Buying chains

Every chain has enough links to put it on a 9-25 gearing, i have like 20 spare links. One good chain is the odyssey bluebird, kmc 710.

T-rider wrote:

Every chain has enough links to put it on a 9-25 gearing, i have like 20 spare links. One good chain is the odyssey bluebird, ...more

T-rider wrote:

Every chain has enough links to put it on a 9-25 gearing, i have like 20 spare links. One good chain is the odyssey bluebird, kmc 710.

...more

Yes thats the chain Im thinking of getting, Thanks

No problem^

Get the bluebird until the key chain comes out. Also the wipperman 1r8 has good reviews.

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

...more

Yeah, I also love teeth eating, ultra-stretchy shitty chains that were designed by someone with no mechanical knowledge.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

...more

Xxohioanxx wrote:

Yeah, I also love teeth eating, ultra-stretchy shitty chains that were designed by someone with no mechanical knowledge.

Xxohioanxx wrote:

Yeah, I also love teeth eating, ultra-stretchy shitty chains that were designed by someone with no mechanical knowledge.

...more

Beat me to it.

Get the "Chain replacement kit" from Danscomp. It includes a heavy duty KMC 410H, a chain breaker, and chain lubricant all for $12. I had the 410H for a year with no problems at all and now my friend is riding it and loves it.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

...more

Are you a troll?

I also had the terrible shadow experience cant imagine why half link chains got so popular,

Anyway, KMC 510 or 710

Get any 510 or 710 chain and dont get the shadow chain it sucks

So what is exaclty is wrong with the Shadow chains. I only ever had problems with the older ones. any chain only lasts about a year mabye even less for more serious riders. The newer Shadow chains are pretty stiff but whatever. I also like the KMC Kool Chains.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

...more

Xxohioanxx wrote:

Yeah, I also love teeth eating, ultra-stretchy shitty chains that were designed by someone with no mechanical knowledge.

Xxohioanxx wrote:

Yeah, I also love teeth eating, ultra-stretchy shitty chains that were designed by someone with no mechanical knowledge.

...more

I'm on my second one, first lasted 5 years before I chose to replace it, and my current one is 2 years old. I had a brief run on some other garbage half links and straight links, and even a KMC Kool broke faster. Oh and it is on 2 drivers (two different hubs, I sold one set and am still running the other) and same with sprockets, no major tooth wear.

So when you say this, I ask did you clean and lube it properly once a month or more? Did you hit it on stuff? Did you install it correctly with a Shadow chain breaker? Did you grind drive side?

There are so many kids that say this chain is crap, and my experience tells me that those kids were not maintaining their bikes well at all. Most kids ride in rain, road salt in winter, never clean or lube their parts and don't take care of anything.

And before you get snippy with me, I was a service manager at one of the Biggest bike shop companies in the US. I saw more Bluebird chains and KMC Kool chains broken than Shadow.

michael.eckhart wrote:

So what is exaclty is wrong with the Shadow chains. I only ever had problems with the older ones. any chain only lasts about a ...more

michael.eckhart wrote:

So what is exaclty is wrong with the Shadow chains. I only ever had problems with the older ones. any chain only lasts about a year mabye even less for more serious riders. The newer Shadow chains are pretty stiff but whatever. I also like the KMC Kool Chains.

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The links bend over and over eachother. When you put tension on a chain with bent links, the tension straightens out the link causing it to be longer than normal. This means the chain needs more room to accommodate its now overly spread out pins, so it eats away at the teeth of your sprocket/driver in order to make room. When this happens, your sprocket teeth becomes weaker, your chain alignment may very well be completely off, you probably will not be able to use a new chain with that sprocket ever again, and in my case, sprocket teeth will bend and break off for no reason.

The new Shadow Interlock Supreme chain looks legit. It has CNCd links so instead of being bent/stamped, its just really thick in the middle of the link and then thinner where they overlap eachother. Its going to retail at a whopping $50 but I think it may be worth it. Mind you, im 100% anti half link.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

michael.eckhart wrote:

Make sure you get a SHADOW chain, nothing else. You will be alot happier.

...more

Xxohioanxx wrote:

Yeah, I also love teeth eating, ultra-stretchy shitty chains that were designed by someone with no mechanical knowledge.

Xxohioanxx wrote:

Yeah, I also love teeth eating, ultra-stretchy shitty chains that were designed by someone with no mechanical knowledge.

...more

dave lawrence wrote:

I'm on my second one, first lasted 5 years before I chose to replace it, and my current one is 2 years old. I had a brief run ...more

dave lawrence wrote:

I'm on my second one, first lasted 5 years before I chose to replace it, and my current one is 2 years old. I had a brief run on some other garbage half links and straight links, and even a KMC Kool broke faster. Oh and it is on 2 drivers (two different hubs, I sold one set and am still running the other) and same with sprockets, no major tooth wear.

So when you say this, I ask did you clean and lube it properly once a month or more? Did you hit it on stuff? Did you install it correctly with a Shadow chain breaker? Did you grind drive side?

There are so many kids that say this chain is crap, and my experience tells me that those kids were not maintaining their bikes well at all. Most kids ride in rain, road salt in winter, never clean or lube their parts and don't take care of anything.

And before you get snippy with me, I was a service manager at one of the Biggest bike shop companies in the US. I saw more Bluebird chains and KMC Kool chains broken than Shadow.

...more

The purpose of a half link is to have a chain that can handle being bashed on grinds, so those questions are irrelevant.

I had mine professionally installed and I maintained it every few weeks. It was not WEAK, I only broke one or two links. But because of the link design, it over stretched and destroyed my sprocket and driver and then wouldnt even go on my new sprocket without brute force and ruined it too.

HardBMX_Tim wrote:

The purpose of a half link is to have a chain that can handle being bashed on grinds, so those questions are irrelevant.

I ...more

HardBMX_Tim wrote:

The purpose of a half link is to have a chain that can handle being bashed on grinds, so those questions are irrelevant.

I had mine professionally installed and I maintained it every few weeks. It was not WEAK, I only broke one or two links. But because of the link design, it over stretched and destroyed my sprocket and driver and then wouldnt even go on my new sprocket without brute force and ruined it too.

...more

This this this. I clean and lube all my chains around once a month, bash it maybe once in like 6 months, and install them correctly.

It's not necessarily a problem with them breaking, it's the fact that they're a completely shitty design. Any chain design with bends in the links will be complete shit.

I ran a Bluebird for over a year and it never broke and I never had any problems with it. And I ride 28/9 and pedal like a crazy man at everything. Only replaced it because it was getting a bit rough. Now I've been on my second one for nearly a year and have never had any problem with it either.

Interlock Supreme

Well I have been using Shadow chains since they first came out, which some of you were probably still in diapers. I have NEVER had any problems with the Shadow chain ruining drivers or sprockets. The first chains do break once in awhile right at the bend in the plate. But the chain was abused from actual freestyle bmx riding, any chain is going to break or stretch with a certain amount of stress. But since Shadow redesigned the chain in the last couple years Ive had zero problems with it. It takes a beating like none other, I never have to worry about popping a plate loose like most other chains from slipping a grind or whatever. The ONLY other chain I had that was better was the KMC415H chain, that thing is a beast. Plus the Shadow chains look sweet. also the half links are easier on your 9t drivers or any other small ones. SMOOOOTH.

If you grind 4 pegs or on the drive side, ALWAYS stick to thick chains. Even the KMC Z 410 can stand a few light stalls on concrete ledges. And any chain can stand countless stalls on those rubber-coated benches.

HardBMX_Tim wrote:

The purpose of a half link is to have a chain that can handle being bashed on grinds, so those questions are irrelevant.

I ...more

HardBMX_Tim wrote:

The purpose of a half link is to have a chain that can handle being bashed on grinds, so those questions are irrelevant.

I had mine professionally installed and I maintained it every few weeks. It was not WEAK, I only broke one or two links. But because of the link design, it over stretched and destroyed my sprocket and driver and then wouldnt even go on my new sprocket without brute force and ruined it too.

...more

Actually half links were created to dial in chain length on difficult gearing/Chainstays. Companies decided rather than having one, why not have a whole chain of them to dial it in right out of the box with minimal messing around. Chains are not meant to be bashed and hit. They are designed stronger to handle when that happens.

And no, they are not irrelevant. Those are the most common reasons BMX chains crap out. So a truly good Mechanic would dig in to find out if that was the case or if it was slapped on with incorrect tools etc. But as most kids were good with doing, they would claim it was done professionally or with correct tools, even if it was obvious that it was done with a hammer and a nail to ram the pin back in. Not accusing you of that, but it was a common thing I saw.

All chains stretch, because of the half link design (bent plates) they will be more prone to it, BUT I have had more standard link chains cause more damage to my drivers (KMC Kool) in the past than my Shadow chains. So while your experience was not good, please don't speak for everyone with your generalizations about how they "all are terrible". Give your input, and leave it at that. Something like "My experience was bad, this is what happened" and stop there. Saying they are all junk is no better than everyone saying Eastern was junk back in the day. Again, an issue I never had.

With mine I was brakeless and doing bar to tire taps 3-4 feet above the decks with nothing more than pedal pressure, and at my heaviest I was 254 lbs. That's a hell of a lot of stress on my chain. I guess I don't understand how people have so many issues when they say they did the same thing I did when it comes to maintenance, weigh 75-100lbs less than me (typically) and my results were drastically different. There has to be a variable not being mentioned somewhere. My shadow chain outlasted 3 frames, and was removed fairly often for painting of frames etc.

dave lawrence wrote:

I'm on my second one, first lasted 5 years before I chose to replace it, and my current one is 2 years old. I had a brief run ...more

dave lawrence wrote:

I'm on my second one, first lasted 5 years before I chose to replace it, and my current one is 2 years old. I had a brief run on some other garbage half links and straight links, and even a KMC Kool broke faster. Oh and it is on 2 drivers (two different hubs, I sold one set and am still running the other) and same with sprockets, no major tooth wear.

So when you say this, I ask did you clean and lube it properly once a month or more? Did you hit it on stuff? Did you install it correctly with a Shadow chain breaker? Did you grind drive side?

There are so many kids that say this chain is crap, and my experience tells me that those kids were not maintaining their bikes well at all. Most kids ride in rain, road salt in winter, never clean or lube their parts and don't take care of anything.

And before you get snippy with me, I was a service manager at one of the Biggest bike shop companies in the US. I saw more Bluebird chains and KMC Kool chains broken than Shadow.

...more

HardBMX_Tim wrote:

The purpose of a half link is to have a chain that can handle being bashed on grinds, so those questions are irrelevant.

I ...more

HardBMX_Tim wrote:

The purpose of a half link is to have a chain that can handle being bashed on grinds, so those questions are irrelevant.

I had mine professionally installed and I maintained it every few weeks. It was not WEAK, I only broke one or two links. But because of the link design, it over stretched and destroyed my sprocket and driver and then wouldnt even go on my new sprocket without brute force and ruined it too.

...more

dave lawrence wrote:

Actually half links were created to dial in chain length on difficult gearing/Chainstays. Companies decided rather than having ...more

dave lawrence wrote:

Actually half links were created to dial in chain length on difficult gearing/Chainstays. Companies decided rather than having one, why not have a whole chain of them to dial it in right out of the box with minimal messing around. Chains are not meant to be bashed and hit. They are designed stronger to handle when that happens.

And no, they are not irrelevant. Those are the most common reasons BMX chains crap out. So a truly good Mechanic would dig in to find out if that was the case or if it was slapped on with incorrect tools etc. But as most kids were good with doing, they would claim it was done professionally or with correct tools, even if it was obvious that it was done with a hammer and a nail to ram the pin back in. Not accusing you of that, but it was a common thing I saw.

All chains stretch, because of the half link design (bent plates) they will be more prone to it, BUT I have had more standard link chains cause more damage to my drivers (KMC Kool) in the past than my Shadow chains. So while your experience was not good, please don't speak for everyone with your generalizations about how they "all are terrible". Give your input, and leave it at that. Something like "My experience was bad, this is what happened" and stop there. Saying they are all junk is no better than everyone saying Eastern was junk back in the day. Again, an issue I never had.

With mine I was brakeless and doing bar to tire taps 3-4 feet above the decks with nothing more than pedal pressure, and at my heaviest I was 254 lbs. That's a hell of a lot of stress on my chain. I guess I don't understand how people have so many issues when they say they did the same thing I did when it comes to maintenance, weigh 75-100lbs less than me (typically) and my results were drastically different. There has to be a variable not being mentioned somewhere. My shadow chain outlasted 3 frames, and was removed fairly often for painting of frames etc.

...more

I believe it was on Shadow's own website that they stated the design of the links is for grind usage. Its made to be able to hit a ledge without hanging up or breaking, thats why they recommend you dont run them backwards, because it defeats that purpose when the links are facing the other way. Once again, the shadow chain is beefy and is near impossible to break. But in my own personal experience, it killed my sprocket and driver in just a few months and wouldn't wrap around the new sprocket due to how stretched it was.
But if youre saying they only break when kids hit them on grinds, THEN THEY REALLY SUCK. Ive bashed my 410H and 710 to fucking hell with 0 damages done to my chain. A chain that costs (and weighs?) three times as much as most other chains better damn well be able to handle grind abuse.

Dave, you got one of the lucky chains an im not being a dick, i got one too it was brilliant with 36/13 gearing back in 07, tried another one and all went to shit. pins literally working themselves loose kind of shit.

I am mechanically inclined aswell, kept well lubricated, proper installation, correct chainline etc.

The problem is fundamental that the half link design does try and straighten itsself out causing tolerance issues.

But i wont lie, i miss my lucky one.

HardBMX_Tim wrote:

I believe it was on Shadow's own website that they stated the design of the links is for grind usage. Its made to be able to ...more

HardBMX_Tim wrote:

I believe it was on Shadow's own website that they stated the design of the links is for grind usage. Its made to be able to hit a ledge without hanging up or breaking, thats why they recommend you dont run them backwards, because it defeats that purpose when the links are facing the other way. Once again, the shadow chain is beefy and is near impossible to break. But in my own personal experience, it killed my sprocket and driver in just a few months and wouldn't wrap around the new sprocket due to how stretched it was.
But if youre saying they only break when kids hit them on grinds, THEN THEY REALLY SUCK. Ive bashed my 410H and 710 to fucking hell with 0 damages done to my chain. A chain that costs (and weighs?) three times as much as most other chains better damn well be able to handle grind abuse.

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I recall seeing that if you put them on backwards/insideout they would not sit on the smaller drivers, nothing about the shape for grinding.

As to the breaking on grinds, I in no way stated they would snap on just one or two grinds as you made it seem in your reply, but repeated abuse, most commonly a grind hitting it would be the last straw for ANY CHAIN. I did sprocket grinds on my old one with no issues. Again, there is a variable explaining why others had theirs break and mine never did with the same maintenance and usage. There HAS to be a reason.

Mychaylo wrote:

Dave, you got one of the lucky chains an im not being a dick, i got one too it was brilliant with 36/13 gearing back in 07, ...more

Mychaylo wrote:

Dave, you got one of the lucky chains an im not being a dick, i got one too it was brilliant with 36/13 gearing back in 07, tried another one and all went to shit. pins literally working themselves loose kind of shit.

I am mechanically inclined aswell, kept well lubricated, proper installation, correct chainline etc.

The problem is fundamental that the half link design does try and straighten itsself out causing tolerance issues.

But i wont lie, i miss my lucky one.

...more

I can't see it that way, too many people I know had similar experiences, and still do. So to me, saying it was a lucky one seems a little odd, especially since I am on number two that is solid.

Well my lucky lasted three years before retirement, admittedly after the other one pulled itsself apart i did not pursue another, maybe they arent as bad as my experience but i cannot reccomend it to anyone.

Shadow chains are hit and miss. First Interlock v2 was great, i'm on the 2nd one now, have barely ridden it and I can almost pull the links apart by hand.

I'll be rocking a new chain sooner than I would have hoped. Oh well.

All my friends have had extremely similar experiences as me aswell other than like 2 or 3 of them who barely ride.

I will most likely be getting the Interlock Supreme. It appears to have fixed the entire problem with halflinks.

Fuck the Supreme. Keychain is where it's at. Thicker plates, bigger pins for more strength and to eliminate the chance of the plates prying off, and threaded pins to ensure factory tightness. What more could you want in a chain?

Xxohioanxx wrote:

Fuck the Supreme. Keychain is where it's at. Thicker plates, bigger pins for more strength and to eliminate the chance of the ...more

Xxohioanxx wrote:

Fuck the Supreme. Keychain is where it's at. Thicker plates, bigger pins for more strength and to eliminate the chance of the plates prying off, and threaded pins to ensure factory tightness. What more could you want in a chain?

...more

It only has one threaded pin. I might get this aswell. Either way, im going to be waiting for reviews on both since I literally JUST got my Bluebird 510HX.

What about the kmc koolchain halflink? That chain seems to have a one sided design where you can only put it on one side and there is a top plate on the other side. Can't really confirm it but whatever. Pic of said chain.