scycheng

For my winter project at the end of the year, I am thinking about converting my tandem to use Shimano GRX 2x11. One question I have is whether 11 speed chains are strong & durable enough. I usually use a Masterlink (or equivalent) to join the chain together on our existing 8 speed configuration as it is a coupled tandem. Normal use of the tandem is for casual riding and credit card touring.

headasunder

I cant see why it would be any less robust I dont have 11speed on my tandem but regularly remove and clean my 11 speed road bike chain.

scycheng

Given that every time we fly with a tandem, I have to break and reassemble the drive chain at least twice. Timing chain I can de-rail so I don't normally have to break it for travelling. If special one use connectors are required every time plus a special tool, the attractiveness of 11 speed does diminish a bit. In addition, Masterlink (or similar) quick disconnects are great for on the road repairs.

Sheldon's comment on chains

Are narrower chains just as reliable as their wider cousins?

CaliTexan

Not too long ago, we sold our old 9 speed tandems and got an 11 speed. Most of the master links for 11 speed chains are designed for one use only, although some people use them more than once. As for strength, we haven’t seen or heard of a problem with broken 11 speed chains on Road tandems, but I’m sure some strong team has broken one somewhere. Finally, I was a bit surprised to see that Co-Motion didn’t recommend removing the drive chain when packing the bike in S&S cases, as I always did with the 9 speeds.

headasunder

yes I have always treated the quick link as good for the life of the chain and have removed mine many times(11 speed) and never had an issue, I understand that the connex links are reusable if you are concerned about it.

scycheng

I have re-used SRAM's power link for years on our tandem. Once, when we were climbing some hill in Tuscany, it gave away and the drive chain rolled right off the end. Fortunately, I carry spares so it was a minor inconvenience rather getting stuck somewhere inconvenient.

I just did a search an there is an explanation here as to why one should not re-use SRAM's Power Lock connector. I can't verify the answer.

Q & A: Can a SRAM PowerLock Chain Link be Reused?

merlinextraligh

We’ve got 11 speed on our Calfee. We’re a bigger (340 pounds) relatively strong (Cat 3 racing category) team and have had no trouble with the chain. Mileage appears to be about the same as10 speed.

As for packing the bike, our tandem doesn’t have couplers, but on my single bike with S&S, and packing our tandem in its case, I just take the rear derailleur off from the hanger, I don’t remove the chain, just pad the chain stays to avoid rubbing. Haven’t had any problems.

Alcanbrad

I regularly re-use quick links on our tandems and half bikes. I have only had one issue in over 50K miles which was the quick link opening up when the chain went slack (on a half bike) as described in the quoted link. I can say I had re-used this link a lot (I hot paraffin wax the chains about every 300 miles). Since that occurrence, I will replace the quick link when I can fully install it with my bare hands. If I need to brake the rear wheel and apply torque to the crank to get it to engage, I will continue to use it. The scenario in which this failure occurred was I was pedaling hard to gain speed at the bottom of a climb. As I hit the bottom, I downshifted quickly which outreached my ability to spin fast enough to continue to put power into the system and the chain went slack very quickly and opened up. There was enough time to un-clip and come to a stop. I don't see the likelihood of such a link opening when under force.

All that said, these have been all 10 speed chains. I will use the quick link that comes with the chain and will swap in a older quick link from a spent chain if it is still good.

I am about to upgrade one of the tandems to 11 speed and will be watching this as I gain familiarity with any peculiarities of an 11 speed drive train.

Maribel y Jose

Hello, we have a tandem with shimano ultegra 11 V. We have found that 11 speed chains are more durable and better than 10v chains. We have tried several brands and without a doubt for us the best is KMC 11v SL or a cheaper option KMC 11V EL

sch

Most of the comments have been about quicklinks, where the OP asked about chain. Dunnoh about Maribels finding the 11spd are better
(metallurgically?) than 10 spd, but personally I have found that 10 spd chains work fine on 11 spd cassettes. This has been the case with
3 different bikes using KMC, SRAM and Shimano chains. Although I have a couple of 11 spd chains, 15yrs ago I found a surplus store selling
10spd KMC chains for $12 each so bought ~8 chains and perforce had to use them up. At 3-4k miles per chain that has taken awhile
hence my experience with use on 11spd cassettes. Also had a few Shimano and SRAM 10spds as well.

This is all on singletons, but in our ~25k mile tandeming years a chain would last maybe 1500-2k miles for a derailler chain and 6-9k miles on the
non-derailler chain.

scycheng

Thanks everyone for your feedback. 11s chain seems to work fine. The quick connectors for the Wipperman Connex 11s chain is designed to be re-usable so I will probably go with a few of those chains. .

noglider 

About a year ago, I converted our tandem from 3x7 drivetrain to 3x11. I love it.

I'm a little nervous about the chain breaking. I think I'll carry some quicklinks. Anything else I should consider?

bwebel

You might bring a small chain tool as well. If the chain breaks, you may want to drive out a pin to free up the link to take the quicklink. I pretty much always have one, but I don't know that I'd worry that much about the 11 speed chain and tandeming. The 11 speed chains have been used for quite a while and I haven't heard of a rash of breakage.

noglider 

Yup, I just bought a small chain tool for my tool bag.

I think ever since 8-speed chains or so, I learn of more breakages, probably for the obvious reasons. I was once stoking on a friend's tandem, and we broke the rear chain, and I'm told that happens a lot. I think it was a 10-speed chain.

bwebel

In 30 years of serious riding, so from 7 speed to 12, I can remember 4 chain breaks. Two were on a single, both times a Dura Ace 10 speed chain that was factory installed. Both broke at the install pin, so most likely a mistake in the installation. Caused me to only use the quick links thereafter. Two were SRAM 9 speed chains on our tandem, both had been soaked for quite some time in simple green to clean, which causes small cracks to propogate in the side plates. (Don't ask why it took two breaks for me to figure this out.) Obviously I stopped soaking for a long time in simple green after this. I have chain tools and links in every seat bag on my bikes because I hate the idea of having to call for a ride home, but it's not something I've experienced as a big problem.

noglider 

Sure, if you're prepared, it's not a disaster, and no, it doesn't happen often. I ordered a couple of quick links, and I have my chain tool ready now.

Paul J

We've broken our chair 3 times, once on a 9 speed and twice on a 10mspeed. I remember the first time we broke a chain with no link or chain tool, that point of realization that my ride home was sitting right behind me. :-) We now have a chain tool and a couple of quick links as part of our tool kit.