For a chain? HOW much?!

Michael said:

Hey, my 10-speed cost under US$300, new (1979). Someone, *please* tell me how
to get a decent replacement chain without hocking my first-born to pay for it.

There's pretty good consensus around this one:

Get the cheapest *compatible* chain that you can. You didn't say how
many gears you have in back (7, 8, 9, 10?), but here's a snapshot of
the range of chain prices:

http://www.qbike.com/deals/chains.shtml

Under $20 isn't unreasonable.

Keep it clean. Keep it lubed. Change it when it needs changing . . .
and keep an eye on your rear cogs for excess wear.

Michael said:

The chain on my road bike has reached the magic 1/16-inch "stretch" point, so
last night I Googled appropriately to do some pricing. The first site I hit is
well known to most of you but I won't name it. There I found a pile of likely
candidates, but my attention was almost immediately drawn away from the type of
bike that each chain fits and to the prices. US$300+ ? For a chain?!
US$200+? For a chain?! I seem to recall seeing a US$30-something chain down at
the bottom of the list but I was so sticker-shocked by then that it didn't sink
in until I'd logged off and toddled off to bed.

Hey, my 10-speed cost under US$300, new (1979). Someone, *please* tell me how
to get a decent replacement chain without hocking my first-born to pay for it.

8-speed chains, which your bike probably takes, should be $10-$15 at your
local bike shop. SRAM/Sachs is a good brand.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all
_`\(,_ | mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so
(_)/ (_) | that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am
nothing. [1 Corinth. 13:2]

Michael said:

The chain on my road bike has reached the magic 1/16-inch "stretch"

point, so

Quoted message said:

last night I Googled appropriately to do some pricing. The first

site I hit is

Quoted message said:

well known to most of you but I won't name it. There I found a pile

of likely

Quoted message said:

candidates, but my attention was almost immediately drawn away from

the type of

Quoted message said:

bike that each chain fits and to the prices. US$300+ ? For a

chain?!

Quoted message said:

US$200+? For a chain?! I seem to recall seeing a US$30-something

chain down at

Quoted message said:

the bottom of the list but I was so sticker-shocked by then that it

didn't sink

Quoted message said:

in until I'd logged off and toddled off to bed.

Hey, my 10-speed cost under US$300, new (1979). Someone, *please*

tell me how

Quoted message said:

to get a decent replacement chain without hocking my first-born to

pay for it.

Please post a link to these $300 chains. I've never seen such a thing.

Chains are available for $10-30 at all the normal outlets like
Performance, Nashbar, Pricepoint, etc, as well as any bike shop. Even
stainless steel chains for 10-sprocket cassettes are under $100, and
Campy 10-speed chains are under $50.

Maybe your browser is displaying in some weird font that adds a zero to
strings that start with "$"?

RichC

rdclark said:

Please post a link to these $300 chains. I've never seen such a thing.

You have now....

http://www.speedgoat.com/product.asp?part=38810&cat=80&brand=55

rdclark said:

Please post a link to these $300 chains. I've never seen such a thing.

Unfortunately, he's not joking.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=18300&srccode=2047

I put things like this in the same catgory as audiophool equipment like
Shakti stones and mercury filled speaker cables.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
Rincewind formed a mental picture of some strange entity living in a castle
made of teeth. It was the kind of mental picture you tried to forget.
Unsuccessfully. -- Terry Pratchett, "The Light Fantastic"

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=18300&srccode=2047
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Note that this site has a heading reading "Titanium Chain." That must be
the reason, but NOT FOR ME. I'll order titanium chain right after I get
through installing monster cables on my cyclometer.

: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: Note that this site has a heading reading "Titanium Chain." That must be
: the reason, but NOT FOR ME. I'll order titanium chain right after I get
: through installing monster cables on my cyclometer.

Ooh, monster cables! Why didn't I think of that! What colors can I get?

:
:

Shame on you guys! You can easily get that same change for *under* $300
here:

lickbike.comproductpage.aspOpen ↗

Shame on you guys! You can easily get that same change for *under* $300
here:

lickbike.comproductpage.aspOpen ↗

Leo Lichtman said:

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=18300&srccode=2047
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Note that this site has a heading reading "Titanium Chain." That must be
the reason, but NOT FOR ME. I'll order titanium chain right after I get
through installing monster cables on my cyclometer.

But think of how much faster you'd ride with titanium!! Why, I'd bet
almost half the weight of a chain is ROTATING MASS!!! when you're
pedaling! You'd probably need carbon fiber derailer cables to dampen
the vibration from the extra speed!

Pat

David L. Johnson said:

8-speed chains, which your bike probably takes, should be $10-$15 at your
local bike shop. SRAM/Sachs is a good brand.

I like SRAM chains too, nice and quiet, and shift snappily. 10-15 gets you
a plain steel chain (model p-58 I think). For around 20-30 you should get
a nice nickel plated version that resists rust and looks bling. :P

KMC is the most common brand of chain in the world, work fine, and are
pretty cheap. They make the house brands for Nashbar, Wally World, and the
rest. I use a KMC heavy duty single speed nickel chain on my single and it
requires maintenance something like three times a year.

Under thirty bucks gets you rolling.

Michael said:

The chain on my road bike has reached the magic 1/16-inch "stretch" point, so
last night I Googled appropriately to do some pricing. The first site I hit is
well known to most of you but I won't name it. There I found a pile of likely
candidates, but my attention was almost immediately drawn away from the type of
bike that each chain fits and to the prices. US$300+ ? For a chain?!
US$200+? For a chain?! I seem to recall seeing a US$30-something chain down at
the bottom of the list but I was so sticker-shocked by then that it didn't sink
in until I'd logged off and toddled off to bed.

Hey, my 10-speed cost under US$300, new (1979). Someone, *please* tell me how
to get a decent replacement chain without hocking my first-born to pay for it.

You went looking for a "ten speed" chain didn't ya? Well, since there is now a
critical mass of bikes with triple chain wheels, the phrase "ten speed" means a
bike with ten cogs in the BACK alone, to be multiplied of course by the number
of chainwheels. It is that number of cogs that tells us what size chain you
need, not the total number of possible combinations.

Now this is all guess on my part, so tell me if I'm wrong.

If I'm not, just go visit a bike store and spend the $12 - 14 a SRAM will cost
and be done.

You'll dig the master link concept.

Ron

On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 19:22:23 GMT, "Leo Lichtman" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=18300&srccode=2047
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Note that this site has a heading reading "Titanium Chain." That must be
the reason, but NOT FOR ME. I'll order titanium chain right after I get
through installing monster cables on my cyclometer.

Monster sucks. And I don't mean that in a fussy, audiophile, cable sniffing way,
I mean they produce [censored] cables with shoddy ends and [censored] poor assembly.

There are much better cables available for less. And if you want the very best,
that'll run ya, and it won't come from monster.

Ron

"bfd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Shame on you guys! You can easily get that same change for

*under* $300

Quoted message said:

here:

lickbike.comproductpage.aspOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Notice how Performance had the highest price of the 3 sites
posted here, even though they were advertising it as 17% off?
This just reinforces my notion that Performance is seldom as
good a deal as it seems.

--
Mike Kruger
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is
no path and leave a trail.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, writing before the mountain bike was
invented.

maxo said:

David L. Johnson said:

8-speed chains, which your bike probably takes, should be $10-$15 at
your local bike shop. SRAM/Sachs is a good brand.

I like SRAM chains too, nice and quiet, and shift snappily. 10-15
gets you a plain steel chain (model p-58 I think). For around 20-30
you should get a nice nickel plated version that resists rust and
looks bling. :P

I'd love to know which shop sells a PC58 for under $15. Actually I'd love to
know where you can even buy a PC48. They always want to sell me more chain than
I need.

Quoted message said:

KMC is the most common brand of chain in the world, work fine, and are
pretty cheap. They make the house brands for Nashbar, Wally World,
and the rest. I use a KMC heavy duty single speed nickel chain on my
single and it requires maintenance something like three times a year.

I've had bad luck with KMC chains lately. Single speed chains may be different,
but their other ones suffer from poor assembly quality -- links that are either
too loose or too tight. I had to spend a lot of time loosening tight links, and
reparing the chain where the loose ones broke. I bought the KMC because it was
cheaper. But it's no bargain.

Quoted message said:

Under thirty bucks gets you rolling.

It should be less than half that.

Matt O.

rdclark said:

Please post a link to these $300 chains. I've never seen such a thing.

Chains are available for $10-30 at all the normal outlets like
Performance, Nashbar, Pricepoint, etc, as well as any bike shop. Even
stainless steel chains for 10-sprocket cassettes are under $100, and
Campy 10-speed chains are under $50.

Maybe your browser is displaying in some weird font that adds a zero to
strings that start with "$"?

RichC

At Performance Bike:

Wippermann   Connex 9TR
9-speed Chain
Reg: $399.99
Sale: $339.98

Wippermann   Connex 10TR
10-speed Chain
Reg: $399.99
Sale: $329.98

Matt O'Toole said:

maxo said:

David L. Johnson said:

8-speed chains, which your bike probably takes, should be $10-$15 at
your local bike shop. SRAM/Sachs is a good brand.

I like SRAM chains too, nice and quiet, and shift snappily. 10-15 gets
you a plain steel chain (model p-58 I think). For around 20-30 you
should get a nice nickel plated version that resists rust and looks
bling. :P

I'd love to know which shop sells a PC58 for under $15. Actually I'd love
to know where you can even buy a PC48. They always want to sell me more
chain than I need.

I got my last pc58 from Nashbar for 12 bucks. Again, nice functioning
chain, but seems to corrode easily--I do ride in sloppy weather though. 😉

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

KMC is the most common brand of chain in the world, work fine, and are
pretty cheap. They make the house brands for Nashbar, Wally World, and
the rest. I use a KMC heavy duty single speed nickel chain on my single
and it requires maintenance something like three times a year.

I've had bad luck with KMC chains lately. Single speed chains may be
different, but their other ones suffer from poor assembly quality --
links that are either too loose or too tight. I had to spend a lot of
time loosening tight links, and reparing the chain where the loose ones
broke. I bought the KMC because it was cheaper. But it's no bargain.

I've just used their single speed chains and love them, especially the
nickel plated HD model, both on my single and my (now stolen) Nexus 7
bike. The old fashioned quick link is much easier to use than the Sram
connector. The nickel plating seems impervious to Chicago winters and they
stay magically lubed for a long time. Don't know about their derailleur
chains.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Under thirty bucks gets you rolling.

It should be less than half that.

Matt O.

RonSonic said:

Michael said:

The chain on my road bike has reached the magic 1/16-inch "stretch" point, so
last night I Googled appropriately to do some pricing. The first site I hit is
well known to most of you but I won't name it. There I found a pile of likely
candidates, but my attention was almost immediately drawn away from the type of
bike that each chain fits and to the prices. US$300+ ? For a chain?!
US$200+? For a chain?! I seem to recall seeing a US$30-something chain down at
the bottom of the list but I was so sticker-shocked by then that it didn't sink
in until I'd logged off and toddled off to bed.

Hey, my 10-speed cost under US$300, new (1979). Someone, *please* tell me how
to get a decent replacement chain without hocking my first-born to pay for it.

You went looking for a "ten speed" chain didn't ya? Well, since there is now a
critical mass of bikes with triple chain wheels, the phrase "ten speed" means a
bike with ten cogs in the BACK alone, to be multiplied of course by the number
of chainwheels. It is that number of cogs that tells us what size chain you
need, not the total number of possible combinations.

Now this is all guess on my part, so tell me if I'm wrong.

If I'm not, just go visit a bike store and spend the $12 - 14 a SRAM will cost
and be done.

You'll dig the master link concept.

Ron

No, actually I went looking for chains in general. That first and only page
that came up listed chains, chain rings, and other "chain" stuff, all listed in
descending order of price. Which is why I was stunned almost immediately by a
$399.99 chain.

Although I bought the bike in 1979, I rode it only two years. Didn't pull it
out again until 2002, but have ridden it a lot since then. So the chain that
needed replacing is the one that was on the bike when I bought it. This old
10-speed with 27 x 1 1/4" wheels and center-pull brakes has given me fits
sometimes when I've needed to replace certain parts; I got quizzical looks and
"They haven't made that for years. Most bikes use [whatever] now." So when I
innocently went looking for chain and was confronted by dear price tags, I
figured I'd hit another "times have changed" situation.

All is fine now. I drove 30 minutes to a bike shop and bought a $10 chain.

"Michael" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The chain on my road bike has reached the magic 1/16-inch "stretch" point,
so
last night I Googled appropriately to do some pricing. The first site I
hit is
well known to most of you but I won't name it. There I found a pile of
likely
candidates, but my attention was almost immediately drawn away from the
type of
bike that each chain fits and to the prices. US$300+ ? For a chain?!
US$200+? For a chain?! I seem to recall seeing a US$30-something chain
down at
the bottom of the list but I was so sticker-shocked by then that it didn't
sink
in until I'd logged off and toddled off to bed.

Hey, my 10-speed cost under US$300, new (1979). Someone, *please* tell me
how
to get a decent replacement chain without hocking my first-born to pay for
it.

I simply bought a new chain from my LBS for my old JCPenney 10 speed, it
cost $13.50 if I remember right.
Those fancy $300 chains are for those new super bikes that people get
nowadays.