Which 7 speed chain?

[Relliott6879]

Not sure which area of the forum to post this question in, mods please feel free to move it if need be.

I'm in the market for a decent quality 7 speed chain for a 730 XT drivetrain, what do people rate and recommend? I always used to swear by Sachs-Sedis (I have a long held aversion to Shimano chains because of the silly arrangement with larger pins to rejoin them) but these no longer seem to be available. The part tart in me wants a silver chain because I prefer the look to a black one, would an 8 speed SRAM PC870 work OK with a 7 speed HG70 cassette or is there a more suitable alternative?

 

[Rodrigues]

SRAM PC870 all the way

 

[legrandefromage]

Shiny 9spd chains will work nicely too.

 

[DynaCol]

Re:

The retro MTB Chat section is for general queries like this usually, for future reference.
Like you, I always used Sachs Sedis chains as they were so reliable. I've used SRAM PC890 chains on most of my builds without any issues, they seem to be as good as the old Sachs sedis ones so i'd think you'd be fine with the PC870.

 

[Relliott6879]

Thanks for the replies, looks like a PC870 will be winging it's way to my door. I'd go for a PC890 but nobody seems to carry stock of them anymore.

 

[bikey :)]

Re:

The KMC chains are another option to consider. They use a split link, perform well and are very competitively priced.

 

[606]

KMC all the way.

All SRAM chains I've had have sucked.

 

[hamster]

SRAM are the old Sedis ones (they bought Sachs).

The cheapest SRAM ones are not hardened, from the next up they all are. I've tried KMC and they seem to work fine too - and come in all kinds of variants. Shimano were quieter, smoother and seemed to last half as long.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

KMC.