And that makes sense: if a lubricant is causing vast abrasive wear on metal, it has to be wasting energy, too. However, when it comes to the chains themselves, there is no such correlation or pattern. What the testing did show is that there are substantial differences in the durability and efficiency between chains, and some chains excel in one area, while others manage to find a healthy balance of both.
And those differences can be quite apparent, with thousands of kilometres separating the best and worst in terms of durability, and as much as a 4 watt at W, 90rpm difference in drag — not insignificant figures.
Imagine spending a year of your life watching this do circles. Kerin subjected 31 models of chain to his motorised Tacx Neo torture chamber, keeping the lube White Lightning Epic Ride, previously tested to be a poor and abrasive lube and contamination controlled, all while measuring chain wear along the way.
In all he clocked a combined 80, km of simulated riding. Each chain was tested at least twice 53 links at a time , matched with a half-length of Shimano Ultegra control chain each time. And yes, that control chain proved repeatably stable, validating the results shared here. Additionally, I reached out to CeramicSpeed for access to their chain data. However, the specifics of those different coatings and processes remain a closely guarded secret of each respective brand.
Low friction coatings are typically the most obvious difference, with the likes of Shimano , Ultegra and Dura-Ace chains offering an increasing number of coated parts as the price increases and kudos to Shimano for being relatively transparent on this topic. The outside is vastly less important.
Manufacturing tolerances surely play a large role, too, and it makes sense that more expensive chain models would be treated to more stringent quality control and tighter manufacturing tolerances. Weight also plays a factor in the price of a chain. Premium chains from most brands feature slotted or drilled plates and hollow pins for weight savings. Those hollow pins often create a stronger chain, too, at least according to Shimano and SRAM, with such chains earning an extra peening process that tapers the ends of the pins.
There are of course other factors beyond durability and efficiency that help to define a good chain, and it can often greatly depend on your specific drivetrain setup. Cross-compatibility between models is a tricky game in the chain world.
In most cases, 8, 9, 10 and speed drivetrain users can mix-and-match between brands without too much concern — as long as you keep with the right cog count as covered in our drivetrain compatibility article. However, speed is a totally different story. Not covered in this test is shifting performance, and those with lots of experiencing in swapping chains, such as Kerin, typically say it makes a negligible difference. Shift quality is subjective but durability and efficiency are not.
Also not covered is corrosion resistance. Generally speaking, higher-end chains offer coatings or materials which are better equipped to resist rust when left to the elements. Kerin is in the process of working on this very area, so stay tuned. In the meantime know that all chains tested fall under regulated strength standards and are considered quality items from reputable companies. As recently covered in our deep dive on chain wear , there are multiple ways to measure chain wear aka chain stretch.
For Kerin, his previous approach had always been to use a KMC Digital chain checker, something that repeatably reads to. However, variances in recorded roller diameter and wear rates of the rollers themselves forced Kerin to also adopt the more traditional method of measuring total chain elongation.
Going into this test, Kerin was expecting to find that the top chains from the major manufacturers were pretty close, and similarly when comparing the lower-level chains. Coming in just behind, and reaching the. Kerin did retest the KMC X11E chain with a good lube NFS and also found wear rates to be relatively poor when compared to the control chain however, and as expected, the NFS lube did result in almost twice the distance before wear.
Because of this unexplained inconsistency, and the surprisingly good results of the brand new X11TT chain, Kerin plans to retest the DLC chain in near time, a chain that KMC claims to be its most durable speed offering. This article will be updated once those results are in. Re: How long do Ultegra components last on road bike? Post 2 of 31 views. Well maintained, with regular replacement of chain, pullys, chain rings the things that wear , it will last years and years!
Steve Fleck stevefleck Blog. Post 3 of 31 views. My road bike is Ultegra from , still works great. There are wear parts like chainrings, but the shifters and derailleurs should last virtually forever. Just clean then occasionally and keep them lubed. Post 4 of 31 views. My Trek with Ultrega is still going strong with minimal mantainence. Most likely you will be tired of the bike before you wear out your components.
Post 5 of 31 views. Post 6 of 31 views. Ultegra parts will last you a long time. We had a bike messenger that had over 30 grand on his and stuff still worked just fine. Post 7 of 31 views. About 30, miles on mine. I did replace the shift levers at 27, - the right one wouldn't shift to bigger cogs reliably. Felt like something was worn out. But same bottom bracket, cranks, front and rear derailleurs, brakes well, not the pads!
Same chainrings, same cassette but I now have a few, so no single cassette has 30k miles. Overall pretty pleased. Post 8 of 31 views. I still have the Ultegra, many, many years and thousands of miles later Post 9 of 31 views. I have over 20k on a setup and its still shifting smooth as ever. There isnt really much to break. Post 10 of 31 views. I've had my group since , and guess about 20K miles with no problems. Though I recently replaces the shifters becaused I wanted internally routed cabling and I got them for a killer price on chainlove.
Post 11 of 31 views. My Shimano group lasted like ten years with minimal maintenance. Then I upgraded to Ultegra. Do you cross chain a lot as I did when I first started and this was the main issue, haven got stronger on the bike I now don't have to cross chain so much and the chains are lasting longer, I have found if the chain is not cleaned regularly then it does start to make a noise on the sprockets! Some pics attached - thanks for all your opinions, I feel out of my depth and am nervous about walking in the shop and looking like a cash machine!
Yazzoo said:. Last edited: 15 Jul Danny B said:. View attachment View attachment View attachment View attachment View attachment Location Atop one Ti or the other.
Agree with Eddy , they look fine to me, plenty of life left. And congrats on a nice and clean chainset. Smokin Joe Legendary Member. Location Bare headed cyclist, Smoker. Nothing wrong with either the ring or cassette from those photos. It seems to be standard practice in some shops to want to replace chainrings every time a bike comes in. I've run the things till kingdom come without any problems, miles isn't even run in. I think that you may have worn one of the cogs on the cassette and that was the odd clck.
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