Welcome to the YBN SLA 410 1/8th chain – the worlds lightest and fastest track / bmx / 1/8th standard chain.
Ybn SLA 410 – TITAINIUM ROLLER chain – 283grams for 116 links, Normal YBN SLA 410 – 315 grams for 116 links – vs Izumi Super toughness at 380 grams for only 106 links.
It also happens to be very strong (tensile tested stronger than Izumi Super toughness whilst being much lighter), and with an absolutely lovely smooth ride.
“NORMAL” track chains are often a “Bushing” design – this means that unlike our derailleur chains made to be laterally flexible for shifting where the roller sits directly on top of the inner link plate shoulders – bushing chains have a roller which sits on top of a cylindrical “bushing” which in turn sits on top of the pin. This introduces and extra set of surfaces which will of course have a cost in terms of extra friction.
On top of this, there are often VERY tight tolerances between side of roller and inner link plate, as well as outer and inner link plates down which for bushing chains is the access to lubricate the pin inside the bushing. This makes proper prep, lubrication, and lubrication maintenance of many bushing chains VERY difficult. Ie properly cleaning the factory grease out, and then getting wax in (or even simply a high quality fast drip lubricant / drip wax) very difficult. And for those who do immersive wax a bushing chain, the initial break in – especially trying to break the bond between roller and bushing – very difficult and it can take literally hours to properly free up, and then you hope you managed to get wax deep down across the pin.
Prepping and waxing a YBN SLA 410 is as easy as any other derailleur chain, as is the initial break in. They are simply faster to start with, but also extremely easy to make super fast by stripping factory grease and immersive waxing or using a top wax drip or fast oil like synergetic / black diamond / Revolubes.
Going back some years Ceramic Speeds Denmark Research lab completed testing of many of the main track chain options on behalf of some Federations to help them determine the fastest track chain for the upcoming Olympics. The 410 was in a league of its own re speed, being within a small fraction of a watt as fast as the chain speed benchmark being shimano’s Dura Ace 11spd chain.
At the same time ZFC (myself) conducted tensile strength testing and the 410 – despite being by far the lightest track chain on test – was also over 1000N higher tensile strength vs the Izumi super toughness.
By removing the bushing and running a similar design to a derailleur chain (but obviously adjusted to run as a single speed chain) – YBN have ensured more lateral tolerance flex vs most other 1/8th chains – most especially bushing design chains. Whilst all are designed to run in a perfectly straight line on single speed bikes, under very high power ALL frames and chain rings will exhibit some level of flex, which can put significant lateral loads onto the chain. It has been observed by a previous technical director at Cycling Australia that the brands chain they were using at the time (the biggest and most well used / known brand..) that post their most powerful sprinters hard efforts they would sometimes have bent links, and sometimes this could result in chain coming off cog or ring. With extremely tight tolerances, any flex causing the chain line to no longer be perfectly straight will introduce significant lateral loads (and extra friction losses) as now the side of the roller is pressing hard against inner plate link etc. With some tolerance vs extremely tight tolerance, not only is this issue avoided, but again you have the bonus of the chain being vastly easier to prep and lubricate / re lubricate / wax – as there is some small gaps to allow for lubricant penetrations and frame flex, vs practically zero on both fronts with most other track chains especially bushing 1/8th chains.
As summary the 410 is;
- Faster to much faster
- Much lighter
- STRONGER
- Allows for frame and chain ring flex
- Vastly easier to prep / wax / lubricate and maintain
- Very smooth and lovely to ride.
- Avoids the difficult break that occurs when waxing bushing chains.
Is there any negative to the 410?! Only one, but it is not unique to the 410. It does not have great wear life – especially if using a meh lubricant. On the best lubricants / wax – you will get a lot of great racing from a 410, but keep track of its elongation wear and replace by 0.5% wear. It has absolutely every single top of category performance point except for wear life. But note…. In general despite their beefy looks, most 1/8th chain actually have very poor wear life vs say quality 11 and 12spd chains – they simply lack the special chromium hardening treatments of the more expensive 11 and 12spd chains, and so most 1/8th chains have a relatively poor wear lifespan.
Other than that – the 410 is peerless in all other areas of performance, it has been a VERY popular track race chain for years, and has had some outstandingly good Olympics re wins and medals for various Federations in the know.
