DLC coated chains - casette wear

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HaakonJohansen
Posts: 284
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:58 pm

by HaakonJohansen

Hi there. I've been thinking about getting the KMC X11-SL, but I wonder if anybody knows if this chain wears out cassettes faster than other finishes? I mean, the finish is supposedly harder than treatments on other chains, but the finish also supposedly reduce friction. The harder finish should equal more wear on the cassette, while the reduced finish on the other hand, should increase cassette life. Does anyone know if the sum of these two factors result in longer or shorter cassette life? If you do know anything, is it based on facts/reaserch, or is it just based on opinions?

I'll be glad to hear about your thoughts/experiences if you have any. Thanks!

by Weenie


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Marin
Posts: 4035
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Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

I have a black DLC KMC and haven't noticed anything out of the usual. Have been running it for 300km so far on a used XX1 cassette.

2lo8
Posts: 551
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:32 am

by 2lo8

The primary cause of cassette wear is the way cog teeth deal with extremely uneven loads from a stretched (worn) chain, until the cogs wear down to match the pitch of the stretched chain and loads become more equally distributed again. So if DLC prevents chain stretch, it's reducing cassette wear.
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Marin
Posts: 4035
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:48 am
Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

It doesn't though, the rivets and inside of the rollers where the wear happens aren't coated.

HaakonJohansen
Posts: 284
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:58 pm

by HaakonJohansen

I guess the wear is quite the same then. As long as it doesn't make things worse, I'm happy really. Another question, just out of curiousity; do you think a DLC coated cassette would last longer than the ordinary coatings (I know there's quite a few)?


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BRM
Posts: 817
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:43 pm

by BRM

This chain is not worth the money. The coating proberbly not real DLC and negative reviews like here says enough to me >
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nl/e ... prod120628

HaakonJohansen
Posts: 284
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:58 pm

by HaakonJohansen

BRM wrote:This chain is not worth the money. The coating proberbly not real DLC and negative reviews like here says enough to me >
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nl/e ... prod120628

I don't really expect any performance boost with this chain over the Ti-nitride one, but I wouldn't want it to work less good either, of course. The real reason I want this chain is because of the black finish. So if it works as good as the TiN one, I'll probably get it eventually. Another option is the black TiN chain from Yaban of course. But it is a little bit heavier than the KMC according to r-2bike.

UpFromOne
Posts: 1181
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:23 am
Location: Olympic Nat'l Park, WA

by UpFromOne

All DLC is, is a spray-on finish to the sideplates prior to assembly. A gimmick that adds nothing to the performance of the chain.

HaakonJohansen
Posts: 284
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:58 pm

by HaakonJohansen

UpFromOne wrote:All DLC is, is a spray-on finish to the sideplates prior to assembly. A gimmick that adds nothing to the performance of the chain.

This is far from the truth. DLC is not a spray-on finish. It might be a gimmick for bicycle chain applications though.

UpFromOne
Posts: 1181
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:23 am
Location: Olympic Nat'l Park, WA

by UpFromOne

As this thread pointed out, the DLC on the side plates does almost nothing, as the steel bushings still do the actual contact work. I can understand the issue of the side plates rubbing each other as the chain bends, but this is a small part of the overall friction generation of a chain system.

If you want a low friction chain, there are much better chains out there, such as the CeramicSpeed dipped ones.
Lube makes a huge difference rather than the build of the chain.

by Weenie


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