I've seen two chains on bikes I maintain fail from broken chain links. See pic for the cracks that first appear. One chain is shown, the other was a KMC. Both MTB, one running SLX which had the KMC chain and the other bike uses SRAM SX which used the chain pictured. Looking for ideas on how this can happen. Not sure if it's something I'm doing (or not doing) when maintaining that could be the issue. TIA.
by burn479
5 Comments
What cleaner are you using and how much
shop Mechanic here. I have been seeing this type of breakage on all 12speed chains as of late. ues to ask customers where they bought them thinking was a fake chain. but then saw it on chains i sold and installed. Then i use to think was how the shifted under load or used haver degrease and soaked over night(Hydrogen embrittlement). But then happens on chains i maintain for customers as well as those wo do their own. Its across all brands and all grades within brands. I am thinking the mettle quality is subpar on some batches or where they are made. I have even seen this one time on a brand new floor bike that was only ridden in parking lot, customer was interested in bike and after test ride said needed a small shifting adjustment(which is odd because we check the bikes before even a parking lot test). And low and behold there was cracked plate eyelets near the pins.
That’s crazy for a high end name brand chain. Especially in multiple spots I’d be asking for a warrantee.
Isnt this mostly common on 1x setups?
I have had this on SRAM 11 speed and 12 speed flat top t-type chains. Directly from SRAM. It’s incredibly frustrating.