Chain Life

[TheBikePilot]

Best advice I was given from regarding your chain wear indicator for an e-bike.

Put it in the bin.

I did the same at 500miles, changed my chain and it started slipping all over the place. Put the old 'worn' chain back on and no issue. Still shifts just fine.

I carry two spare chain links and a link removal tool. If the chain snaps or it starts shifting like crap. Time for a new chain and cassette. As others have said £100, as opposed to £80 or so in chains. No need for a super light cassette get a beefer cheaper one, I'm not a weight weeny!

 

[Mountie]

SRAM XX1 chain - new on bike Dec 18 (19 levo). Replaced yesterday at a little over .75 - 392 miles. Sounds terrible compared to an acoustic bike but I used to ride around 12 miles on an average ride on my old turner, now my rides are more like 35 miles every time. 3 times the miles means the chain is going to wear out 3 times quicker and thats before you get into all the other factors that the engineers and scientists above are suggesting ebikes introduce. So is it that bad?

I get about the same the retail manual for the Levo (one the dealers use) says expect 2 to 5 chains per year.

 

[Gren_Patterson]

Which cassette and chain do you use?
I have the nx cassette and kmc, but they wear very fast...
300-400km

 

[jxj]

Gren,
I'm running this setup and am happy with the performance and the cost. This is on a 2018 Large Carbon Comp Turbo Levo. I changed them all out after my first season on the factory stuff which I got about 1000 miles on. I think I will get between 500 and 1000 miles with reasonable cleaning and can throw the entire chainring, cassette and chain in the bin for under $100US.

Cassette - SunRace CSMS8 11 Speed 11-46 Black/Silver $56US
Chainring - SNAIL 104BCD 36T $14US
Chain - KMC X11.93 118 Link $25US

I've run the sunrace aluminum model on my acoustic MTB and like it just fine. I went with the cheaper and heavier all steel model CSMS8 for the Levo as steel seems to wear better and is hopefully stronger. I like the Snail chainring. I've run the RaceFace chainring in 36T as well and it is also very nice but 3x the price. I had bad luck with the cheaper KMC chains but have settled in on the KMC X11.93. 118 links is perfect for the above gearing with the stock SRAM GX long cage rear mech.

 

[Gren_Patterson]

Gren,
I'm running this setup and am happy with the performance and the cost. This is on a 2018 Large Carbon Comp Turbo Levo. I changed them all out after my first season on the factory stuff which I got about 1000 miles on. I think I will get between 500 and 1000 miles with reasonable cleaning and can throw the entire chainring, cassette and chain in the bin for under $100US.

Cassette - SunRace CSMS8 11 Speed 11-46 Black/Silver $56US
Chainring - SNAIL 104BCD 36T $14US
Chain - KMC X11.93 118 Link $25US

I've run the sunrace aluminum model on my acoustic MTB and like it just fine. I went with the cheaper and heavier all steel model CSMS8 for the Levo as steel seems to wear better and is hopefully stronger. I like the Snail chainring. I've run the RaceFace chainring in 36T as well and it is also very nice but 3x the price. I had bad luck with the cheaper KMC chains but have settled in on the KMC X11.93. 118 links is perfect for the above gearing with the stock SRAM GX long cage rear mech.

Thx. So you have a XD hub?
I don’t.
Or should I change it?

 

[jxj]

Thx. So you have a XD hub?
I don’t.
Or should I change it?

I do not have the XD hub. AFAIK the main reason to run XD would be to get the 10 tooth high gear on the cassette. With the 36T chainring on the 11T rear I spin out at 105RPM cadence at close to 30mph and I don't feel like I need the extra speed of the 10T. If you do lots of high speed downhill maybe you would need that.

 

[CygnusX]

My Bulls e-stream am3 was born with a kmc x10e-sport(i think it got renamed to E10 i think), and i just hit 750km with 3657m climbed and its at the 0.50, i weigh 104kg and is 192cm tall....so im heavy and the climbs are really steep, so a lot of torque....i try to shift with little load, and i ride at higher cadence to try limit torque from me and motor where i can.

chain was submersion degreased in one of those rotating brushing dodad's followed by rinse with water until water was came off clean and clear.

a friend gave me a bottle of muc-off C3 ceramic oil for dry conditions (im in california, and ride gravel/sandy trails/fireroads), he said he liked it a lot, and had been great to him...so why not...its been applied per instructions.

the chain smells great LOL...but it was still a little tacky so it picked up a fair amount of dirt, i cleaned the chain in the rotating brush after almost every ride, i would clean with water first to see if that would do it, if not added a bit of degreaser, and cleaned until water was clear, let it dry and reapply muc-off, i used a paint brush to make sure some got on the sides of the chain.

so i think i have done what i could. bought 2 new chains (E10) and did the candle wax+ teflon to one of them. going to see how that does.

 

[OldGoatMTB]

I think I’m using 116 links on my SRAM PC X1 but will need to double check and get back to you

Does the optimum number of links vary with the size of the bike?

 

[Robin Grant]

Question for you all

I need a new chain for my Levo. I have a very expensive 11sp cassette I absolutely want to last as long as possible - I would spend a lot of money on my chain if it meant the cassette would last longer.

Do I buy:
1. A KMC E11 EPT Chain for £31
2. A SRAM PCX1 Chain for £20
3. A SRAM PCXX1 Hollow Pin Chain for £26
4. Something else?

You thoughts, and especially experience, would be appreciated...

 

[Mountie]

Question for you all

I need a new chain for my Levo. I have a very expensive 11sp cassette I absolutely want to last as long as possible - I would spend a lot of money on my chain if it meant the cassette would last longer.

Do I buy:
1. A KMC E11 EPT Chain for £31
2. A SRAM PCX1 Chain for £20
3. Something else?

You thoughts, and especially experience, would be appreciated...

I have had the best results with the sram hollow pin chain I think it’s xx1. Just seems to be more durable approximately 30% better than any of the rest I’ve tried.

 

[Apples]

I just changed chain , cassette and got a Praxis 34 front , original drive lasted around just shy of 2000 miles
So replaced with the same cassette £80 ,chain £35 , front £40
Can’t think that was too bad value for money

 

[Mikerb]

KMC hollow link chain has worked well for me.

 

[KenX]

Not Specialised I know, but I just changed the Shimano chain on my Decoy after 1400km <5% with a chain wear tool and straight away it started skipping on the smallest cog (11t), disappointed as I thought I was doing a good thing!
So now fitted a new XT cassette as SLX out of stock here and a Hope 34t chainring along with a KMC EL chain, everything is golden now, well orange actually, and will keep the old setup for as and when and order a new 11t cog in advance.
With hindsight I could've just run the old setup until I hit a problem, but now know what to expect!

 

[Martinintirol]

Just changed original chain from Levo Comp Alu, GX group. At bang on 1mm stretch. 1060km ridden only in the Alps. Replaced with 116 link Shimano 'e' slx/105 chain as I find these work well on road bikes. 116 links exactly as supplied from original. Not ridden yet so no idea if it works correctly on the pistes. 18€ from bikecomponents.de

 

[Mountie]

Not Specialised I know, but I just changed the Shimano chain on my Decoy after 1400km <5% with a chain wear tool and straight away it started skipping on the smallest cog (11t), disappointed as I thought I was doing a good thing!
So now fitted a new XT cassette as SLX out of stock here and a Hope 34t chainring along with a KMC EL chain, everything is golden now, well orange actually, and will keep the old setup for as and when and order a new 11t cog in advance.
With hindsight I could've just run the old setup until I hit a problem, but now know what to expect!

I had the same thing but it was my B set screw out of adjustment.

 

[Gary]

4. Something else?

SRAM PC1110 for £10
and just look after it

 

[Martinintirol]

Just changed original chain from Levo Comp Alu, GX group. At bang on 1mm stretch. 1060km ridden only in the Alps. Replaced with 116 link Shimano 'e' slx/105 chain as I find these work well on road bikes. 116 links exactly as supplied from original. Not ridden yet so no idea if it works correctly on the pistes. 18€ from bikecomponents.de

Update to the above. The Shimano HG601 is working perfectly. I took 500hm yesterday and can report no slipping, shifts are crisper and faster. The original was very clunky and slow in comparison. Shimano has my vote!

 

[Mcharza]

Update to the above. The Shimano HG601 is working perfectly. I took 500hm yesterday and can report no slipping, shifts are crisper and faster. The original was very clunky and slow in comparison. Shimano has my vote!

View attachment 38727

Yep, using the same chain in Kenovo. Ridden now about 900 km, so far very good

 

[Mountie]

SRAM cassette?

 

[Mcharza]

SRAM cassette?

Nope, Shimano XT cassette

 

[Mountie]

Thanks

 

[Martinintirol]

Nope, Shimano XT cassette

I'm running the original SRAM cassette. Mo idea which but GX RD. Works seamlessly...

 

[BrettG]

I'm a big guy who seems to have a habit of breaking SRAM chains (but I had never broken a chain before going to SRAM 11speed setups).

So far, I've gotten more life out of the KMC X11ET that came stock on my Kenevo than the SRAM chains on my muscle bikes which I keep exploding, sometimes with bloody results. I'm going to be putting these KMCs on all of my bikes I think, eMTB or not.

 

[willeco]

2.500 km on a KMC e.12 Turbo, EcoProteq, e-bike optimized chain (was at 0.75).
Now I have 3.500 km and still the same (Shimano 12sp 10-51) cassette, and Praxis 36T chainring.
Giant Trance E2 Pro / Giant Sync Drive Pro (Yamaha) motor.

Edit: I should probably add that I use WAX on my chain.

 

[BigMark]

Broke the chain on my Rail 7 at 793 miles going up a big hill, I had stocked up on a few so had a spare.

 

[NTrav]

Need opinions on chain replacement for my 2019 Levo. I’ve had the bike since April of last year and am still using the original KMC chain; approx. 1,730 miles and 300,000’ of climbing. I checked the chain wear and it's somewhere between .5 & .75. I’ve had no issues with shifting or slipping. Should I replace the chain now in hopes of prolonging the life of the cassette and chainring or is it already too late?

Also, how are some of the more cost effective solutions (cassette, chain & chainring) mentioned on this thread holding up? Are they providing the same performance/life as the original OEM replacements?

 

[EME]

Given those stats why change brand ? Im on chain 4 in that distance. I change at .5, so time to change based upon the majority of advice I've read on e-bikes. If cassette and chainring look and feel good then don't change them, why would you?

 

[Apples]

Need opinions on chain replacement for my 2019 Levo. I’ve had the bike since April of last year and am still using the original KMC chain; approx. 1,730 miles and 300,000’ of climbing. I checked the chain wear and it's somewhere between .5 & .75. I’ve had no issues with shifting or slipping. Should I replace the chain now in hopes of prolonging the life of the cassette and chainring or is it already too late?

Also, how are some of the more cost effective solutions (cassette, chain & chainring) mentioned on this thread holding up? Are they providing the same performance/life as the original OEM replacements?

I ran mine to 2500 miles then changed chain and cassette, cassette was £80 chain was £35 , so I think if I do that yearly / or every 18 months that’s ok a price , rather than messing with it !

 

[Andy__C]

I ran mine to 2500 miles then changed chain and cassette, cassette was £80 chain was £35 , so I think if I do that yearly / or every 18 months that’s ok a price , rather than messing with it !

This is the approach I am on. I got "the fear" from this forum about being hyper focused on chain wear, measurements and prompt swapping of chains.

At between 0.5 - 0.75 of the original chain I swapped to a new chain and within the first 10yrds of pedalling it was clear that the original cassette chain bond was already past the point of no return... the new chain slipped on the bottom 4 cogs. I popped the old chain back on and I'm here over 1200km later and they are still running OK.

I spoke to the lads in the bike shop who said don't faff about with changing chains... just do the lot every year or two.

 

[Mikerb]

It does seem to vary. Mine is a 2019 Levo Comp. I used 2 chains on the original cassette for a total of 1200 miles. Second chain was still working perfectly but when I changed to a 3rd chain I got a lot of chain slippage. So I have now bought a new cassette as well.
So the thing is, my second chain on the original cassette could well have done a few more hundred miles. I could of just put the old chain back on but one of the reasons to change it was that it had got into a really filthy state on a disaster of a mud ride!
My first chain was at 0.75 before I changed it.
So my view is, starting from a new cassette and chain it is worth running that to 0.75 and ( at least in my experience) a new chain will still run fine on the original cassette. Then run that combo until it no longer works properly..............then change chain and cassette.
Changing chains at 0.5 is likely to be the more expensive way to do things I reckon.