
materials and would taking a beating. Has anyone had any experinces of
this maker? Does anyone know of a tough, hard wearing bike chain and
block?
I don't think the guy was just trying to palm of stock as the SRAM stock
he was carrying was between £5 and £10 cheaper than the Shimano stock.
( I dunno I was just thinking of commision. Maybe I'm wrong) So any
opinions?

Yes, I have an all SRAM drive train(apart from cranks) on my MTB.It is a
little cheaper than Shimano, and I reckon it is better quality, especially
the shifters I bought a while ago (SRAM 7 IIRC), which are a lot
'smoother' than my previous Shimano XT. As for durability - I dont think
there'd be much difference between them, though my mate who runs a shop
says the SRAM is definitely better than Shimano. I think you have to look
at chains and cassettes (or 'block') as consumables, and if you get more
than a year of regular use out of them, then it is a bonus.
Alan.

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I have also very recently (today in fact!!) replaced the cassette an
chain. Generally I prefer the Shimano kit because I have never liked th
SRAM Grip shifters (haven't tried the new ones) so have stuck to shiman
throughout the gears and drivechain to prevent any compatibility issues
I have put on an HG90 (XT equivalent) cassette and an HG50 (L
equivalent) Chain. These two were purchased on the basis of the bes
value I could find. (the XT cassette was £2 dearer than LX and had th
ratios I wanted, whereas the LX chain was £5 cheaper than the XT one
and a chain is a chain so I didn't see the point spending almost twic
the £8.50 I paid

I don't really think it makes a huge amount of difference. But I prefe
Shimano as far as MTB is concenred


-

in message , Gadgetfreaky2k
') wrote:

The rear block and chain are in dire need of replacing. I was gonna get
Shimano as that is what is on the bike at the moment. The guy in the LBS
said not to as it was a softer metal and won't deal well with the general
crap and grit that occurs from trail riding. He recommended a brand, SRAM
I think, saying that it was made of tougher materials and would taking a
beating. Has anyone had any experinces of this maker? Does anyone know of
a tough, hard wearing bike chain and block?

I don't think the guy was just trying to palm of stock as the SRAM stock
he was carrying was between £5 and £10 cheaper than the Shimano stock. ( I
dunno I was just thinking of commision. Maybe I'm wrong)

SRAM are a US company, but their transmission parts are made by the old
Sachs-Huret factory in Germany. They've been making bicycle transmission
parts for more than a century, and the quality of their top of the line
stuff is very good indeed. Vorsprung durch Technik, and all that.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
.::;===r==\
/ /___||___\____
//==\- ||- | /__\( MS Windows IS an operating environment.
//____\__||___|_// \|: C++ IS an object oriented programming language.
\__/ ~~~~~~~~~ \__/ Citroen 2cv6 IS a four door family saloon.

Gadgetfreaky2k wrote:
The rear block and chain are in dire need of replacing. I was gonna
get Shimano as that is what is on the bike at the moment. The guy in
the LBS said not to as it was a softer metal and won't deal well with
the general crap and grit that occurs from trail riding. He
recommended a brand, SRAM I think, saying that it was made of tougher
materials and would taking a beating. Has anyone had any experinces
of this maker? Does anyone know of a tough, hard wearing bike chain
and block?

I don't think the guy was just trying to palm of stock as the SRAM
stock he was carrying was between £5 and £10 cheaper than the Shimano
stock. ( I dunno I was just thinking of commision. Maybe I'm wrong)

So any opinions?

Gadget

I always use SRAM chains but have never used their cassettes.

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely.
http://www.mseries.freeserve.co.uk

"davebee" wrote in message
.. .
I have also very recently (today in fact!!) replaced the cassette and
chain. Generally I prefer the Shimano kit because I have never liked the
SRAM Grip shifters (haven't tried the new ones) so have stuck to shimano
throughout the gears and drivechain to prevent any compatibility issues.
I have put on an HG90 (XT equivalent) cassette and an HG50 (LX
equivalent) Chain. These two were purchased on the basis of the best
value I could find. (the XT cassette was £2 dearer than LX and had the
ratios I wanted, whereas the LX chain was £5 cheaper than the XT one,
and a chain is a chain so I didn't see the point spending almost twice
the £8.50 I paid)

XT has the big rings mounted on a spider thingy, which looks very nice.
Unfortunately they aren't strong enough for tandems :-(

Still wouldn't touch a shimano chain.

cheers,
clive

Simon Brooke wrote:

SRAM are a US company, but their transmission parts are made by the
old Sachs-Huret factory in Germany. They've been making bicycle
transmission parts for more than a century, and the quality of their
top of the line stuff is very good indeed. Vorsprung durch Technik,
and all that.

SRAM took over the Sachs-Huret-Sedis-Someone else combo when Sachs decided
to get out of the bike parts business; they have factories all over the
place. My recently-acquired Trice came with SRAM (formerly Sedis) chains in
bags marked "made in Portugal" - my Sinister Agents tell me that their chain
plant in France is to close (it may have done so already).

I have used one of their cassettes in the past, which did what it said on
the tin as well as being lighter and cheaper than the nearest equivalent
Shimano, and use their shifters on two bikes and chains on all of them.
It's good stuff. Though be aware that SRAM make two different lines of
shifter, only one of which is compatible with Shimano rear derailleurs.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
================================================== =========
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
================================================== =========

On Tue, 2 Mar 2004 09:59:34 -0000, "Clive George"
wrote:


XT has the big rings mounted on a spider thingy, which looks very nice.
Unfortunately they aren't strong enough for tandems :-(


Clive,

Are you talking from bad experiences here? I have an XT cassette
mounted on our Galaxy tandem. It's only covered a few hundred miles
so far, but I was under the impression it would cope with the load.

thanks,
tom.

"Tom Jackson" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 2 Mar 2004 09:59:34 -0000, "Clive George"
wrote:

XT has the big rings mounted on a spider thingy, which looks very nice.
Unfortunately they aren't strong enough for tandems :-(


Clive,

Are you talking from bad experiences here? I have an XT cassette
mounted on our Galaxy tandem. It's only covered a few hundred miles
so far, but I was under the impression it would cope with the load.

Yup. However this was on the mountain tandem, which gets significantly
sillier loads than the road tandem. Other people have reported similar
failures, again while off road.
So I wouldn't worry about it. And it isn't a terminal failure anyway - you
just lose one sprocket. However for the road tandem I did deliberately get
an LX cassette as they're stronger.
(LX - 11-32, mtb has nexave (HG70?) 11-34 which is essentially the same, the
failed XT was 12-34, all 9 speed).

cheers,
clive