Which Chain? (Chains / Size / Width / Wear)

But I put 1.52kW in a sprint*

I'll give it go. Thanks for the info.

*this is a complete fabrication.

So swapped chains a few weeks back to the recommended 1Z1. Thankfully no problems whatsoever. Extremely quiet, holds tension well and felt like I shaved a few minutes off my commute into work.

Dont mind the quirky looks either. I put my old and new chain together link to link and was interesting to see the amount of stretch in the old chain but not on all the links. It began with the links matching and slowly the old chain started to increase in length over the new chain until at the end there was at least half a link difference in chain length for the same number of links.

Why would it not have the stretch across the whole chain?

Most likely the latter sorry if its a stupid or obvious question, I thought i'd try and learn should have known i'd get ridiculed!

Unless I've misread your post, surely it's obvious that misalignment accumulates as you go along the chain. If each link is 0.1mm over length, then 100links will be 10mm over length.

There are stupid questions, but asking one to which you don't know the answer in the hope that somebody else does isn't stupid.

This is exactly what has been happening with my kmc chain and 50t chainring, Ive been looking for answers for ages. Thanks

The Izumi Standard Track chain came today and fitting it reduced the noise from the 1Z1 chain. The profile of it seems beefier, thicker plates than 1Z1 and excellent sticky lube was already applied. There was still friction though. Scilly, you were right about this:

The vibration is coming from the "chain suck": as the chain pings off the teeth it vibrates.

Looking close up and moving the pedals slowly I can see the square teeth of the Planet X cog is hanging on to the chain, like it is catching. Then it is dropping off, this (I think) is causing the sound at higher revolutions. I had a play around with shifting chain line around; sitting the wheel on top of the dropouts with the bike upside down. I got the chain line damn-near perfect. The chainring and cog teeth were sat bang in the centre of the chain plates. and still sound, and the chain suck. Conclusion is that it has to be the sprocket, the carbon frame is acting as a loudspeaker to whatever vertical friction is happening there. So now i am looking at getting a sprocket with a more pointy profile to the teeth and a shinier finish. My chainring has pointy teeth and no such chain suck is happening there, so I'm hoping that will solve the problem.

looking at getting a sprocket with a more pointy profile to the teeth and a shinier finish

If you people would just listen...

General consensus for best track chain/sprocket combination is?
Use: racing
Chainset/ring: DA 7710

tester says 1r8 for track, and i imagine phil wood cog, or if you want the blingest of bling eai gold medal pro

Do DA sprockets have a sufficiently pointy profile to avoid chain suck?

Not really answering the question, but I'm using a 708 with a 16T 3/32 DA sprocket without issues.

Some progress. The noise is down to a gentle rattle now. Things that helped were:
Positioning teeth in the middle of the chain rollers by experimenting with a different width spacer along rear wheel axle. What I originally thought was a perfect chainline was still about 2mm out. This was increasing noise as it moved against the inside plates of the chain.
Backing off the tension of the chain at the tightest point and giving it some slack.
Using a 3/32 sprocket.
Large dose of Finish Line on the inside of the chain rollers.

I also learned about chordal action along the way which turns chain friction at certain speeds into vibration. A higher tooth count on the sprocket (16 to 18) has helped a lot with this. So I don't think it was a single problem, more combination of lots of factors.

Thanks for posting: useful write-up and chain-guide.com is a superb resource!

fixed conversion.
slack chain. half link? half link chain? chainring/ cog swap?
@49/20

also, ditto the surly-1z1 issue. urghhh.

Great thread will be running Wipperman 808 for polo soon!

What's the toughest 1/8 chain out there, the Wippermann 1G8?

Looks like it could be at 1.5t breaking load, I haven't any experience with it so the strongest one i ever used on and off track was the Izumi Super V, lasted years with minimal stretch, but its so so expensive.

What's the toughest 1/8 chain out there, the Wippermann 1G8?

1G8 is for grinding, and 96 links might not be long enough for a road bike. If you can break a 1R8, give British Cycling a call as they might be on the lookout for a new man-one in the team sprint.

hmmm I need a chain for the BMX and a chain for the brooklyn, I figured that I may as well go with the toughest.

Bushed 3/32 chain, anyone know any?

Wippermann 7R8 or 7Z1

The vibration is coming from the "chain suck": as the chain pings off the teeth it vibrates.

I have this at the moment, I can see the chain dipping down slightly on the sprocket and then popping loose. I have also noticed the chain rises under tension on the sprocket in the same way it would on the chain ring to indicate wear, it doesn't rise on the chain ring. Not had a chance to check the wear yet but I only fitted the current chain (KMC 510HX) in April and although having done some millage I've not done a vast amount. Would it be worn already? If it is it has lasted less time that my SRAM PC7 which isn't great as KMC advertise it as stretch resistant blah blah blah....