Levo Gen 3 GX chain worn at 400 miles?

[Twindaddy]

My ‘22 Levo is my first bike with a SRAM drivetrain. The GX chain that came with the bike needed to be replaced before I hit 400 miles. Is this normal for the eeb? Granted, I ride it fairly hard and all of my miles are on pretty chunky, rough terrain.

My other analog bikes are on XT chains and all pushing 1000 miles. I expect the drivetrain to wear faster for obvious reasons but 400 miles seems fairly quick. I replaced it with an XX1 so hopefully I get a bit more use out of this one.

 

[Polo1602]

The GX Chain ist very bad in durabillity, especially on an eeb! I minimum recommend a X01 Chain, that comes with the hardchrome coating and will last longer. XX1 have this coating too.

 

[RustyIron]

On my current bike, I've always run X01.
Mileage on chainring is 3542 miles.
Cassette has 1957 miles.
Chain has 993 miles.

Everything is running nicely. My intention is to run it into the ground, at which time I'll replace everything. The drivetrain that is in my cabinet is GX, just to save a few bucks and satisfy my curiosity.

I get the impression that we ride similar trails. My chain maintenance is to wipe the chain after every ride, then hose it down with White Lightning for dry conditions.

 

[Twindaddy]

The GX Chain ist very bad in durabillity, especially on an eeb! I minimum recommend a X01 Chain, that comes with the hardchrome coating and will last longer. XX1 have this coating too.

Sounds like my experience is common. Hopefully the new XX1 will go a bit further.

 

[Twindaddy]

On my current bike, I've always run X01.
Mileage on chainring is 3542 miles.
Cassette has 1957 miles.
Chain has 993 miles.

Everything is running nicely. My intention is to run it into the ground, at which time I'll replace everything. The drivetrain that is in my cabinet is GX, just to save a few bucks and satisfy my curiosity.

I get the impression that we ride similar trails. My chain maintenance is to wipe the chain after every ride, then hose it down with White Lightning for dry conditions.

Im also pretty good with cleaning and wiping it down. 993 sounds a lot more like what Im used to.

 

[greengenes]

I replaced the GX for the XX1. Done 1k miles on it with no apparent wear. Impressed. But I do look after it with wax lube.

 

[Lee c]

Just to add my experience into the mix, gx drivetrain but bike came with NX chain.. 500 miles of uk weather and it still hasn’t reached 0.5%, I reckon it may even do another 200 now we coming up to summer, I rode mostly in turbo too if I’m honest

 

[Lee c]

I’m a bit of a lightweight though if that has an affect? 72kg ish when kitted up

 

[roccobarocco]

I did more than 3000km on my factory GX Chain on my Levo Expert 2022, the Motor is worn out before the chain infact, it's with the LBS for Motor swap. The chain is still within spec...

 

[Mikerb]

GX chain costs c £25....X01 chain costs £60, it has a hardened coating on the links........but its the pins that wear!............XX1 is hollow pins and stupid money. X01 chain possibly does double the mileage of a GX chain. Do the £ maths!!

chain wear obviously depends on a range of factors.........maintenance regime, riding conditions, cadence and mode selection. I reckon on 600 miles for a GX chain to 0.5 and it is still useable as a spare at that amount of wear.

 

[Sander23]

What i found that helps the most is the lube People use that decreases the wear. Wet lubes are the worst of the worst

Been running my slx cassette with 2 xt chains with chain wax. I switch the chain Every 400 km, trow it in the ultrasonic cleaner and done.
and its been running smooth and fast the past 3100 km with only 0.3% wear.

I found the effetto mariposa flower power wax sublime! Got it a couple months ago and it does its job! I can do 150-200 km on a single application riding in the wet and mud, flushing the chain with water in between

 

[steve_sordy]

Expensive chains that are 3 times as expensive as the cheap chains but only last twice as long don't look like good value. But a worn chain wears the gears it touches and the worse the wear the faster it degrades the gears. So, a chain that lasts longer makes the gears last longer as well - and they are expensive.
PS: The expensive chains don't rust either, so they look good with less effort.

 

[Stoffel]

I keep my drive train clean and lubed and get around 600 miles from a GX chain before replacing it. I don’t think that’s too bad for £25-£30.
My cassette is now on its third and probably last chain.

 

[Joop E-Bike]

Same experience here, 600 miles 100% down. I also changed the front sprocket to be sure, now KMC chain rated for E bikes. Normally I do easy 2000 miles on a chain.
Also, the brake pistons were stuck. I changed everything to XT again..
Such an expensive bike why can you not put go to components on that for the price?

 

[Lee Dove]

Sounds like my experience is common. Hopefully the new XX1 will go a bit further.

The more expensive chains do not last any longer they are just lighter. Stick with cheap chains and change them regularly.

 

[boBE]

The Levo power must have something to do with the wear rate. I ride a SL on a surface that is sandpaper without the paper. My original NX chain got about 1500 miles and still did not show 0.5% wear. Then I changed to an 11 speed with a PC-1130 chain which has about 1000 miles on it and shows no wear. I use automatic transmission fluid for cleaning and lube.

 

[seamarsh]

Chain stretch is a flawed metric for recreational riders, only needed for serious racers or super anal ocd people you can run a "stretched" chain with no ill consequences for a long long time... I never check them.. just replace once a year, sometimes less ymmv... just my opinion!

 

[Binhill1]

My ‘22 Levo is my first bike with a SRAM drivetrain. The GX chain that came with the bike needed to be replaced before I hit 400 miles. Is this normal for the eeb? Granted, I ride it fairly hard and all of my miles are on pretty chunky, rough terrain.

My other analog bikes are on XT chains and all pushing 1000 miles. I expect the drivetrain to wear faster for obvious reasons but 400 miles seems fairly quick. I replaced it with an XX1 so hopefully I get a bit more use out of this one.

That's about what I got first chain . Get a lot more now so doing something right.

 

[Murch]

GX chains on e-bikes last about 400miles like you have found. XX1 chains last me about 1,100 miles.

 

[Binhill1]

Chain stretch is a flawed metric for recreational riders, only needed for serious racers or super anal ocd people you can run a "stretched" chain with no ill consequences for a long long time... I never check them.. just replace once a year, sometimes less ymmv... just my opinion!

Well said. Never measured a chain or used a torque wrench till i got a ebike and joined this forum . I read all the experteese opinions on here and fell for some of them . Only been serious cycling for 35 years how on earth have I managed without all the gizmos . But there is the odd gem on here. Saturday night rant over.

 

[BushLevo]

I use a Connex 11sE on my 2019 Levo. I chemically strip and hot wax with paraffin and teflon every 500km. So far this chain has done 3000km with the chain checker still on 0.25% wear. The environment I ride in is dry and dusty rural roads and fire trails, but never wet or muddy. Wet lubricants are the bane of chains as they attract dirt, turn it into a grinding paste and wear the pins oval - hence the 'stretch'. I'd be interested to know if anyone hot waxes their chains and rides in wet/mud and how this affects chain life.

 

[seamarsh]

Well said. Never measured a chain or used a torque wrench till i got a ebike and joined this forum . I read all the experteese opinions on here and fell for some of them . Only been serious cycling for 35 years how on earth have I managed without all the gizmos . But there is the odd gem on here. Saturday night rant over.

I Never use a torque wrench on a mountain bike! lol I'm a human torque wrench

 

[ilostmypassword]

I'm on my third chain I a year. First wore out and second snapped twice.

 

[Binhill1]

I'm on my third chain I a year. First wore out and second snapped twice.

Yes I went through a few getting better now or don't check too much.

 

[Ark]

Are their counterfeit Sram chains? I noticed on amazon the picture of some of the listings doesn't look right like the GX chain has alternating links one silver one black?
but on amazon I see listings with pictures where all the links are the same colour and in the reviews a lot of people saying the chain snapped on the first use.
see the same on an XX1 listing also, potos with chain links that snapped in half

I Never use a torque wrench on a mountain bike! lol I'm a human torque wrench

You can get cheap torque wrenches so why wouldn't you use one.
in the UK we can get a £40 torque wrench aimed at bikes that I think it 2nm - 25nm and it comes with sockets and a calibration certificate
I got one mainly just because if some bolts aren't proper torqued they will creak and I'm heavy handed so easy to strip threads even on a chainring bolt.
being able to do 5-6nm for seatposts is great too, If I do them by hand I always end up not being tight enough and the post will slip in the frame a tiny bit on big bumps etc

 

[Muscles]

My ‘22 Levo is my first bike with a SRAM drivetrain. The GX chain that came with the bike needed to be replaced before I hit 400 miles. Is this normal for the eeb? Granted, I ride it fairly hard and all of my miles are on pretty chunky, rough terrain.

My other analog bikes are on XT chains and all pushing 1000 miles. I expect the drivetrain to wear faster for obvious reasons but 400 miles seems fairly quick. I replaced it with an XX1 so hopefully I get a bit more use out of this one.

You got 200 more miles out of your GX Chain than I did. I have used XX1 chains on my Stumpjumper Evo and I get a lot more mileage out of them. Time will tell if this is true for the Levo too.

 

[seamarsh]

Are their counterfeit Sram chains? I noticed on amazon the picture of some of the listings doesn't look right like the GX chain has alternating links one silver one black?
but on amazon I see listings with pictures where all the links are the same colour and in the reviews a lot of people saying the chain snapped on the first use.
see the same on an XX1 listing also, potos with chain links that snapped in half

You can get cheap torque wrenches so why wouldn't you use one.
in the UK we can get a £40 torque wrench aimed at bikes that I think it 2nm - 25nm and it comes with sockets and a calibration certificate
I got one mainly just because if some bolts aren't proper torqued they will creak and I'm heavy handed so easy to strip threads even on a chainring bolt.
being able to do 5-6nm for seatposts is great too, If I do them by hand I always end up not being tight enough and the post will slip in the frame a tiny bit on big bumps etc

Just have feel for it, it’s all pretty minimal torque on bikes.. some times I’ll break one out.. never for seatposts or stuff like that. You are better off not using one vs using cheap torque wrench anyway, cheap ones are likely off. They can help of you are hamfisted

 

[E-MAD MALC]

What i found that helps the most is the lube People use that decreases the wear. Wet lubes are the worst of the worst

Been running my slx cassette with 2 xt chains with chain wax. I switch the chain Every 400 km, trow it in the ultrasonic cleaner and done.
and its been running smooth and fast the past 3100 km with only 0.3% wear.

I found the effetto mariposa flower power wax sublime! Got it a couple months ago and it does its job! I can do 150-200 km on a single application riding in the wet and mud, flushing the chain with water in between

I do exactly the same as you
I took the gamble and bought
an ultrasonic unit and a small crock pot, purchased two gx chains, the secret I recon is really getting the factory oils out of them so the hot wax/Teflon made up wax is applied and gets well into the pins to do it's job
And then apply the Effetto.
Applying this method in the long run works out more cost effective and it definitely prolongs the life of the rest of drive components in my opinion

 

[Bones]

SRAM X01 Eagle Chain PC-X01 Hollowpin 12 Speed New 126 Links Bike Bicycle

It might look normal from the outside, but the engineering inside this incredible new chain design that makes possible a gear range previously found only in 2-chainring drivetrains. And it’s also the biggest contributor to the Eagle™ drivetrain’s ultra-smooth, precise, durable and quiet...

hopkinsoncycles.co.uk

 

[Amelia]

Wished I got 400 mile on any chain on my levo expert