It feels as if it should be easy to find the right part to replace your bicycle chain. But chains are one of those bike parts that appear simple but hide a web of fiendishly complex compatibility issues below the surface.
The easiest option might seem to be to replace your worn chain with the same model from the same brand, but even this is fraught with complications. You can potentially save yourself significant sums by trading down or going for an aftermarket chain brand too.
Here, we’ll unravel how to choose the right replacement chain for your bike and explain the pitfalls to look out for and what you get if you pay more for a chain.
Best bike chains for Shimano groupsets
- Shimano Dura-Ace/Ultegra/105/GRX 12-speed: KMC X12 Ti-N
- Shimano Ultegra/105/GRX 11-speed: KMC X11
- Shimano Tiagra/GRX 10-speed: Ultegra 10-speed
- Shimano Sora 9-speed: Shimano HG53 Deore
- Shimano Claris 8-speed: SRAM PC870
Best bike chains for SRAM groupsets
- SRAM Red AXS/Force AXS/Rival AXS/Apex XPLR 12-speed: SRAM Force D1
- SRAM Apex Eagle 12-speed: SRAM GX Eagle
- SRAM Force/Rival 11-speed: SRAM PC1130
- SRAM Apex 10-speed: KMC X10
Best bike chains for Campagnolo groupsets
- Campagnolo Ekar 13-speed: Campagnolo Ekar
- Campagnolo Super Record/Record/Chorus 12-speed: Campagnolo Chorus
- Campagnolo Centaur 11-speed: Campagnolo Centaur
Best single speed bike chain:
- KMC Z1 singlespeed chain
Related questions you can explore with Ask Cyclist, our new AI search engine.
When should I replace my chain?
Your chain needs to be replaced when it has stretched by a significant amount – 0.5 per cent stretch is the usual threshold for 11- or 12-speed chains, while 9- or 10-speed chains are generally deemed fine to 0.75 per cent stretch. Check out our guide to how to check your chain for wear.
We’ve also got a step-by-step guide to how to replace your chain and how to use chain quick links to speed up the process and make it more secure.
Best bike chain: Our picks for every major current groupset
For most groupsets there are a number of chains that will work including both the OEM one and aftermarket options. While there’s no single best option, here are our picks to balance value and performance.
Best bike chains for Shimano groupsets
Shimano Dura-Ace/Ultegra/105/GRX 12-speed
£26.24 (RRP £34.99) | View offer
If you want to add some extra pizzazz to your 12-speed groupset, you could do worse than the KMC X12 Ti-N chain. It's titanium nitride-coated to up its hardness. The links are highly worked, with tapered side plates and KMC's X-Bridge tech which it says makes for snappier shifting. It comes in a variety of colours too, including gold, gold/black and iridescent.
Shimano Ultegra/105/GRX 11-speed
£19.99 (RRP £25) | View offer
There's plenty of choice for 11-speed chains and the KMC X11 half nickel-coated chain is a good option. It has KMC's X-Bridge outer link design, which KMC claims leads to faster, smoother shifting. In our experience, it's durable too.
Shimano CN-6600 Ultegra 10 Speed Chain
£20.99 (RRP £34.99) | View offer
As we noted above, older groupsets had fewer speeds. Case in point, this Ultegra 10-speed chain. Coming from what was a higher spec groupset, it's a little more nicely finished than an in-series chain and comes with slotted sideplates. It can be found more cheaply too.
Shimano Sora 9-speed
£17.99 (RRP £22.99) | View offer
Shimano's 9-speed HG53 Deore mountain bike chain can be found significantly cheaper than its 9-speed road chains and should work just as well with the Sora groupset.
Shimano Claris 8-speed
£14.50 (RRP £18) | View offer
The SRAM PC870 chain is a good, inexpensive option for use with Shimano Claris. It comes with a SRAM PowerLink, so it's a little easier to connect the two ends of the chain than with a Shimano pin connector.
Best bike chains for SRAM groupsets
SRAM Rival D1 12-Speed Chain
£34.99 (RRP £33) | View offer
The cheapest in-series option for SRAM 12-speed groupsets is a Rival chain. Although you can fit an aftermarket chain, these don't have the flattop design, which might compromise shift quality. Both links are nickel-coated in a Rival chain, whereas Force and Red chains have a chrome-plated inner link. The brand’s Red chains add hollow pins.
SRAM Apex Eagle 12-speed
£27.16 (RRP £32) | View offer
While SRAM's other 12-speed groupsets follow the road-going idiom and use a flattop chain, the wide range Apex Eagle groupset in either electronic or mechanical form uses an MTB chain. This is slightly narrower than the flattop chain and has a more conventional appearance. As usual, you can go as flashy as you like, and SRAM offers an iridescent XX1 chain, but the GX Eagle chain does the job just as well and for a fraction of the cost.
SRAM Force/Rival 11-speed
£11.99 (RRP £24) | View offer
The SRAM PC1130 chain is a good option for the brand's 11-speed groupsets. It's relatively inexpensive, but should still prove durable and give good shifting with both SRAM and Shimano setups.
SRAM Apex 10-speed
£19.99 | View offer
Another KMC option with its X-Bridge outer side plates, the KMC X10 is a robust, non-directional chain that should work well with all 10-speed groupsets.
Best bike chains for Campagnolo groupsets
Campagnolo Ekar 13-speed
£37.99 | View offer
For a niche product with an extra-narrow profile, the Campagnolo Ekar chain is pretty good value. There are aftermarket chains that are claimed to work with Ekar, but it's probably worthwhile sticking with the in-groupset option.
Campagnolo Chorus 12-speed
£38.99 | View offer
We'd recommend another in-series chain for Campagnolo 12-speed groupsets. Although you could go for the Super Record chain, the Chorus chain is cheaper and comparable, just 20g heavier due to its non-hollow pins.
Campagnolo Centaur 11-speed
£39.99 (RRP £44.99) | View offer
The Campagnolo Potenza 11-speed groupset has been discontinued, but the chain is still compatible with the current Centaur 11-speed groupset and comes with slotted links to help keep the weight down.
Best single speed bike chain
KMC Z1
£9.20 | View offer
You don't need to spend a fortune to get a reliable single speed chain, although if you're competing there are coloured chains available if you want something more interesting, while there are also very expensive options such as the CeramicSpeed UFO track chain. We reckon that the KMC Z1 chain does all you need.
FAQ
How to choose the right chain for your bike
If you’ve got fewer than 12 speeds on your bike, the key consideration is the number of speeds it’s designed for. By ‘speeds’, we mean the number of sprockets in the cassette, not the notional number of gears you get by multiplying the numbers front and rear.
As the number of gear ratios has increased, chains have got thinner so that they fit the more closely spaced sprockets in the cassette. That means that a 9-speed chain may not work correctly with a 10-speed groupset, for example.
The main difference is the width of the side plates; the rollers that run over the teeth in your cassette and chainwheel are the same 2.18mm width for chains with nine, ten or 11 speeds, although they’re a different width from the 2.38mm rollers used by chains for eight speeds and less.
Almost all chains have the same half-inch (12.7mm) pitch – the distance between adjacent links. So an 11-speed or less chain designed for the correct number of speeds should work fine across all the road bike groupset brands, even Campagnolo, which is a bit of a non-conformist. That means you’re not confined to the same brand of chain as your groupset and that you can consider chains from aftermarket brands like KMC and Wipperman.
Things get more complex once you get to 12-speed chains, as the major groupset makers have diverged in chain width and design.
SRAM’s 12-speed road chains have a flattop design. The brand’s 12-speed road/gravel groupsets only work with this chain; you can’t use a SRAM 12-speed MTB chain or a chain from another road bike groupset maker with them. The exception is SRAM Apex Eagle, which does use an MTB chain.
In contrast, Shimano 12-speed road and gravel bike groupsets use the same chain range as its 12-speed MTB groupsets.
Campagnolo 12-speed chains are different again and also differ from the chain used by its 13-speed Ekar gravel groupset.
You can also buy 12-speed chains from aftermarket brands, principally for Shimano groupsets and SRAM MTB groupsets.
Another recently added complication is that Shimano has introduced Linkglide as an option for its groupsets with 11 speeds and fewer. This runs alongside its higher performance Hyperglide cassette configuration and uses a Linkglide chain with a different profile to the Hyperglide chain. Shimano is looked to rationalise its lower spec groupsets with the launch of CUES, which offers cross-compatible Linkglide parts across its lower spec groupsets.
Finally, if you have a fixie or single-speed bike, you'll need a different chain again. Single speed chains come in 3/32 and 1/8 inch widths, so you need to choose the right one for the rest of your drivetrain.
Should I just buy like-for-like?
The benefit of replacing your existing chain with the same model is that you’re never going to have to worry about compatibility – provided you have the same number of speeds. But newer generations of the same groupset typically add more speeds.
For example, the current R7100 generation of Shimano 105 is 12-speed. That’s up from 11-speed as of 2022 (although Shimano still sells the previous generation 11-speed 105 R7000 mechanical groupset). Go back to the 1990s and Shimano 105 had seven speeds; it’s added a sprocket every five years or so ever since. If in doubt, count the sprockets in your cassette.
If you have a 10-speed Shimano 105, Ultegra or Dura-Ace groupset on your bike, you’ll need to buy a current generation Shimano Tiagra 10-speed chain or a 10-speed chain from another brand to work with it, or you’ll need to find a shop that still has stock of the older groupset’s original chains.
Below 12 speeds, provided you’ve matched the number of speeds, there’s no benefit from buying an in-groupset chain. You can potentially save yourself some cash by trading down a groupset hierarchy or buying from an aftermarket chain brand.
A chain is, after all, a consumable item that you’re likely to need to replace in the same timeframe (along with your cassette) whether you spend £20 or £80.
What do I get if I spend more money on a bicycle chain?
So why spend more on a chain?
As with most things bike, the more you spend the less you get – at least as far as weight is concerned. Hollow pins and/or slotted side plates are popular weight savers. Your chain may be subject to more machining and have ramps that its maker claims improve shift performance.
You may get higher grade steel alloys or the chain may be coated to increase its durability. Lower down the pecking order, some brands treat each side of their chains differently, so you can find 'half-nickel' chains with only the outer side plate coated.
SRAM’s 12-speed chains have chrome links that it says make its Flattop chains up to four times as durable as its other chains – a handy feature in a chain that costs $60 (approx £50) for Force or $80 (approx £65) for Red.
Fancy coatings like KMC’s titanium carbon nitride may increase the chain’s surface hardness and hence its durability and also reduce friction in your drivetrain.
The most expensive chains have been specially prepared to reduce friction. CeramicSpeed’s UFO chains are claimed to save up to 5 watts over your first 650km. The coating may wash off in the rain though and the chains start at around €120 (approx £105).
If you want a flashy coloured chain to match your frame or SRAM’s latest limited edition iridescent Red chain, that will usually cost extra too.
Want to head off-road? Read our guide to the best gravel bikes
