Hello, I'm just posting to try to figure out what I've done wrong here to avoid this in the future. I'm changing a bike chain and found about 10 cracks in the chain links? I haven't encountered this before. Pictures for reference.
The cracks are on inner and outer links, it's a SRAM chain on ultegra drivetrain. I clean it when it starts to sound dry with a bike chain specific degreaser and chain cleaning tool, then relubricate. And it's been on the bike for one season and a bit. Before cleaning I always use a chain wear checker tool to make sure it's not stretched out, so just now it's become stretched enough that it is time to be changed (which is when I pulled it off to change and discovered some cracks).
I've also checked around the drivetrain for any obvious issues like misaligned or broken teeth but haven't found anything yet. Maybe I should be lubricating before I can hear that it's dry? Anyways if anyone has any ideas I'd be interested to hear them!
by _paquito
7 Comments
I had chain brake off and when i inspected it i noticed simular stuff. My guess would be hills + weather and not good maintenance.
Where did you buy this chain?
That can’t be normal. You need to send a pic to SRAM and see what they say about it.
My last two KMC chains had the same problem. I am very on top of my maintenance and use high quality chain lube, and the chains were fairly new. I wondered if they were fake chains, but after doing some digging I don’t think it’s the case. It’s interesting to see it’s not isolated to KMC.
Correction: cracked chain link. Totally fixable
SRAM had some bad ones. Send back for replacement
Wow. SRAM should be real interested.