I always found SRAM chains to be quieter on my 7 speed setups, so I continued to use them as I transitioned to 9 speed. This experience has made me consider looking for some 7 speed mega range cassettes. Found some HG50 cassettes that do 13-34, with the big bailout jump to the 34, which is what I always ran on my freewheels, so I might give one of those a try later. I like 7 speed stuff. Overall it feels smoother and more durable, which is worth more to me than the extra gears.
Not sure if I'll bother with the SRAM chains anymore for 9 speed. All of those Z9000 chains were super smooth and quiet, so maybe I'll try their new X9 model chains which replaced the Z9000 to see if they're as good. Wish I'd bought more of those $4 OE pulls, but I was afraid they'd be junk, so now I'm out of them. Rex On Thursday, December 22, 2011, dougP <dougpn...@cox.net> wrote: > Rex: > > Glad you were able to finally track it down. It's interesting that > the KMC that was years old & used outperformed the SRAM you had > purchased new. Perhaps a bad chain? or bad batch? Unless the cost is > silly expensive it may be interesting to try a new SRAM. Of course, > you could also tell the shop your experience and come to some prior > agreement on a return or exchange if a new one acts up like the one > you've replaced. From the other responses, it looks like 9 speeds > work better with same mfg chain & cogs. > > At the risk of re-opening the debate about optimal number of speeds, > my experience is all with 7 & 8 speeds. I generally use SRAM 8xx > (whatever's on sale) chains in the $20 range. I've used cassettes by > Shimano, Performance brand (maybe Sun Race?) and the Atlantis came > with a Sun Race cassette. They've all worked pretty much the same, > even with some of my goofy cog mixing'n'matching. The Shimano > cassettes do last longer but there are few 8 speed choices these days. > > dougP > > > > On Dec 22, 4:35 pm, Rex Kerr <rexk...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Ever since building up my AHH I've been struggling with mis-shifts and >> noise in the drivetrain, details of which I've posted here a few times. I >> tried everything I could think of... even took it to Riv HQ to ask for >> help... everything that'd make it better would only make it slightly >> better, and half of that was probably placebo. I'd tried everything that >> came to mind, except for one simple thing [I'd already tried the complex >> stuff first]... I didn't try this one simple thing because I didn't have a >> compatible one in my parts inventory [yes, I have a parts inventory in my >> home shop] to try, and didn't want to take one off another bike... So, I >> suffered and suffered and lost the best ~1000 miles of my bike to this pain >> [no idea exactly how many miles, no speedo]... I really should have just >> bought another part, since it's a wear part and all, but whatever... >> >> So, last night while out cleaning the drivetrain (since it'd gotten >> particularly bad on my last ride home, so bad that I almost wanted to get >> off and walk home). I finally just did it... I was hesitant, because I >> didn't want to put a worn one and wear out my other newer parts, but I >> measured the other bike's **CHAIN** for wear, and it was within tolerance, >> so I swapped them... IT'S SILENT NOW!!! I didn't miss a single shift on >> the way to work this morning, and it was nearly silent!!! >> >> So.... question... how does a brand new PC971 chain perform so poorly? >> I've never had such problems with SRAM chains before, and always preferred >> them over Shimano chains. The one that I swapped was a KMC Z-9000 that I'd >> purchased a number of years ago from a shop that was selling new OE pulls >> for $4 (I wish now that I'd taken their entire inventory!! What a >> deal!)... what could be wrong that would make it perform so poorly? It's >> been a long time, so I probably can't get my money back from the LBS where >> I bought it, but it'd be nice to know what to look for in the future! > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
