Ultra Narrow 5.9mm chain

[wheelio]

I second what Campyfan has to say. I'm running a Sram 9 speed chain (similar in width to Campy's 9s chains) on my Campy 8 speed setup and it works just fine, really better than with an 8. I'm also running a 9/10 compatible crankset and the 8s chain tended to rub against the big ring when on the inner ring and out on the third cog. Problem solved with the 9s.

The caveat really had to do with early 7/8s ShimaNO cranks. The space between the chainrings was such that a 9s chain could wedge between the rings - not a pleasant experience!

[wheelio]

Update on the KMC DX10s chain.

Passed 1000 miles and it "specs" great. No measureable "stretching" and laterally still good (our service manager with 35 years experience and a dedicated "Campy Fan" says lateral play can be as bad as stretch - we've seen 10s DuraAce that looked OK stretch-wise but had trashed cassettes regardless.)

Plus the KMC is dead quiet, easy to adjust, and shifts every bit as well as the original Campy 10 chain (although I can't compare it to the 5.9 wide Ultra.)

By the way, I'm absolutely in love with my Masi Speciale Carbon!!

[wheelio]

Latest on the KMC DX10s chain. Cooked at 1500 miles. But not from "stretch" but lateral "give." Over the last 200 miles or so, it started getting hard to adjust for clean shifting across all the cogs.

Today I put on a new Veloce 10 cassette for my "backup" wheels and I just couldn't get it to shift cleanly. On the Park chain measurement tool it still measured better than "good", but the side-to-side play was considerable. Put on a new KMC chain and, lo and behold, shifting was spot on. It appears that lateral play is a better indicator as to chain wear than longitudinal stretch. Fortunately, despite being "worn out," it didn't take the cassette with it. My Centaur cassette still looks great and shifted great with the new chain.

By the way, KMC has "updated" their chain offerings. They now offer a "Campy/ShimaNO" compatible chain at 5.88mm width which they labelled a DX10SC (and why the supplier's catalog still lists Campy specific at 6.2mm and ShimaNO specific at 6.05mm is beyond me - they "asterisked" both as pre-2006). An interesting aside is that the new "SC" chain is cheaper than either of its predecessors.

We ordered some of those, and they come with a new, narrower master link. I'll try one soon.

Meanwhile, I'd like to hear about anyone's experience with the Campy 5.9 Ultra, particularly with the 5.9mm Superlink.

[wheelio]

KMC now sells the 5.88mm connecting link separately (about $6 US). We've used it on 10s KMC, ShimaNO, and Campy Ultra chains with excellent results. Trek is even shipping new 10s ShimaNO equipped bikes with the ShimaNO chain and the KMC link. Their tech rep informed us that too many chains were failing at the inserted pin (sloppy installation by sub-par bike assemblers?), so they went to the link.

[wheelio]

Richard, all the 'KMC DX10SC's I can find are listed with a width of 6.1. Do you know if KMC makes a 6.1, or if they're all 5.9 and some are just mislabeled?

Thanks

Our suppliers' catalogs still list the "older" DX10s (ShimaNO) at 6.05mm and the DX10c (Campy) at 6.2mm, which one supplier states as "pre 2006." The dimensions for these I got from a KMC tech brochure on all their chains.

The claimed width of the new DX10sc is 5.88mm. I have one one my Centaur 10 setup and it works beautifully.