rickpaulos

I bought this Bell branded chain at my neighborhood hardware store. After looking at it, it's going back.

NO ROLLERS!

After 140 years, they figured out how to make a chain with fewer parts, 1 less part per link. I can only imagine the amount of friction and wear this will have. The side plates are depressed inwards to form a shape to take the place of the rollers with a center gap where the highest pressure would typically be. The gap will fill up with crud pretty fast. No chance of any lube to stay in place inside the roller. If anyone does friction under load comparison tests of chains, this would be a record setter imo.

The master link is the old school 3 piece type, not the 2 parts superlink style shown on the package.

The chain pictured on the package does not match the chain in the package.

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Bell.rollerless.chain (1)

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Bell.rollerless.chain (2)

Bell.rollerless.chain (3)

A normal chain on the left, the Bell Rollerless chain on the right.
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Various brands on the left, Bell Rollerless on the far right.
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Iride01 

Rollerless chains aren't anything new. For anyone that rides a dozen or so times a year this might be a good choice if it's less expensive.

hokiefyd 

I wonder if something was missed in the assembly process with that chain. I'd think that sprocket teeth engaged in the "v" of those rollerless links would be creating a tremendous amount of force trying to spread those two link halves apart. It seems like engagement would be relatively inconsistent as well, depending on the actual width of each individual sprocket tooth. If this is the way this chain is intended to run, it should does seem that sprocket and chain wear both would be heavy and fast!!

Crankycrank

TAYA makes chains for the BELL label and claims that the rollerless links have less wear and run cleaner. I have no recent experience with that style of rollerless links, but it doesn't look promising as far as wear. How much did you pay for it? KMC makes a good chain for 6 sp and under for $11 retail 7 Speed and Under Chains – KMC Chain and a Single Speed for as little as $7 retail.

freeranger

Just doesn't look like it would function as well as a roller chain, and how would it not wear chainrings/cogs more than a roller chain? And, is it just me, or does the rollerless chain look like it would weigh a ton?! I'll be sticking to the tried and true.

_ForceD_

Different application I know…but chainsaw chains don’t have rollers.

Dan

Chuck M 

Inexpensive chains do not seem hard to find. How much cheaper do they need to make them?

MudPie

Taya makes some interesting claims about their rollerless chain (up to 11 spd) : https://tayachain.com/rollerless-series/

I agree that it seems an engaged tooth would provide a wedging action into the gap formed between the mating side plates and the wedging action would try to force the side plates apart. However, I assume they know quite a bit about chains.

Odd, I don't seem to recall seeing a Taya chain offered in my area or online. They don't seem to have a huge US presence. I do recall seeing them, perhaps as original equipment on a bike I've worked on.

70sSanO

I was thinking the same thing. I would think those radiused/v joints right where aluminum chainring teeth are engaging with force are going to tear them up pretty quick.

I see Taya also makes 11 and 12 speed rollerless chains. I wonder how many people will be willing to sacrifice their even narrower chainrings. But I imagine there will be those who will want to save a few bucks in the short term.

John

hokiefyd 

It is interesting - they make several statements there about making the roller part of the plate, or integrating the roller into the plate.

To the eyes of this lay person, it seems that they've removed the roller rather than making it an integral part of the side plate. In their Breakthrough Ideas section, they show an image labeled with both: "inner plate combined with roller" and "rollerless". Which is it really? I presume the latter.

Crankycrank

Rollerless Series | Technology | TAYA Chain Group Photo from their site showing what the links look like when apart. The only experience I have with TAYA chains is around the mid 90's they came out with the first toolless quicklink that you could buy separately. It had one side plate with both pins in it and you would install that and use the chain as leverage to bend the link inwards to fit the other side plate. It was easier to install than the current designs but they tended to snap in the middle of the pinned side plate, usually a little before the chain wore out. At least the chain would hold together for a little bit when it broke with this design due to both pins still being held in place by the other side plate. Too bad it wasn't very durable. They changed the design at some point years ago to match what all the other mfrs. are using now.

MudPie

Here's a skeptical look at the rollerless chain design: https://cyclingtips.com/2021/01/taya...an-innovation/

rickpaulos

Thanks for that interesting link. In the closed reader comments they got in to elevator shafts. Dirty Jobs broadcast a recent episode on cleaning elevator shafts in NYC. Turns out those confined spaces are very filthy. They need periodic cleaning to even keep the elevators working. And not a chain in sight, all cables.

Crankycrank

I have the same suspicions that the Mr. Jason Smith from Ceramic Speed talks about in this link but this is the company that also sells pulley + cages for derailleurs that can sell for over $1,200 to (claimed) save a few watts. Not sure if that means anything but without testing we're still guessing if TAYA's claims are true. Hard to find anyone that uses these in the US so it's a mystery.

jccaclimber

I’ve seen Shimano chains using that method even recently.

jccaclimber

On one hand this seems like it would increase wear on the sprocket, on the other, I’d say the vast majority of bicycle owners never wear out the sprockets, or even chain, due to not sticking with the activity long term.
Neglect is a separate issue.