TurboTrueno

Noob question and I have searched

Do some chains just make more noise? I snapped my old KMC chain, got a SRAM chain and it makes a ton of noise. I've heard SRAM make many great products, so maybe I got a bad example.
1/8 chain and both cogs are 1/8 also.

I lube it and keep it clean (followed some videos on youtube)
Have about 300km on it now. it is fairly slack just like my last chain was (tried it tighter but it didn't help the noise situation)

When I'm riding down the road, I have seen people on the sidewalk who hear me coming and look over, just from the chain noise. This never happened before

This is driving me nuts. Will it get better? Ready to throw it in the trash.

MixedRider

Could be the ware/tare on the chainrings/cogrings and the new chain are not sitting/engaging well. I had terrible noise from old chainrings with new chain combinations. That when i replaced my freewheel teeth and chainring with a new chain, it all disappeared. Granted, the teeth on the chainrings/cogs i had were probably over 7k miles old when replaced.

TurboTrueno

Thanks that is a great idea. The main cog has a lot of mileage on it. The rear cog has under 1000km. This could be my excuse to try out a new ratio front cog

veganbikes

Also keep in mind lower cost chainrings and cogs aren't always as circular as they should be. The mid range to higher end fixed gear drivetrains tend to be fairly quiet all of the ones I have rode have been quite lacking in noise. I am enamored with my Sugino Zen, EAI Gold Medal combination and paired with a Izumi Super Toughness chain I have virtually no noise with proper tension and lubrication when needed. However my Messenger chainring and mid range cog have also been pretty noiseless though that set up is now running a WI freewheel (the Trials version) so I get a little extra noise when coasting ; )

Wear can also play a factor as well as can tension.

TurboTrueno

i have fsa front cog and Surly rear cog. not sure if those are any good
it was complete silence until this new SRAM chain

veganbikes

Those are decent not high end but shouldn't be super noisy. SRAM PC-1 chains aren't great I like other SRAM chains and cassettes and their single speed brake levers are fantastic but their PC-1 is just not the same. D.I.D. or Izumi or KMC X1 would be a good choice for chain but as others have said it could be a new chain on older more worn components, That is not uncommon.