After only 3 rides, I’ve snapped a 1051 and I’m the most unfit person here. At the time, I was out of the saddle giving it the beans and nearly collected my love spuds on the stem. I really wish I could blame it on the shear torques but I can’t.

Chain too short? Poor shifting?

Ive never, ever snapped a chain in 10+ years riding.

I’ve snapped a 105, 2 weeks old, standing start but had forgotten that I’d shifted.

Swapped to a KMC and no problems since. Easier to clean as well. I do try and pay more attention to my shifting and maintenance these days though.

Did it snap at a split link or something and hadn’t been fitted properly?

Chains are very hard to snap having only done it once in my biking life and that was my fault really, shifting under full load.

KMC.

105s are fitted with a dedicated pin rather than a powerlink – maybe this was incorrectly fitted?

What cranks are you using ?

I had lot of snapped chains with FSA cranks and chainrings ( on two bikes), When I swapped to Shimano, no more snapped chains

i used to run the 9 speed 951 sram chains on my trials bike a few years ago and have snapped 2 or 3 of those.

Since moving up the range to 971 and 991 (normal, hollowpin and cross step) for all types of riding i haven’t had one snap (100kg rider). But as a previous poster mentioned, I am mindful of not laying the power down mid shift.

This is such thing as a bad manufacturing batch and your chain could be one of those ‘part-per-million’ failures.

My recommendation would be replace like for like or go up level (1071). If you have repeated issues with snapping the following chains then it may be down to setup/poor shifting technique.

In order of strength;

KMC

SRAM

Old shoelaces

Shimano

ScottChegg – Member
In order of strength;

KMC

SRAM

Old shoelaces

Shimano

What sample size did you use to get a statistically relevant result here?

Chain-breaking is fairly random and dependant on a few factors – I’d say poor shifting and joining being the most significant 2, manufacturer the least.

KMC for the win

Never snapped a chain in 20+ years of riding.

Either incorrect chain assembly (which includes manuf. fault and home fitting), or heavy load under shifting.

The setup is perfect (no other word for it) and is only 3 rides old. It broke mid-chain and opened out like a $5 whore.

What sample size did you use to get a statistically relevant result here?

A million. Less wouldn’t have done the trick.

Never snapped a chain either. I use SRAM, Shimano and KMC, whatever happens to be on offer when I need a new one. I am a spinner not a stomper though!

KMC for the lose (at least in 9sp)

Im running a KMC on my Shimano cassette and can’t help thinking/wondering if it doesn’t shift quite as well as the Shimano chain that was rendered too short by the fiitting of a Hope T-Rex. It is strong and shiny, though, and was a chunk cheaper than the XT chain equivalent.

I’ve broken chains 3 times this year already I have no idea how some of you guys can say never snapped a chain in 10 or 20 years….

I’ve broken chains 3 times this year already I have no idea how some of you guys can say never snapped a chain in 10 or 20 years….

We don’t load the chain mid-shift??

We don’t load the chain mid-shift??

I don’t get how people do do this if you say you are switching to the 11t if you don’t pedal it doesn’t change gear if you pedal you are loading the chain…

Same goes with a hill that you are losing momentum and speed while going up it so you change to the optimal gear for your cadence again the chain is going to be loaded…

There’s a difference between “assisting” the chain change cogs, versus heavily loading the chain while doing so.

It helps enormously to pre-empt the need to drop a gear.

Takes a bit of practise, but you get used to it.

I have broken a few chains over the years. With one exception, it’s been due to pedalling while shifting. Sometimes it not 100% the rider’s fault, a friend of mine broke one the other day – she’s 9 stone wet through and rides with plenty of finesse, but her gears were playing up at the time. The one exception was a SRAM chain. It was at the start of a cx race. I was definitely in gear, stamped on the pedals and it just broke there and then, leaving me on the start line. When I looked at it, I saw lots of radial cracks on the side plates, starting from the rivet heads. A good close inspection would have spotted them.

i’ve snapped chains on geared setups and on SS, and i wince when i see some people shift – i never shift under load. sometimes chains just break. if i break one once i bin it and get another, once i’m home, obviously.
i have friends who won’t use sram chains and others who won’t use shimano, as they’ve had bad experiences of new chains breaking, but like any manufactured part, sometimes you just get failures that aren’t picked up in QC.

I’ve broken chains 3 times this year already I have no idea how some of you guys can say never snapped a chain in 10 or 20 years….

I’ve seen people get 10,000 miles out of a chain. I’ve seen people stretch a brand new chain beyond 1% in under 200 miles.

WAY too many variables for people to make sweeping statements about “I’ve never snapped a chain in 20 years of riding, I am god you are an idiot” kind of comments. If you’re 9st ringing wet, spin a very high cadence, and never shift under load, then I’d expect your chain to last a LOT longer than someone who’s 18st, struggles to top 75rpm cadence at all and stomps on the pedals a lot.

FWIW me experience is that KMC chains last longer than Shimano or SRAM. I couldn’t tell you Shimano or SRAM chains are bad, just that my experience says that KMC are much better VFM. Briefly tried a Connex Wipperman chain… NEVER again. I’ve only snapped about 3 chains in 20 years of riding, one was a Shimano and lack of maintenance (and it was heavily stretched) as a kid, another was a SRAM on a demo bike I hired and it was Waaaaaaaaaaay beyond 1% stretched when I hired it and trying to pop a quick wheelie snapped the chain instantly! The Connex I fitted brand new to my bike last year, it snapped on its 3rd ride, and after fixing it, snapped again on the 6th ride whereupon it got slung in a hedge and I hobby-horsed it home…

Is it worth paying extra for (say) an XT chain?

I replaced my OE Shimano chain recently with a SRAM 1051 and the LBS tried to sell me one further up the range (might have been 1031?) as it was “better”
It was twice the price, so l resisted.

I think most of the problem with chain life comes down to the fitting.

I predominantly use road chains on my race bikes, A) Because they’re a sniff lighter, and B) Because they seem to shift better.

I’ve only snapped one and that was pretty worn, this is on a race bike where botched shifts under load sometimes (quite a lot) happen and often a lot of stop start efforts.

You can minimise the strain on them by knocking the power off slightly when shifting and not crunching the gears but mainly make sure they’re fitted properly.

fr0sty125 – Member
I’ve broken chains 3 times this year already I have no idea how some of you guys can say never snapped a chain in 10 or 20 years….

I hear Greipel snaps a chain in virtually every other sprint, oh, no wait… I assume you think these guys are just soft pedalling?

Is it worth buying a “premium” chain? My LBS tried to sell me one that was twice the price, but I guess they would.

[unfounded opinion]
noticed quite a lot of roadies on sportive style rides sat at side of the road with broken chains – so I’ve concluded that 10speed chains are more prone to breakage than 9 speed[/unfounded opinion]

mrs antigee complained of poor shifting on her roadie so I whipped out my chainchecker and I reckon 10speed chain (shimano ultrega) is knackered at about 1000km in mostly dry conditions

I hear Greipel snaps a chain in virtually every other sprint, oh, no wait… I assume you think these guys are just soft pedalling?

Yeah cos they all change gear mid sprint don’t they .

SRAM chains, even if everything else is Shimano.

Only ever snapped chains once I switched to KMC about a year ago. Have had two go since then (the second last week on a chain only 2 or 3 months old), both halfway up short but steep little climbs.

I sometimes run 9 speed chains on my 10 speed bikes. Can’t recommend it though :O)

Chains?

Basically something that is really important but people are happy to scrimp on.

Shimano – still need to be fitted with a pin? Out
SRAM – had problems over time but not enough to get upset about it, low end stuff run for too long and it goes wrong, I used to run chains till they died rather than changing when it was due and I had problems. Came back from 7 months in oz and the chain nearly fell apart.

There is a lot to be said about shifting properly, lifting the pressure off when changing certainly helps, not grinding through the cogs on hills or when stood up pushing does help.

Never tried KMC chains.

I worked in a bike shop for 2 years (recently, so relevant). Only ever had one snapped chain and it was a Sram 9 speed (gold coloured, can’t remember the model number). Was on a fellow employee’s 4x bike and he snapped it during a crash mid-race. The magic link was ok, the chain snapped at an untouched link. The side plates were a bit twisted.

I snapped a 1070 recently but it was a freak shifting accident, I got the chain trapped and it twisted it at an untouched link again.

I’ve used Sedis chains since late 1992, then Sram chains since they bought Sachs. This is after my Shimano chain failed at the hardened pin during the national MTB Championships at Broxa, 7th August 1992! Never used Shimano since.

Only ever snapped a couple of Shimano chains (9-spd). SRAM chains seem to wear faster though, followed by Wippermann and KMC. All current bikes have KMC chains with Wippermann quick-links.

Is it just being left to go without being said, that breaking stuff really quickly usually points to a defect rather than it being weak. I’ve put a decent amount of miles on a 105, if I’d broken it in 3 rides I’d have said something was defective with that specific chain, if I break it in 20 rides I’ll say it’s a weak shortlived design.

I prefer SRAM (Sachs before them) chains to Shimano mainly because you dont need to dick around with a Shimano joining pin.
Chains tend to break because of 3 things.
1) Incorrectly joined
2) Shifting under heavy load
3) Damage caused by outside factors. i.e. mechs folding up, stone impact on links etc etc

So there’s no answer to the question ” is it worth buying a premium price chain”

I will stick with my standard £12 replacement then.

XTR are very good.
For those that don’t like the joining pin (or are ham fisted), just use a power link to join it.
Only chains I’ve ever snapped were Sram, and they failed at factory joined points on a single speed, so unlikely to be user error. Never had a problem with Shimano, and in the 15yrs I worked in bike shops, the failed Shimano chains I saw had failed where the chain had been joined – user error.

Never snapped a chain but have just had to replace a 10 speed shimano chain on the road bike due to twisting. Suspect the thinner plates and closer tolerances make them less robust in the real world. 6-8 speed was bomb proof but that’s ‘progress’.