Anything lighter that a YBN titanium chain ?!!!

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SK5
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:03 am

by SK5

I have been looking for ages for a chain lighter than my YBN titanium chain . Problem is the chain's rollers are only titanium . The rest is steel . Any help would be appreciated .

I was also thinking about stripping each link on my chain and making (lots) carbon side plates to replace the outer chain plates .

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

by 2lo8

That sounds like a recipe for broken chains and broken bones.
[14lb(6.35kg) of no carbon fiber]
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jih
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by jih

Unless you have a lab to do extensive chain testing, I wouldn't go into making your own chains. Maybe for a hillclimb event where you don't go fast enough to injure yourself.

The side plates on a modern chain are extremely thin. I don't think it's a place you could just substitute carbon for steel without changing the dimensions. But changing the dimensions would mean it wouldn't work on 10 or 11 speed drivechains.

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

by 2lo8

Hill climbs put extreme forces and tension on the chain. As you jih, plates are thin, even if you could engineer rivets and plates, which would probably be figure 8's out of carbon tow, not just CNC's carbon plate, that were strong enough, it wouldn't match the high strength per volume steel has. The carbon plates are softer than steel and even if they had the right dimensions, would not be nearly wear resistant as steel and would be chewed up by sprocket teeth when shifting. If you still somehow managed to make a working carbon single speed chain, then it's still pretty pointless anyways, because you might as well use a belt drive and custom fabricate a seat stay split instead of chain plates and rivets.
[14lb(6.35kg) of no carbon fiber]
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froze
Posts: 430
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:47 am

by froze

I would be skeptical of using the lightest chain on the market, breaking a chain could be a huge problem.

jih
Posts: 596
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2016 12:54 pm

by jih

2lo8 wrote:Hill climbs put extreme forces and tension on the chain.


That's right, I was thinking it'd only have to hold up for a few minutes and be binned though. I wouldn't do it.

A full carbon belt drive with an internal hub gear might work, but you more than lose the weight savings

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

by UpFromOne

enzomavic wrote:
Sat Apr 28, 2018 12:43 am
Ybn is the lightest
Yes, but the weights vary wildly, even among the same speed model.

alcatraz
Posts: 4064
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:19 am

by alcatraz

ybn titanium if cash is burning in your pocket or just go pyc sp1101 steel @227gr-116l. It's only 20gr heavier and you get the reliability and longevity of steel.

Depends on your size too. A 120kg rider would effectively have half the chain life as a 60kg rider @avg power. Are you a low or high cadence man? Torque will wear your chain. Do you wax your chain regularly and keep it clean?

If you have 5 chains and wax them all at once, and rotate them every 300km you'll extend the life considerably.

/a

syplam
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2017 7:30 am

by syplam

How does the YBN compare with Dura Ace ? Anyone tried using this with 9100?


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