What chain for an ebike?

Looking at getting a chain for the upcoming changeover of chains, but looking around there’s limited choice, ebike wise there’s the KMC E12, but it’s 50 quid and barely in stock anywhere, from my perspective is it worth getting an ebike specific, i can understand the need for stronger chains due to increased torque, but how many chains break on an ebike in reality, and more importantly, wear wise i would guess they wear at the same rate as a normal chain, due to the rollers being the same material, size and plating.

So is it worth going for another chain, what’s out there that’s worth it, not a lot of deals going for chains, couple of years back you got loads of 3 for 50 quid deals, can’t see any now, 12 speed makes it even more problematic!

I don’t have an ebike specific chain (X01 11 speed). I don’t rotate them and this one has done around 3k miles and still works fine. I think it’s made from vibranium.

Non specific here, X1 on the 11 speeds and X01 on the 12 speed. Cant say I’ve noticed any more wear than the other bikes.

I don’t have a specific chain. The stock one is a Shimano M7100 which is what I will replace it with I guess. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-slx-m7100-12-speed-chain

I wonder if E-riders wear their chains faster as they push a bigger gear? An 11t cog will stress/wear the chain faster than a larger cog up the cassette.

Not for me, i tend to run the range of cogs in the back, same as on my regular bike, spend as much time up in the 40s and 50t cogs than in the 10s, rarely get out of eco mode on the bike as well, especially this time of year.

Same as above, I use the full range of cogs. Ride mine mostly in eco.

Same here – use all the cogs and 99% in Eco.

They just have more power than their rider, just like a fitter rider does.

No need for “ebike specific” on the box and associated price hike.

Much the same as others. I run a standard at 12 speed shimano chain and no breakages and good mile
age. But… I use the the full range of gears and do not rely on the motor, plus I use Squirt lube which I always find good.

Same as above, after 18months on the Eeeeb I’ve not noticed drivetrain wear to be any faster than on any other bikes I’ve owned over the last 3 decades. No need to buy e-MTB specific or top of the range chains (unless you want too, of course).

Ive had 3 e bikes in the last 3+ years (all Specialized Levo and Kenevo’s)

Ive never snapped a chain and have always used Sram X1 chains on my e-mtb’s

I always ride in Turbo and use the full range of the cassette, people who tend to snap chains are the ones who try and shift under load all the time rather than backing off the power then shifting

I use normal chains, the same as on my surly.
Unlike others on here i have snapped a couple of chains, both times were almost immediately after i let someone ride the bike who doesn’t ease off the power when shifting.
Hardly an exhaustive test, but I think there’s some sort of correlation there.

We run a standard 9 spd chain on the tandem which given our low gearing we put more torque thru than an ebike. the chains lasts thousands of miles. Standard 9spd on my ebike as well

@escrs –

people who tend to snap chains are the ones who try and shift under load all the time rather than backing off the power then shifting

I thank that is key. I have got into the habit of backing off the power when shifting although it’s harder to do when climbing and I run out of steam! That’ll most likely be my riding skill level though I would have thought. I think backing off the power when changing modes is also a good idea.

Normal chain is fine. I commute on my Levo and pedalling hard in turbo wears out the cassette before the chain “stretches”.

I broke a chain once when I was new to this bike and sprinting out of a corner in turbo on singletrack, and I think it happened when shifting. Never happened since though.

The fleet ones use standard chains but we get through them more quickly due to stretch. A normal bike may need one chain in a year, an e-bike may need 2 or 3. We’re religious about changing at 1% stretch and anything over 0.75% stretch at season end gets a new chain to start the following year.

We get a lot of ‘lets try an e-bike before buying’ renters each year. They tend to get a very hard life and the occasional very high speed (for a bike) crash due to inexperience.

EDIT we are about to run a trial on e-bike specific chains. Watch this space.

Probably a good idea to put “stretch” in inverted commas when talking about that. As any fule kno it is nothing to do with the chain stretching but caused by the rollers and pins wearing away.

I needed chain replacement around every 500 miles due to stretch and thinking cheaper than a cassette. Currently trying an ebike specific chain on a full drive train renewal that was changed at 2k miles.