light vs heavy duty chain
 

Hi,
I'm looking at KMC light vs. heavy duty chains. the heavy duty one is heavier and takes more beating? is that the basic difference?

what about their half link chains. are those any good for a fixed gear?

how do Izumi chains compare?

I had a half link chain on my BMX but it stretched like butter. I haven't used any half link chains on my fixed gear though, maybe the larger cog + chainring will stretch the chain at a lower rate compared to my BMX drive train, not sure.

Narrow down to 1 or 2 chains that you might want and ask our opinions, but Izumi chains generally have positive feedbacks.

well, I have a Sugino Messenger Chain ring (48t) and a Phil Wood cog (17t).
I want to find a decent chain for it. I guess I'll stay away from half-link chains if they stretch.

All chains stretch, some stretch at a higher rate than others, but there are too many variables as how fast a chain wear or stretch. Half link chains might not stretch as fast on a fixed gear because the cog and chainring are larger than the drive train of a BMX.

I've heard good things about Izumi, but they are expensive. I've used SRAM PC-1 and KMC Z-410 chains, and I liked the SRAM chain a lot more than I did for the KMC. I find the SRAM a more quiet(quieter?) than my KMC. I've also heard good things about the PC-7, but different people will prefer different chains.

Which one are you talking about? KMC 710SL, 510, 410? (too bad we can't get KMC Cool 710)

I think you have access to other chains as well like Wipperman (108 and gawd forbid 1G8), HKK, Miche on top of Izumi. I know people running KMC 3/16 chains, too.

Izumi's cheap chain is supposedly good. I know that comes either in CP or non-CP. Don't get non-CP, it rusts like crazy in Tokyo. It won't break, but make you feel like riding rusty mama-chari.

Dude, a good point. I heard the pins on PC-7x is uber hard. Supposedly very long life.

The SRAM chains are nice. I use them on all my bikes, even the geared ones that exert more force on the chain than the fixed gear bike does.

"Heavy Duty" sounds like marketing speak to me.

I've got a Miche Pista chain and a KMC 410. They're both quiet and I can't tell any sort of difference between them. However the KMC 510 that was on my Madison was loud as all hell.

I use an Izumi. I don't know the model butit's the 1/8th with the nut and bolt thingy for a master link. Wears heavy duty. But, I have a Wipperman 1G8 on the way. Unfortunately, Wipperman ain't cheap.

I also use the miche pista chain and think it is quite nice. But it is on the cheaper side.

SRAM PC-7X best price/perfomance, period. /thread

I currently use a KMC 710SL. pretty quiet. However I just copped 2 sets of Sram PC7Xs for a little more than one KMC chain.