The rear block and chain are in dire need of replacing. I was gonna get Shimano as that is what is on the bike at the moment. The guy in the LBS said not to as it was a softer metal and won't deal well with the general [censored] and grit that occurs from trail riding. He recommended a brand, SRAM I think, saying that it was made of tougher materials and would taking a beating. Has anyone had any experinces of this maker? Does anyone know of a tough, hard wearing bike chain and block?
I don't think the guy was just trying to palm of stock as the SRAM stock he was carrying was between £5 and £10 cheaper than the Shimano stock. ( I dunno I was just thinking of commision. Maybe I'm wrong)
He recommended a brand, SRAM I think, saying that it was made of tougher materials and would taking a beating. Has anyone had any experinces of this maker? Does anyone know of a tough, hard wearing bike chain and block? I don't think the guy was just trying to palm of stock as the SRAM stock he was carrying was between £5 and £10 cheaper than the Shimano stock. ( Idunno I was just thinking of commision. Maybe I'm wrong) So any opinions?
Yes, I have an all SRAM drive train(apart from cranks) on my MTB.It is a little cheaper than Shimano, and I reckon it is better quality, especially the shifters I bought a while ago (SRAM 7 IIRC), which are a lot 'smoother' than my previous Shimano XT. As for durability - I dont think there'd be much difference between them, though my mate who runs a shop says the SRAM is definitely better than Shimano. I think you have to look at chains and cassettes (or 'block'😉 as consumables, and if you get more than a year of regular use out of them, then it is a bonus. Alan.
-- To reply by e-mail, change the 'minus' to 'plus'. dvatc.co.ukdvatc.co.ukOpen ↗ - Off-road cycling in the North Midlands.
I have also very recently (today in fact!!) replaced the cassette and chain. Generally I prefer the Shimano kit because I have never liked the SRAM Grip shifters (haven't tried the new ones) so have stuck to shimano throughout the gears and drivechain to prevent any compatibility issues. I have put on an HG90 (XT equivalent) cassette and an HG50 (LX equivalent) Chain. These two were purchased on the basis of the best value I could find. (the XT cassette was £2 dearer than LX and had the ratios I wanted, whereas the LX chain was £5 cheaper than the XT one, and a chain is a chain so I didn't see the point spending almost twice the £8.50 I paid)
I don't really think it makes a huge amount of difference. But I prefer Shimano as far as MTB is concenred.
The rear block and chain are in dire need of replacing. I was gonna get Shimano as that is what is on the bike at the moment. The guy in the LBS said not to as it was a softer metal and won't deal well with the general [censored] and grit that occurs from trail riding. He recommended a brand, SRAM I think, saying that it was made of tougher materials and would taking a beating. Has anyone had any experinces of this maker? Does anyone know of a tough, hard wearing bike chain and block?
I don't think the guy was just trying to palm of stock as the SRAM stock he was carrying was between £5 and £10 cheaper than the Shimano stock. ( I dunno I was just thinking of commision. Maybe I'm wrong)
So any opinions?
Gadget
I always use SRAM chains but have never used their cassettes.
"davebee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I have also very recently (today in fact!!) replaced the cassette and chain. Generally I prefer the Shimano kit because I have never liked the SRAM Grip shifters (haven't tried the new ones) so have stuck to shimano throughout the gears and drivechain to prevent any compatibility issues. I have put on an HG90 (XT equivalent) cassette and an HG50 (LX equivalent) Chain. These two were purchased on the basis of the best value I could find. (the XT cassette was £2 dearer than LX and had the ratios I wanted, whereas the LX chain was £5 cheaper than the XT one, and a chain is a chain so I didn't see the point spending almost twice the £8.50 I paid)
XT has the big rings mounted on a spider thingy, which looks very nice. Unfortunately they aren't strong enough for tandems :-(
SRAM are a US company, but their transmission parts are made by the old Sachs-Huret factory in Germany. They've been making bicycle transmission parts for more than a century, and the quality of their top of the line stuff is very good indeed. Vorsprung durch Technik, and all that.
SRAM took over the Sachs-Huret-Sedis-Someone else combo when Sachs decided to get out of the bike parts business; they have factories all over the place. My recently-acquired Trice came with SRAM (formerly Sedis) chains in bags marked "made in Portugal" - my Sinister Agents tell me that their chain plant in France is to close (it may have done so already).
I have used one of their cassettes in the past, which did what it said on the tin as well as being lighter and cheaper than the nearest equivalent Shimano, and use their shifters on two bikes and chains on all of them. It's good stuff. Though be aware that SRAM make two different lines of shifter, only one of which is compatible with Shimano rear derailleurs.
XT has the big rings mounted on a spider thingy, which looks very nice. Unfortunately they aren't strong enough for tandems :-(
Clive,
Are you talking from bad experiences here? I have an XT cassette mounted on our Galaxy tandem. It's only covered a few hundred miles so far, but I was under the impression it would cope with the load.
"Tom Jackson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
On Tue, 2 Mar 2004 09:59:34 -0000, "Clive George"
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
XT has the big rings mounted on a spider thingy, which looks very nice. Unfortunately they aren't strong enough for tandems :-(
Clive,
Are you talking from bad experiences here? I have an XT cassette mounted on our Galaxy tandem. It's only covered a few hundred miles so far, but I was under the impression it would cope with the load.
Yup. However this was on the mountain tandem, which gets significantly sillier loads than the road tandem. Other people have reported similar failures, again while off road. So I wouldn't worry about it. And it isn't a terminal failure anyway - you just lose one sprocket. However for the road tandem I did deliberately get an LX cassette as they're stronger. (LX - 11-32, mtb has nexave (HG70?) 11-34 which is essentially the same, the failed XT was 12-34, all 9 speed).
