|   "Anyone else with SRAM chain failures?...(x-post in tech) | cush
Apr 22, 2002 8:37 AM | | Glad this happened before yesterday's race!....
I rotate 3 chains and never had a problem with mtb chains running 8 speed. Last year I upgraded my road and mtb to 9 speed. Since then I have had major problems with SRAM chains. This is the latest.
I rode the chain Wednesday afternoon and it broke a half mile into the ride. I had an extra powerlink along and was able to continue the next 7 miles. Saturday I went out on a easy ride with my kids and a half mile in it broke again. I brought it to my LBS and while they were installing a new Dura-Ace chain, I noticed that over 20 links in the chain had a crack and about to fail.
Shop said it was probably bad heat treating although they had never seen anything like it.
I weigh 170 lbs and am very easy on my equipment. Setup is a TruVativ Stylo Team crank, XT rear cassette, and XTR front and rear derailleurs.
Here are a few pics.
(I also broke two SRAM road chains last season with less than 250 miles between the two of them on a brand new Dura-Ace drivetrain. |
| Another pic...... | cush
Apr 22, 2002 8:38 AM | | |
| More bad links..... | cush
Apr 22, 2002 8:39 AM | | |
| Me too!!!! | Stick
Apr 22, 2002 9:03 AM | | I don't have any pics, but the same thing has happened to two SRAM 8 spd chains of mine in less than a month. I snapped one link, just like your first pic. Removed the offending link. Before my next ride, I was cleaning the chain and found a split link like your second pic. Chalked it up to getting a 'lemon'. Bought a new PC59 and through the old one out.
Now, less than 3 wks later, I've already found one link that looks like it's begining to 'tear' (for lack of a better way to describe it).
What's up w/ their chains? I've used Sachs/Sedis MTB chains for years with no problems. Now this.
Please keep us posted if you find out anything about waranty replacement, etc. |
| Snapped a PC59....... | knobbydad®
Apr 22, 2002 8:45 AM | | and like you it was one of the first few rides on that chain. In my case the pin just pulled out of the plate. I replaced it with another PC59 and this one has been fine. I will most certainly give it a close inspection soon.
BTW,Nice pics of the young ones below Mike! |
| Did you use a detergent to clean it? | fonseca
Apr 22, 2002 9:08 AM | | With so many bad links I have to wonder if a detergent was used. Did you use anything like simple green, or orange degreaser? I believe sram warns against soaking the chain in degreasers longer than 5 minutes...other people had complete failures like that and I read that such degreasers cause hairline cracks.
I use unleaded gasoline in a mason jar with cap to avoid fumes, works great. I guess it could have been a bad chain but it looks like the result of a degreaser.
Fonseca NADS 898 |
| Didn't we just go through this in Aug./Sept.? | Bikebreath
Apr 22, 2002 9:42 AM | | And didn't SRAM denied any problems? I don't think I dreamed it. It was here...I'm sure. Back then I called my LBS and they had one on a brand new build. The problem was chains seizing up then. I wonder if it's a new problem or a chains from old storage that were part of that bad batch in the fall.
Bb, [ been lucky so far. ] |
| I was just thinking the same thing... | Yoda
Apr 22, 2002 10:16 AM | | I want to say it was Slartibartfast who started the thread. Brand new chains binding up within a couple miles of their first use.
At some point, someone who apparently works for SRAM basically called several people liars for saying they had broken SRAM chains. (Because they didn't send it back to the company or something.) |
| Exact same thing here.... | 006_007
Apr 22, 2002 9:54 AM | | I had the exact same thing happen to my sram. Hell I am even about the same size as you.
I ditched the problem chain and switched to shimano. Reading some of the responses, I have used the MEC chain cleaner/degreaser but did not soak it for long perionds of time. I find it interesting that a chain degreaser can cause the chain to crack/fail in such a way.
I received a tip from someone that an alternative way to clean your drivetrain is to put it in your dishwasher! I might give that a try..... |
| Not broken, but bad | LW
Apr 22, 2002 10:00 AM | | I've been using the PC89-R chains on my road bike without incident until last week. I found a bad link, but the only symptom was a slight jump in the big ring/big cog combo.
Scary. Good thing I bought it at Performance - they took it back with no hassles. I only had about 100 miles on it - it was brand new! |
| I don't think I'd try that. . . | Stick
Apr 22, 2002 10:02 AM | | washing your chain in the dishwasher, that is. I'm sure it would clean your chain well, but you'll most likely end up with an absolutely filthy dishwasher. |
| Could just add extra detergent..... | 006_007
Apr 22, 2002 10:08 AM | | or some of that magic extra liquid stuff that makes everything spotless (cant remember the brand name off hand, sorry...)
I wonder how upset my wife would get at me? She is understanding enough to let me keep our bikes in the livingroom (no place else in a 600SF apartment)
;-) |
| I do it with bike parts quite often.... | CraigH
Apr 22, 2002 11:32 AM | | I more or less clean the part, and then throw it in for final cleaning, so I'm not putting greasy stuff in there. The parts go in cleaner than the dishes it washes.
I don't wash anything with bearing though, eg. deraillers, hubs, BB etc. I also don't use it on things with decals as the hot water would probably remove them. |
| Yep... | Gary
Apr 22, 2002 10:13 AM | | My PC-59 failed the same way (two cracks on two side plates). This happened after a good soaking in Simple Green. I found out later that this is a no-no (it even says so on Simple Green's website) - however, follow up with Simple Green and SRAM never yielded a satisfactory answer as to WHY. |
| no, but i've broken an XTR recently | Jm
Apr 22, 2002 10:51 AM | | so I sure wouldn't use Shimano as my first choice. I usually use KMC and Sram chains, overall good results for me. |
| is there such a thing as an XTR chain? | berrywise
Apr 22, 2002 12:13 PM | | in the past they have always just been Dura Ace chains. Did they finally come up with a chain stamped XTR?
bw |
| no, not stamped XTR, just going by the "M" number | Jm
Apr 22, 2002 3:01 PM | | and comparing to others |
| Your Ibis is out of alignment ... | dogbert
Apr 22, 2002 10:56 AM | | junk that POS already!
Seriously, never had a problem (knock on wood) with any of my SRAM chains, but they're 8-spd and not 9-spd. Probably a bad batch, as has already been mentioned. Excess soaking in Simple Green or some other harsh degreaser may be the culprit, too. |
| Yes, and it put me in the hospital. | Charlie America
Apr 22, 2002 11:06 AM | | Just over 7 weeks ago I was passing some hikers and stood in the pedals to "push" up a hill and the next thing I knew I was on the ground rolling. Another mountain biker was close behind and stopped to help pick me up.
His first thought was that I had hit something but he could find nothing.. as I came to my senses I realized what had happened and had him look at my chain (I was still on the ground having trouble breathing). Snapped just like yours Cush... plate pulled apart.
I had gone down hard on my handlebars and OTB'd.
Three bruised ribs, a torn trapezius, stained supraspinatus and subscapularis (results of a separated shoulder) and other abrasions. I could hardly breath for a few hours (4 in the hospital) all because of a weak chain.
I called Slarti the next morning to tell him to stay away from SRAM chains.. |
| yes....dont' use sram chain w/ new shimano drivetrain... | chili...
Apr 22, 2002 11:10 AM | | it just doesn't work. it ain't supposed to work. at least that's what shimano told steelman when i was having problems with my brand spankin' new bike. the chain kept popping off. everything seemed fine, but in certain gear combo's the chain would just drop. i thought it was the frame. brent assured me it wasn't but was very confused too as to why it was happening. he had always stocked his build kits with sram chains....
so, he finally calls shimano. they tell him you have to use a shimano chain. he sent me a new chain and it hasn't happened since. i can't believe they'd do that, but it seems as if they did. i really haven't had that problem once since i put a shimano chain on. anyone else experience this? |
| correction... | chili...
Apr 22, 2002 11:17 AM | | I didn't have the same problem as you, as the chain never broke. i just had a problem with the sram/shimano combo not wanting to get along.
can't we all just get along? |
| Exact same problem here | Macson
Apr 22, 2002 11:29 AM | | About a month ago I got a new xt 9sp cassette and sram chain. in the middle ring up front and any of the big 4 in back, the front would keep trying to slip into the granny ring. I though the chain was too long so I took two links out....didn't help. So I adjusted my front der so if it gets even a little off it gets pushed back on. That helped a little, but it's still not good.
so last Friday I told the lbs guy what it was doing and he said to bring it in and they would try to adjust it. But now it sounds like I know what I really need. D'oh, and to think I did a race 2 weeks ago mostly in the granny gear uphill because I was afraid it would slip. |
| glad to hear... | chili
Apr 22, 2002 11:43 AM | | that i wasn't the only one having this problem. sorry to hear that you suffered through a race with it though. i brought this issue up here months ago but i don't think anyone thoguht it was so, or maybe nobody else at the time had a new drivetrain. shimano must be a firm believer in "all or none". |
| No. I consistently mix SRAM chains with Shimano, works great... | BlargleSnart
Apr 22, 2002 12:54 PM | | Never had a problem. |
| strange | kendog
Apr 22, 2002 11:13 AM | | I'm not saying this to discount anything you've said, but I have not had any problems with SRAM chains. I am using one on my road bike, one on my HT and one on my single speed. The single speed in particular gets torqued alot so I would expect problems. I have put over 300 miles on the chain all off-road. I'll definetly be keeping an eye on it though. |
| Yep | Yoda
Apr 22, 2002 11:50 AM | | I've been using the same SRAM chain for almost a year. No problems with it, but I have soaked it in Simple Green quite a few times. (Usually only for 20 or 30 minutes to loosen up the gunk) Reading the stuff above has me a little concerned. I'll definitely have to take a closer look at it soon. |
| exact same problem, "yo" | Cabin Fever
Apr 22, 2002 11:49 AM | | my lastsram chain, a pc-69, snapped several times. so much so, it was too the point where i was very hesitant to start cranking up any super-steep hills, for fear of a chain break, and i'd hit the handlebars.
in fact, one time, one of the links pulled apart in the center, quite like those in your pictures. now i have that link on my keychain, mainly to impress the babes with my leg strenth. |
| I had early PC-59 failures... | Red Ascent
Apr 22, 2002 2:36 PM | | When the first SRAM 9-speed chain came out (the PC-59), I destroyed it in very short order (Twilight Error was along on that ride). Since then, I switched that bike to a PC-99, no issues at all. All of my other chains are SRAM - PC-91, PC-58 and PC-68 8-spd chains (no failures, except for one cracked link on the now discontinued PC-91), and a PC-89R road 9 speed chain that's been flawless. The PC-58 has in particular been very reliable - I just wore it out after 4 seasons of abuse on my FSR, replaced with a PC-68 just this past weekend. By comparison, I originally switched to Sachs (now SRAM) chains because I was constantly snapping Shimano HG and IG chains. The Ultegra level chain that originally came on my road bike was so worn after 3000 miles that 12 links measured 12 1/4 inches - ridiculous! I switched to a PC-89R, 5000 miles so far, no issues with wear.
I've heard the horror stories here though about recent SRAM chain failures, just haven't had any myself.
Phil |
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