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Quietest Chain for vintage Campagnolo?

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Quietest Chain for vintage Campagnolo?

Old 06-17-19, 03:03 PM
  #1  
retrodude
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Quietest Chain for vintage Campagnolo?

I have two vintage road bikes, one with mid 80s Super Record and the other with mid/late 80s C-Record, friction shifting. Typically I run SRAM chains (like a SRAM PC-870). They are fairly quiet chains.

I'm wondering what others use in a similar drivetrain and if there are even quieter options, KMC, Shimano for example.

Please let know what you are using or maybe I should just stick with SRAM next time I need a new chain?

Thanks!
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Old 06-17-19, 04:43 PM
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Wippermann Connex on my 8 speed. Never had a noise complaint.
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Old 06-17-19, 05:57 PM
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All my keepers sport vintage nuovo record, and they must be uber quiet. But I don't much care about the brand of chain, as long as it's an 8-speed sram or kmc and clean/waxed. I do usually mount kmc x9 chains on those with 7-speed freewheels.
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Old 06-17-19, 05:57 PM
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If you can find a supplier for the Sedis-sport it was we used for RAAM and all of our daily riders. Smiles, MH
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Old 06-17-19, 05:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Mad Honk
If you can find a supplier for the Sedis-sport it was we used for RAAM and all of our daily riders. Smiles, MH
I was a big fan of sedis-sport back in the day.
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Old 06-18-19, 04:52 AM
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-----

One o' me faves is Brampton of France with the beveled plates and caramel color finish.

Difficult to locate.

Another nice chain is the Renold (UK) with beveled plates and dark grey finish. They came stock on quality model Raleighs BITD.

-----
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Old 06-18-19, 08:03 PM
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I have a KMC chain on my Nuovo Record drive train and its not noisy.
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Old 06-18-19, 08:19 PM
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I started cycling in 80's and remember the favorite by so many at the time were the Sedisport FRench made chains. They had the most speherically bulged (quieting effect) inner plates to accommodate the gear misalignments. On another Note , Since a big part or drive smoothness has to do with chain wear aka stretch, just get the easily available KMC chains, they really are the best when it comes to anti wear, I have tried so many chains over the years and concluded that KMC really has the trade secret on that. And get a chain wear indicator you will see what I'm talking about
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Old 06-19-19, 02:57 AM
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Originally Posted by retrodude
I have two vintage road bikes, one with mid 80s Super Record and the other with mid/late 80s C-Record, friction shifting. Typically I run SRAM chains (like a SRAM PC-870). They are fairly quiet chains.

I'm wondering what others use in a similar drivetrain and if there are even quieter options, KMC, Shimano for example.
When those were state of the art, the Roloff SL-T99 was the nicest option. Will be hard to find nowadays, i'm afraid. They go for 100€ NOS on german ebay...
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Old 06-19-19, 04:46 AM
  #10  
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What causes chain noise? Some bikes I have owned were as silent as can be, while others not so much. I recently installed a NOS Legnano cottered crank on my, (duh) Legnano Grand Premio and the chain is noisy, to say the least. The noise does come from the crank ring to chain contact and nothing is rubbing anywhere that I can see. Just the noise of the ring teeth engaging the chain...


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Old 06-20-19, 04:31 PM
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Thanks everyone for your replies, yes, I was a sedis-sport fan back in the day, I always though SRAM chains were sedis-sport and that they had bought them out back in the 90s but I could be wrong

The Connex 8sX looks pretty sweet but pricey, I'm thinking of trying a KMC Z8.3 (for 6, 7 & 8 speed) for my next chain
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Old 06-20-19, 09:31 PM
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I usually run Sedis/Sachs narrow chains on most of my bikes in either all silver finish or black and silver alternating links. They are very quiet chains as long as you derailleurs are properly trimmed and adjusted.
I do have one bike with a Regina America Superleggera chain. Beautiful lightweight chain and just as quiet as my Sedis/Sachs chains.
Pretty much now run all my bikes on narrow chains. I don't really feel a difference between them and regular width chains, when running them on 6 speed clusters.
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Old 06-21-19, 05:59 PM
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Originally Posted by randyjawa
What causes chain noise? Some bikes I have owned were as silent as can be, while others not so much. I recently installed a NOS Legnano cottered crank on my, (duh) Legnano Grand Premio and the chain is noisy, to say the least. The noise does come from the crank ring to chain contact and nothing is rubbing anywhere that I can see. Just the noise of the ring teeth engaging the chain..
ex


It takes much longer for steel chains and steel rings to accommodate imperfections in fit through wearing down, and may never wear together as smoothly as steel/alu, and so be more prone to making noise. Steel on steel sounds louder too, for a given force, ( I'm thinking of bells, but it should be valid, no?)




After ruling out obvious noise from rubbing derailleur guides, I look for unequal component wear due to replacements or drivechain changes. Properly lubed chain, freewheel and chainrings mesh more smoothly over time, and generally become almost silent, (before wearing out). If pedaling is not quiet at that point, freewheel/wheel/chainring/rear derailleur alignment would be my next check... My last(maybe should be first, depending on the build) check would be component/brand compatability.
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Old 06-22-19, 09:13 AM
  #14  
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IME, the quietest chain is the one that was most recently oiled.

Also, even a freshly lubed chain seems to make the most noise as it passes thru that tight, S-shaped bend going through the derailleur.
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Old 06-22-19, 10:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Bad Lag
IME, the quietest chain is the one that was most recently oiled.
That sums it up really. Also depends on the lube. Thicker more viscous lubricants will make the chain quieter. I'm thinking Finish Line wet and similar. It will also attract more dirt and grit than dry lubes or thin wet lubes, but in BC I'd imagine it could be used most of the year.

BITD I'd often run Regina Oro chains with my NR drivetrain, but eventually switched to Sedisports since they seem to work as well or better, and were less than half the cost. I didn't really notice a noise difference. Since Sedis was eventually folded into what became SRAM, that might be a good choice for a modern chain. I still have a Sedis on my Masi.
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Old 06-22-19, 12:09 PM
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My Sram 830 is pretty quiet. Then again i dont really listen to it while riding.
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Old 06-22-19, 06:36 PM
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Originally Posted by malcala622
My Sram 830 is pretty quiet. Then again i dont really listen to it while riding.
When on my bike path there are places that have a cinder block retaining wall on one side and a cinder block building on the other. In this mini-canyon you can hear very clearly what others might hear if they were riding beside you, things you cannot hear because of the wind noise in your ears.

I forgot to mention, I am running a Regina Oro chain, five speed freewheel and a Campy Nuovo Record rear derailleur. These days, I am using White Lightning chain lube (a wax), mostly as a test of whether it is lubricacious (?) while remaining dry to minimize dirt. I normally run Phil Oil, s sticky, fairly high viscosity oil.

Last edited by Bad Lag; 06-22-19 at 06:45 PM.
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Old 06-22-19, 06:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Bad Lag
When on my bike path there are places that have a cinder block retaining wall on one side and a cinder block building on the other. In this mini-canyon you can hear very clearly what others might hear if they were riding beside you, things you cannot hear because of the wind noise in your ears.
Totally agree with you. Im just more concentrated on "left!!!" and honking cars.
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Old 06-23-19, 09:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Last ride 76
It takes much longer for steel chains and steel rings to accommodate imperfections in fit through wearing down, and may never wear together as smoothly as steel/alu, and so be more prone to making noise. Steel on steel sounds louder too, for a given force, ( I'm thinking of bells, but it should be valid, no?)




After ruling out obvious noise from rubbing derailleur guides, I look for unequal component wear due to replacements or drivechain changes. Properly lubed chain, freewheel and chainrings mesh more smoothly over time, and generally become almost silent, (before wearing out). If pedaling is not quiet at that point, freewheel/wheel/chainring/rear derailleur alignment would be my next check... My last(maybe should be first, depending on the build) check would be component/brand compatability.
You could maybe try a nickel plated chain which helps noise some but a lot of the noise is likely coming from the combination of modern hard steel chain on medium steel rings. This setup tended to be noisy by modern standards even prestine basically nos perfectly setup bike I have road.
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Old 06-23-19, 11:02 AM
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I think Sedis Sport went away when Sram took over Sachs and that broke up the Fichtel-Sachs group of companies
and the other companies went bankrupt , and so forth..
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