EMTB Chain wear on average

[Dogs Bowlocks]

New to the forum and looking for a bit of advice on EMTB chain wear.

I ride a Cube Stereo HP 160 and generally take the bike out a couple times a week now that the dry weather has emerged averaging say 40 miles a week. I have ridden once a week over the winter through some pretty muddy trails.

I generally get my bike serviced every 6 months and in July 2024 replaced the chain and the rear cassette thinking it would last through another service. Come end of January 2025 service and chain was deemed pretty worn and recommendation was for another new cassette.

Following that service I have been much more religious in terms of chain hygiene and invested in a Park Tool Chain Checker and cleaning kit to keep a better eye on wear working on the basis it is cheaper to replace the chain more often to save on replacing the rear cassette.

11 weeks on from January service and 255 miles of mostly muddy riding I was disappointed to note my chain wear at 0.75% already. This despite my improved chain cleaning regime after every ride. Needless to say I was rather disappointed.

The chain I use is a GX Eagle 12 speed chain and I have been using Rock N Roll Extreme Chain Lubricant over the winter months.

255 miles seems rather poor to me so would be interested to hear other peoples experience in terms of wear mileage, chain model and lube.

 

[Martinintirol]

New to the forum and looking for a bit of advice on EMTB chain wear.

I ride a Cube Stereo HP 160 and generally take the bike out a couple times a week now that the dry weather has emerged averaging say 40 miles a week. I have ridden once a week over the winter through some pretty muddy trails.

I generally get my bike serviced every 6 months and in July 2024 replaced the chain and the rear cassette thinking it would last through another service. Come end of January 2025 service and chain was deemed pretty worn and recommendation was for another new cassette.

Following that service I have been much more religious in terms of chain hygiene and invested in a Park Tool Chain Checker and cleaning kit to keep a better eye on wear working on the basis it is cheaper to replace the chain more often to save on replacing the rear cassette.

11 weeks on from January service and 255 miles of mostly muddy riding I was disappointed to note my chain wear at 0.75% already. This despite my improved chain cleaning regime after every ride. Needless to say I was rather disappointed.

The chain I use is a GX Eagle 12 speed chain and I have been using Rock N Roll Extreme Chain Lubricant over the winter months.

255 miles seems rather poor to me so would be interested to hear other peoples experience in terms of wear mileage, chain model and lube.

Well, I change my chain at 1000km. This is at approx .75 wear rate. I use 11 speed SRAM/Shimano but the cheapest possible. My cassettes and chainring last approximately 2000km.
My kit is an 11spd GX groupset.
Brakes are rear 500km, Front 1000km+. Using Magura MT5 and the std compound.
I live in the Alps so a typical ride could by from 500/1000 metres vertical.

 

[steve_sordy]

When I bought cheap chains, I was averaging about 500 miles per chain and 3 chains per cassette. I used to renew the chains at anywhere between 0.6% to 0.65%. That was on an ordinary mtb.

Then one of the mtbs I bought had an expensive chain (SRAM XX1 Eagle Black, 12-Speed) and cassette (Sram XG-1295 Eagle). The chain and cassette never seemed to wear at all. I sold the bike with 1413 miles on it and the cassette looked unworn and the chain measured in at 0.25% length extension, ie approx one third of the way through its expected life.

My very next bike was an 11-speed emtb. I don't know which Shimano chain came with the bike, but it managed just over 1700 miles at 0.4% extension before I swapped it out for a Sram PC-1130. That one did just over 1300 miles at 0.5% when I sold the bike. The cassette was showing some signs of wear at 3071 miles but was perfectly OK.

My current emtb is a 12-speed. I kept snapping mechs and chains, so I'll focus on the cassette first. it was a Shimano XT M8100 and the first one lasted 2273 miles. The second one is still on at 1223 miles and is showing almost no signs of wear.

The first chain was a Shimano XT and lasted 376 miles before my mech snapped and the chain with it. The chain was replaced with a KMC X12 Gold (only one I could get it was Covid). That lasted 1410 miles until I snapped another mech and the chain with it. I tried a KMC X12 silver, but the cassette was worn and the new chain was skipping. So I removed the KMC silver and made up a composite chain from the two previous snapped ones (Shimano and KMC gold) and ran them and the cassette together for another 481 miles until the KMC gold chain snapped (its total life was 1891 miles). At this point I fitted a new Shimano XT cassette and the previous KMC silver chain. They are both still on the bike and have done 1223 miles and are in good condition. The cassette still looks good, but the chain side plates are looking bad despite only at 0.2%. It looks like I can't leave KMC chains to dry by themselves as much as I can higher spec XT and Sram chains. It's my fault, I have got lazy, got used to leaving the bike to dry when I get back in from a winter ride.

I have provided the data. What it tells me is that if you pay a bit more for your chains, they will last three times as long. Because the chains last longer, the parts they touch last longer as well, ie the ring and cassette. The reason is that as the chain wears, it gets longer. When it gets longer it is no longer 0.500" pitch. It no longer sits perfectly into the gears machined at 0.500" pitch. Instead of the rollers just sitting there at the bottom of the gear teeth, they start to slide about in the trough of the teeth and wearing out the faces of the gears. Then you need a new cassette. If you put a new 0.500" pitch chain onto an old cassette, it will not fit properly and will skip. See my report above. If you put the old chain back on it will run better with the old cassette. Moral of the story is that if you are aware of the respective wear of the chain and cassette, you can decide when to change a chain to save the cassette, or to just run both together until one fails, then discard both.

 

[Dogs Bowlocks]

When I bought cheap chains, I was averaging about 500 miles per chain and 3 chains per cassette. I used to renew the chains at anywhere between 0.6% to 0.65%. That was on an ordinary mtb.

Then one of the mtbs I bought had an expensive chain (SRAM XX1 Eagle Black, 12-Speed) and cassette (Sram XG-1295 Eagle). The chain and cassette never seemed to wear at all. I sold the bike with 1413 miles on it and the cassette looked unworn and the chain measured in at 0.25% length extension, ie approx one third of the way through its expected life.

My very next bike was an 11-speed emtb. I don't know which Shimano chain came with the bike, but it managed just over 1700 miles at 0.4% extension before I swapped it out for a Sram PC-1130. That one did just over 1300 miles at 0.5% when I sold the bike. The cassette was showing some signs of wear at 3071 miles but was perfectly OK.

My current emtb is a 12-speed. I kept snapping mechs and chains, so I'll focus on the cassette first. it was a Shimano XT M8100 and the first one lasted 2273 miles. The second one is still on at 1223 miles and is showing almost no signs of wear.

The first chain was a Shimano XT and lasted 376 miles before my mech snapped and the chain with it. The chain was replaced with a KMC X12 Gold (only one I could get it was Covid). That lasted 1410 miles until I snapped another mech and the chain with it. I tried a KMC X12 silver, but the cassette was worn and the new chain was skipping. So I removed the KMC silver and made up a composite chain from the two previous snapped ones (Shimano and KMC gold) and ran them and the cassette together for another 481 miles until the KMC gold chain snapped (its total life was 1891 miles). At this point I fitted a new Shimano XT cassette and the previous KMC silver chain. They are both still on the bike and have done 1223 miles and are in good condition. The cassette still looks good, but the chain side plates are looking bad despite only at 0.2%. It looks like I can't leave KMC chains to dry by themselves as much as I can higher spec XT and Sram chains. It's my fault, I have got lazy, got used to leaving the bike to dry when I get back in from a winter ride.

I have provided the data. What it tells me is that if you pay a bit more for your chains, they will last three times as long. Because the chains last longer, the parts they touch last longer as well, ie the ring and cassette. The reason is that as the chain wears, it gets longer. When it gets longer it is no longer 0.500" pitch. It no longer sits perfectly into the gears machined at 0.500" pitch. Instead of the rollers just sitting there at the bottom of the gear teeth, they start to slide about in the trough of the teeth and wearing out the faces of the gears. Then you need a new cassette. If you put a new 0.500" pitch chain onto an old cassette, it will not fit properly and will skip. See my report above. If you put the old chain back on it will run better with the old cassette. Moral of the story is that if you are aware of the respective wear of the chain and cassette, you can decide when to change a chain to save the cassette, or to just run both together until one fails, then discard both.

A comprehensive response and one that confirms that you get what you pay for.

The GX Eagle chain that I have used to date is £32 versus XX1 Eagle which is approximately £60. It seems the GX Eagle is false economy if I am only going to get less than 300 miles wear.

 

[steve_sordy]

A comprehensive response and one that confirms that you get what you pay for.

The GX Eagle chain that I have used to date is £32 versus XX1 Eagle which is approximately £60. It seems the GX Eagle is false economy if I am only going to get less than 300 miles wear.

It doesn't seem to be the ebike's fault either. You'd think that more power means more wear, but even with the extra power the chains are still not really stressed under normal riding. It's when you get a pine sapling (or similar) drawn into the 12-speed mech that disaster happens. If we could all go back to 10-speed and no mech arm that acts as a trail sweeper, we'd have chains and mechs lasting A LOT longer. I'm averaging about 850 miles per 12-speed mech!

 

[Old Codger]

Assuming like for like chains surely the degree of wear will depend a lot on the kind of torque or harsh torque that people subject them to. By that I mean blasting all over in turbo or changing gears under load. I saw the new gimmick of going up hill using a quarter revolution of the pedals on the Bosch motor which if in turbo mode must be knocking hell out of the chain.

 

[Dogs Bowlocks]

Assuming like for like chains surely the degree of wear will depend a lot on the kind of torque or harsh torque that people subject them to. By that I mean blasting all over in turbo or changing gears under load. I saw the new gimmick of going up hill using a quarter revolution of the pedals on the Bosch motor which if in turbo mode must be knocking hell out of the chain.

I rarely use turbo on the trails I ride. If I used it even 10% of the time I could understand the poor mileage I am seeing on my chain.

 

[juggernaut]

Interesting to hear of your GX chain longevity.

My use case is different as I have two e-bikes (both unrestricted) mainly used for commuting to from work and longer rides with my daughter on weekends.

I have the original GX chain on my Frey Beast (60v 1800W Bafang) and I have over 2400klms with virtually zero chain stretch. On the other hand my lighter less powerful hardtail with KMC e9 e-bike chain only lasted circa 800klms before it was skipping badly. Both ridden the same way, same trips and with the same chain lube (INOX MX5). Both bike have shift cuts and I rarely use any more than the lowest level of assistance as I enjoy the physical exercise.

I did recently buy a couple of X01 chains as spares as it was virtually the same price as the GX.

 

[Ridgydidge]

SRAM XX1/X01 for the win, by some margin…

Chain Testing - Zero Friction Cycling

zerofrictioncycling.com.au

A great website with heaps of useful info.

I rotate three X01 chains through the wax bath - and ditch them when they reach >0.5 wear. I expect to get 5,000km++ out of a cassette and chain set (to be fair, I mostly ride in dry conditions, certainly not buckets of mud). Apropos, I do change down to a smaller cog carefully to avoid chain snatch (upshifting less critical in this regard).

 

[Bear-uk]

X01 and Xtr chains are around £40 each from hopkinsons cycles.
The X01 is what I use and it works fine on a cheap slx cassette for a few k miles.
Buy, fit, forget

 

[Plummet]

I'm a ride the chain and groupset until it's fubar guy.

2600km on link glide. One chain and still going strong.

That includes around 6 months of mud riding and 6 months of not muddy.

 

[Nomadic Dad]

I've just had to replace my KMC e bike specific 11 speed chain that had snuck up to .75 wear after about 264km (165miles) riding that was put on the same time as a brand new Shimano cs-m8000 XT cassette on my 2020 Kenevo mostly ridden in eco (22%) or trail (44%) modes. I'm also going to have to replace the 11t cog on the cassette as I can see the teeth on that have bent slightly and nee chain jumped like mad in that


Upon closer inspection I noticed my derailleur was a little loose so maybe that might have contributed to the above?

Mileage might be also be a tiny bit more as that was taken from adding together all my rides via my fitness tracker I use for every ride and these were mostly winter rides.

I've previously just used the cheapest SRAM NX chains and their heavy cassettes and felt they might have last a bit longer but only just started keeping a track of this now.

I degrease my chain and relube after most rides and usually use much off all weather lube so maybe I should look into waxing like others have recommended.

Any other tips are welcome.

 

[Bear-uk]

Cheap shite chains stretch very easily on an ebike and wear the rest of the drivetrain out very quickly.
They also need constant maintenance.
Fit a top end chain, stick a bit of oil on every now and then and stop worrying about how long it's going to last.

 

[Purple parznip]

New to the forum and looking for a bit of advice on EMTB chain wear.

I ride a Cube Stereo HP 160 and generally take the bike out a couple times a week now that the dry weather has emerged averaging say 40 miles a week. I have ridden once a week over the winter through some pretty muddy trails.

I generally get my bike serviced every 6 months and in July 2024 replaced the chain and the rear cassette thinking it would last through another service. Come end of January 2025 service and chain was deemed pretty worn and recommendation was for another new cassette.

Following that service I have been much more religious in terms of chain hygiene and invested in a Park Tool Chain Checker and cleaning kit to keep a better eye on wear working on the basis it is cheaper to replace the chain more often to save on replacing the rear cassette.

11 weeks on from January service and 255 miles of mostly muddy riding I was disappointed to note my chain wear at 0.75% already. This despite my improved chain cleaning regime after every ride. Needless to say I was rather disappointed.

The chain I use is a GX Eagle 12 speed chain and I have been using Rock N Roll Extreme Chain Lubricant over the winter months.

255 miles seems rather poor to me so would be interested to hear other peoples experience in terms of wear mileage, chain model and lube.

Buy a chain checker,they cost a tenner,and will save you hundreds in the long run,all chains wear different,mine average 5-600 miles,and thats with cleaning and lubing after every ride,i had a chain snap on me in the middle of nowhere with only 100 miles on it, i always use shimano chains,which is what the bike came with,chain maintenance is key,im on 3000 miles on my bike now,same cassette and chain ring,chain no 5 i think!
but they are £22 as £125 for a cassette
im still tempted to start waxing my chain,but still insure about it,as i ride in a lot of crap,all year round.

 

[steve_sordy]

Assuming like for like chains surely the degree of wear will depend a lot on the kind of torque or harsh torque that people subject them to. By that I mean blasting all over in turbo or changing gears under load. I saw the new gimmick of going up hill using a quarter revolution of the pedals on the Bosch motor which if in turbo mode must be knocking hell out of the chain.

In addition to the extra stress that some riders can subject chains to by harsh riding, significant contributory factors will be the way the chain and drivetrain is looked after (cleaning and lubrication) and the conditions in which they are ridden (lots of sand or gritty mud.....). A rider with mechanical sympathy will always get more life out of the transmission (smooth shifting, no stamping on the pedals....)

 

[Sunnyg32]

New to the forum and looking for a bit of advice on EMTB chain wear.

I ride a Cube Stereo HP 160 and generally take the bike out a couple times a week now that the dry weather has emerged averaging say 40 miles a week. I have ridden once a week over the winter through some pretty muddy trails.

I generally get my bike serviced every 6 months and in July 2024 replaced the chain and the rear cassette thinking it would last through another service. Come end of January 2025 service and chain was deemed pretty worn and recommendation was for another new cassette.

Following that service I have been much more religious in terms of chain hygiene and invested in a Park Tool Chain Checker and cleaning kit to keep a better eye on wear working on the basis it is cheaper to replace the chain more often to save on replacing the rear cassette.

11 weeks on from January service and 255 miles of mostly muddy riding I was disappointed to note my chain wear at 0.75% already. This despite my improved chain cleaning regime after every ride. Needless to say I was rather disappointed.

The chain I use is a GX Eagle 12 speed chain and I have been using Rock N Roll Extreme Chain Lubricant over the winter months.

255 miles seems rather poor to me so would be interested to hear other peoples experience in terms of wear mileage, chain model and lube.

Hi i have done 2600 miles same chain same cassette same chain ring same brakes

 

[Gman086]

Like others have mentioned, the chain is not something you want to skimp on… I’ve done a lot of testing and SX/NX chains last maybe 250 miles, GX chains 500 or so and XO1 chains about 1500 miles. I ride in relatively wet Pacific NW conditions so it takes a toll on chains. I religiously clean and lube my chains and my shifting is always spot on dialed so I’m very confident in my numbers.
GMan tip of the day… XO1 chains not only work well on Sram but on Shimano cassettes as well, they are quieter and shift better too!

Have FUN!

G MAN

 

[SteveTTT]

When I bought cheap chains, I was averaging about 500 miles per chain and 3 chains per cassette. I used to renew the chains at anywhere between 0.6% to 0.65%. That was on an ordinary mtb.

Then one of the mtbs I bought had an expensive chain (SRAM XX1 Eagle Black, 12-Speed) and cassette (Sram XG-1295 Eagle). The chain and cassette never seemed to wear at all. I sold the bike with 1413 miles on it and the cassette looked unworn and the chain measured in at 0.25% length extension, ie approx one third of the way through its expected life.

My very next bike was an 11-speed emtb. I don't know which Shimano chain came with the bike, but it managed just over 1700 miles at 0.4% extension before I swapped it out for a Sram PC-1130. That one did just over 1300 miles at 0.5% when I sold the bike. The cassette was showing some signs of wear at 3071 miles but was perfectly OK.

My current emtb is a 12-speed. I kept snapping mechs and chains, so I'll focus on the cassette first. it was a Shimano XT M8100 and the first one lasted 2273 miles. The second one is still on at 1223 miles and is showing almost no signs of wear.

The first chain was a Shimano XT and lasted 376 miles before my mech snapped and the chain with it. The chain was replaced with a KMC X12 Gold (only one I could get it was Covid). That lasted 1410 miles until I snapped another mech and the chain with it. I tried a KMC X12 silver, but the cassette was worn and the new chain was skipping. So I removed the KMC silver and made up a composite chain from the two previous snapped ones (Shimano and KMC gold) and ran them and the cassette together for another 481 miles until the KMC gold chain snapped (its total life was 1891 miles). At this point I fitted a new Shimano XT cassette and the previous KMC silver chain. They are both still on the bike and have done 1223 miles and are in good condition. The cassette still looks good, but the chain side plates are looking bad despite only at 0.2%. It looks like I can't leave KMC chains to dry by themselves as much as I can higher spec XT and Sram chains. It's my fault, I have got lazy, got used to leaving the bike to dry when I get back in from a winter ride.

I have provided the data. What it tells me is that if you pay a bit more for your chains, they will last three times as long. Because the chains last longer, the parts they touch last longer as well, ie the ring and cassette. The reason is that as the chain wears, it gets longer. When it gets longer it is no longer 0.500" pitch. It no longer sits perfectly into the gears machined at 0.500" pitch. Instead of the rollers just sitting there at the bottom of the gear teeth, they start to slide about in the trough of the teeth and wearing out the faces of the gears. Then you need a new cassette. If you put a new 0.500" pitch chain onto an old cassette, it will not fit properly and will skip. See my report above. If you put the old chain back on it will run better with the old cassette. Moral of the story is that if you are aware of the respective wear of the chain and cassette, you can decide when to change a chain to save the cassette, or to just run both together until one fails, then discard both.

Similar experience without the forensic analysis, but I know I did well over 1000 miles on the original KMC e12 chain on my 2022 Trance X Adv E+2, and a similar mileage on its replacement gold e12 (the cheapest deal at the time). That one is still running smoothly even though the stretch is now over .75%. I do have a replacement cassette and chain ready for when it starts to misbehave.

 

[rzr]

don't ride in a mud
my XT 11s chain and sunrace 11-46 cassette survive ~3000km, and I ride quite often close to full power. and i don't ride in a mud (maybe once/twice in a year)

 

[Bontee]

I fitted a new XX1 chain just after buying my bike ,a ducati Tk01-RR Ep8 motor ,the chain lasted 2456 miles before it needed replacing.So that’s not too bad.

 

[Winford]

with manual shifting, i was getting about 900 miles to a chain and cassette, switching to electronic shifting on same bike, I got way over 1500. Using molten speed wax dipped about every 50 miles, 25 in muddy conditions. I get a single chain to a cassette, using shimano 8100 chain

 

[Sayonara]

Like others have mentioned, the chain is not something you want to skimp on… I’ve done a lot of testing and SX/NX chains last maybe 250 miles, GX chains 500 or so and XO1 chains about 1500 miles. I ride in relatively wet Pacific NW conditions so it takes a toll on chains. I religiously clean and lube my chains and my shifting is always spot on dialed so I’m very confident in my numbers.
GMan tip of the day… XO1 chains not only work well on Sram but on Shimano cassettes as well, they are quieter and shift better too!

Have FUN!

G MAN

Any experience with Shimano linkglide chains? Not sure if those SRAM xo chains would work on linkglide.

 

[Winford]

Any experience with Shimano linkglide chains? Not sure if those SRAM xo chains would work on linkglide.

You know many bikes running 11spd ?

 

[Sayonara]

You know many bikes running 11spd ?

You know linkglide group set is not the same as Shimanos regular hg 11spd? And Shimano doesn't only make linkglide as 11spd version.

 

[Semmelrocc]

New to the forum and looking for a bit of advice on EMTB chain wear.

I ride a Cube Stereo HP 160 and generally take the bike out a couple times a week now that the dry weather has emerged averaging say 40 miles a week. I have ridden once a week over the winter through some pretty muddy trails.

I generally get my bike serviced every 6 months and in July 2024 replaced the chain and the rear cassette thinking it would last through another service. Come end of January 2025 service and chain was deemed pretty worn and recommendation was for another new cassette.

Following that service I have been much more religious in terms of chain hygiene and invested in a Park Tool Chain Checker and cleaning kit to keep a better eye on wear working on the basis it is cheaper to replace the chain more often to save on replacing the rear cassette.

11 weeks on from January service and 255 miles of mostly muddy riding I was disappointed to note my chain wear at 0.75% already. This despite my improved chain cleaning regime after every ride. Needless to say I was rather disappointed.

The chain I use is a GX Eagle 12 speed chain and I have been using Rock N Roll Extreme Chain Lubricant over the winter months.

255 miles seems rather poor to me so would be interested to hear other peoples experience in terms of wear mileage, chain model and lube.

I've been using SRAM's Eagle Chains from NX up to XX1. My average mileage is 2-3.000 km. Usually a cassette lasts a bit longer than a chain but it happened before that I had to exchange a chain prematurely because (a gear on) the cassette was toast.
If you ride a lot in mud and wet conditions I wouldn't be surprised of a shorter chain life – but 250 miles seems a bit extreme.

 

[Emteebee]

If you're looking to get more kms out of your chain, there's 1 independent resource: Zero Friction Cycling as Ridgydidge mentioned. You'll find that the GX is not the best performing chain, so step 1 might be to try better alternatives. 2nd maintenance and lubrication, also ZFC. Quick summary: XX1/X01 combined with hotwax like Silca gets you the best combination for longevity.

I ride a Cube Stereo HP 140 with similar riding conditions as yourself. Muddy winter, 400kms a month. 62% on eMTB, 13% on Turbo, 22% on Tour+.
My best XX1 chain measured today still 0.0 wear at 1000 km.
In this post I keep things documented if you're interested (I'm running 4 chains on rotation, 2x XX1, XT and Deore.
Total close to 2500km with 3 chains at 0,1% wear, and 1 at 0% wear.
Regarding cost/km, at similar wear level, the XX1 (although more expensive to purchase) is half the cost of the XT or Deore chain per km. But it's still too soon to draw hard conclusions, needs more kms of pedaling to complete the experiment.

I guess it's hard to compare apples with apples here since everyone has different riding conditions, load, maintenance habits and intervals. From ZFC data statistics there's 2 things that you could improve:
1. Upgrade from GX to XX1/X01: improves longevity kms by factor 2.5. (ref ZFC chain longevity test to 0.5% wear)
2. Move from Rock n Roll to best performing drip wax: improves longevity kms by factor 3. (ref ZFC lubricant wear test data April, Rock n Roll Gold vs Effetto Mariposa Flower power wax)
2a. Silca Hot Wax will even give you a factor 8.8 improvement, but mind that's a different maintenance approach.

 

[m854]

Has anyone had issues (or success) running hollow pin SRAM X01 or XX1 chains on ebikes? There's lots of talk about how they are good in theory, according to ZFC tests. The lower GX and NX chains have solid pins and claim to be rated for ebikes. That implies that SRAM doesn't want their hollow pin chains to be used on ebikes. Specialized also doesn't spec anything above GX on their Eagle drivetrain ebikes (I didn't look at what they use for T-type bikes).

I read something, probably an unsubstantiated forum post, about ebikes possibly crushing the hollow pins. It doesn't seem likely because these are still very strong chains, and a strong rider can also put out very high torque.

X01 and up chains have hard chrome treatment which should make them very durable. NX has apparently plain steel, and GX has nickel outer links and black oxide inner links, which is a step up but still not the best. My bike came with a NX chain, and it rusts after wet rides, which obviously can't be good for it. I'm going to switch to waxing, so I'll pick up a couple new chains. I'd like to go with X01 as long as it won't be a problem on an ebike.

 

[Amber Valley Guy]

I always take these threads with a huge pinch of salt. Are you thoroughly degreasing and cleaning a chain to wash the grit and old lube out? A wipe over or a clamp on chain cleaner snail won't do it. And don't get me started on the YouTube videos including sites like EMBN that tell you to lube your chain in the middle of the rollers, total clownery.

 

[Ridgydidge]

No problems with the pair of XO1 chains I’m currently rotating on the Amflow…. I clean and wax bath with Molten Speed Wax prior to first use - that keeps grit out from the insides from the get go. Then a quick wipe down and rewax every 300kms or so, plus a chain rotate. All good.

 

[Emteebee]

Has anyone had issues (or success) running hollow pin SRAM X01 or XX1 chains on ebikes?

Great success! XX1/X01 best choice for longevity. Look at my post on personal experiment XX1s vs some others here: Experiment 2: 4x chain rotation longevity
One XX1 is currently at 2500kms on emtb still having 0.00mm wear.