base2 

Yeah. Titanium chains, the real ones run ~$200+
Wippermann SX chains are stainless through & through. The other models like S0 and others have various other lower grade materials sprinkled in to meet various price points. The good news is Wippermann starts "newer" than many lesser chains due to manufacturing tolerances. The SX stainless chain, even at $80 will be money well spent.

FBinNY 

We don't have to argue. I stated my opinion, you stated yours and that's the end of it for me.

To be clear, I did read the OP and understood that the popping indicates that it was cracking in solution, and nothing I wrote contradicted that.

OTOH- you might reconsider your post regarding chain construction. If it's not an example of typing faster than thinking, you might want to read up on the subject.

In any case, you clearly have more patience for argument than I'll ever have, so. I'll end it the same way I have so often in the past, happy to leave readers extract what they will and form their own judgements.

zandoval 

Yep...

Come on man... You Know This... Ha

LeeG

definitely a learning experience

grumpus

Unlikely anyone's going to fake SunRace products, they're not junk but are at the "value" rather than "performance" end of the market - better to fake something more expensive or widely used. Or maybe that's what the pirates want us to think.

FBinNY 

To the OP---

Stop looking for excuses and/or blaming the chain.

You're not the first to have a chain rust out, and won't be the last. Nor are you the first or last to encounter the effects of hydrogen embrittlement, by using a poorly chosen rust remover or solvent. This error is so common that many chain companies publish general warnings on the subject.

So, consider yourself as having received a cheap lesson, and lucky that it didn't happen on the road.

Mr. 66

Just being prickly with words, chains are not embossed. They are stamped. Embossed lettering would rise, not recess.

Camilo

If you simply lube your chain regularly, you'll avoid the problem in the future. That's all there is to it. Type of lube, how and how much to clean are things to think about, but just keep it lubed at the minimum.

cyccommute 

The issue is that there is no neutral pH solution nor even a high pH solution that would lead to cracking noises during the soak. A rusty chain dropped into water or mineral spirits or detergent based degreaser will not pop nor make noises nor crack for that matter. Although I have not tested it, a chelating bath like Evapo-Rust won’t lead to cracking noises either. Nor are rusted chains cracked as a general rule. Salt in water over time can cause cracking…I’ve done the experiment…but anything that makes an audible noise is indicative of an active chemical reaction.

”Force fit” says something different from “press fit”. Force fit implies deformation of the plate material during assembly and a tighter fit which wouldn’t rotate. The plates of the chain are pressed on the pin but they aren’t forced on. The plate has to rotate on the pin for the chain to work.

cyccommute 

I’m going to disagree again. Hydrogen embrittlement isn’t really a possible mechanism at the temperatures and atmospheric conditions you’d run across in a chain exposed to air at ambient temperatures. There is no source hydrogen available for this to occur. Free hydrogen really isn’t available. Chloride cracking is a possibility because everything is there for it to happen but, again, the more likely cause is the reaction with phosphoric acid. Yes, it is due to a poor choice of rust remover and lack of knowledge on elfmachine’s part.

smd4

You’re splitting hairs again.

The pin is certainly pressed into the outer side plates for a force fit. The pins most definitely do not rotate in the outer side plates. The inner plates with the roller rotate on the pin.

FBinNY 

As I said I won't waste effort arguing with you about anything, because you start with false assumptions, then won't let go of them.

To understand how outer plates fail at the pin hole, you have to understand how chains are made, which, based on your earlier post, you clearly don't. Outer plate failures at the rivet hole is a very well documented and understood phenomenon. If, instead of assuming, you took the time to research the specific topics at hand, you wouldn't head down false paths and argue endlessly.

FBinNY 

No surprise there.

I'm starting to believe that you can't read, either. ----- Where did I say that hydrogen embrittlement happens in air?
This is simply more of your strawman tactics to cover your own lack of expertise.

79pmooney

I thought I'd pass on the routine I did for about a half dozen salt road winters that worked quite well and was pretty darn close to the absolute minimum amount chain maintenance you can do. (With all outside faucets and hoses shut down for the winter and no permission to wash or clean my bike inside. It got wheeled into my parents basement or leaned against my apartment hall wall standing on a plastic carpet runner. So, ridden hard and put away wet. At least five days a week. No car.

The routine - 1) The bike's were always fix gears. I started each winter with a normally wet lubed chain. While things were still dry and clean, I stayed on top of lubrication. But then winter got dark and cold. I wanted to warm up and shed clothes when I got home, not fiddle with a filthy bike. And eventually, the roads got salted. (Boston and Ann Arbor.) A link would freeze up. I'd move the wheel forward a touch to get the chain slack back. Another frozen link. Repeat. Third link I'd pull the wheel or slack the chain a lot, lube it with lots of oil and work out the frozen links, loosening them a touch with a riveter if needed. (This was long before anyone peened the pins.) Come March and better roads and weather, chain, cog and chainring come off and get tossed. New ones go on. (Plus bearings, cleanup, bar tape, rims and spokes. Ready to be my fix gear training rig for the next race season.

So, not a whole lot of work. (Except the once a year bike overhaul. Not ridiculous for wheels that took me 5000 miles a year in all weather and has to work reliably through anything.) Compared to any car I've owned, easy except I do the work instead of paying someone else hundreds. December was fun! Good wheels, good tires, almost new chain. By the end of February, the bike was deep into a state of funk. The wheels weren't remotely round. The chain as described above. I simply didn't look other than the occasional chain slack check (which I really didn't need to look at. I could feel that next frozen link.)

Ah, the good old days when I was young, strong and those crashes on ice were just a part of life. (I now have to arrange pillows around those many time injured body corners every night.)

Duragrouch

I have not read all posts. If not said already, a rusty chain will, or soon will once ridden, "stretch" (increase in length from accelerated wear at pivots), or just be old enough that it is stretched, and this will permanently alter the precise tooth spacing of your cogs and chainrings, such that when you mount a new chain, it skips. Chains are the cheapest part of the system, replace when stretched (there are specs online for max allowable stretch, the chain is 1/2" between pins, and when stretched out under tension, laid next to an english tape measure and first pin lined up with zero, you can easily see how much stretch at the other end).

Sunrace, I think, is not even an expensive chain. My last chain purchase I bought a KMC 8 speed chain with free connector link, on sale for $10, free shipping (a friend has amazon prime). Excellent chain at a great price.

choddo

It might have done if you’d bothered to spend 5 minutes a week looking after it

choddo

I would go back to the oil. Sounds like the environment your chain’s operating in isn’t appropriate for the wax & teflon approach if it’s rusting.

choddo

I think he misunderstood/misinterpreted your “lucky it didn’t happen out on the road”

Steel Charlie

Chains are really cheeep! What's your time worth? What did it cost to "clean" chain? Where is the economy and practicality of what you did?

Duragrouch

Agree. +1. Uhh, not cheap at the LBS, but often cheap on amazon, and if you know what chain to select, it's zero risk, less variables than other parts. *sigh* I don't like to support the evil empire of amazon, but the difference in parts cost is huge, especially for older stuff like 7/8/9 speed. IF, shipping is free, and a friend of mine has amazon prime with free shipping and returns. I was gonna do an order myself, had free shipping above a certain order amount, but then they raised that minimum.

FBinNY 

My routine was similar to yours, both for the track and road bikes.

Knowing salted roads were going to be murder, I'd go nothing new starting late October. Then ride and ignore until Spring.

Clean and overhaul, replace road chain & freewheel, since they were overdue anyway, and possibly the track bike chain, but never the track sprocket or any chainrings. Road bike went well over 50k miles on original rings, and they surely showed it, but worked.

Duragrouch

I used the wax method on my road bike in the '90s, cleaner, but kind of pain to (about every 3 or 4 weeks) do the wax melt and dip. I was still clueless and just used candle wax, so did not use any teflon or other additive, should have perhaps found some molybdenum disulfide or teflon if available. In my current environment with my townie and occasional rain, I need to use oil. Also, getting an "on-bike" chain cleaner makes the whole operation much easier; clean with mineral oil in cleaner, wipe dry or let air for a day or two if not using bike, apply drop of lube to each pivot, done. If really gooky, I pull the crank and clean, and clean the derailleur pulleys.

cyccommute 

This photo from Sheldon Brown’s site would argue otherwise. You can see obvious wear from the inner plate as indicated by the red arrow but you can also see a lip of wear as indicated by the green arrow. That same lip is visible above the red arrow. This indicates movement and wear. A large part of the reason that pins are peened now (and for about the last 20 to 25 years) is because the outer plate isn’t fixed on the pin.

smd4

You mean the wear from the inner plate? If there's wear between the pin and outer plate, why doesn't the pin fall out eventually?

C'mon, man. You know better than this. You can't tell me that after working on bikes as long as you have that you actually believe the pins rotate in any way in the outer plates? What, pray tell, would cause such rotation against a press-fit pin? If this is your sincere belief, then we really don't have anything to discuss.

Chain wear

phughes

You did. Your lack of maintenance to the chain caused the failure. Learn from you mistake.