The bike chain already has a nasty job. But working on a mountain bike is the worst thing that can happen to a chain. The small chainrings translate a biker's already impressive torque into a huge amount of chain tension. Then there's water, mud and sand. Chain slippage and shifting under load complete the cabinet of horrors. The open design of the bicycle chain allows half the forest to penetrate into the chain links, where metal grinds on sand and metal when the chain links swing in and out of the sprockets. Even the hardest steel cannot withstand this for long. As a result, a chain will not last 1000 kilometres under poor conditions on the bike. Chains are therefore at the top of the wear parts charts.
We want to know: Which chain is the best? The test field of 15 candidates includes eight models for ten-speed drivetrains and seven nine-speed chains.
You can find these MTB chains in the test:
- 10-speed MTB chains:
KMC X 10 SL
Point SL 101 TI
Point LG 1010 CR
SRAM PC 1071
SRAM PC 1091
Shimano XT (BIKE Tip)
Shimano XTR
Wippermann Connex 10 S1
- 9-speed MTB chains:
KMC X9 SL
Point LG 7710
Shimano HG53
Shimano HG73 (BIKE tip price/performance)
Shimano HG93
SRAM PC 991
Wippermann Connex 9 X
The test results of the MTB chains listed above can be found below as a PDF download.
