Likely your old chain had stretched enough to wear some of the cassette cogs and so the new chain doesn't mesh up with them well. Very common.

 

The whole setup is brand new. I’ve put less than 10 miles on the bike.

 

Could the new KMC chain just be tighter link to link than the SRAM eagle chain? I can see both chains that the chain is of course not straight at the large chainring in the rear opposed to the front, but that’s to be expected. Just curious if I should put the cheaper SRAM back on. If noise is just that, noise and won’t cause premature wear, I don’t mind it. More concerned with wear earlier on than with the other chain.

 

Could the new KMC chain just be tighter link to link than the SRAM eagle chain?

It's definitely tighter than the old sram chain but identical to a new one. Any new chain will make a similar noise. The old one you took off will run quiet.

Leaving the new chain on will cause undue wear because it will grind the offending cogs to make them fit it. Eventually it will quiet down though.

 

Oh ok. So even ten miles on all new components will make them wear together? The bike has I believe 7 miles on it out of the box lol

 

The bike has I believe 7 miles on it out of the box lol

That info would have been helpful. lol.

 

Here’s a link to it…

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

 

All 1x chains will be somewhat noisy in the extremes due to angle of the chain. SRAM Eagle chains run quieter because they have beveled edges on the outer links. I don’t know if your KMC chain has that, if not, that may be why it is noisy.

 

Is the wear between beveled and non beveled fairly consistent? The KMC chain seems to be a bit more quality in terms of the pin peening (rivets) and the link play. Pushing the SRAM pins out VS the KMC was night and day difference. If the component wear will be the same or close mileage (or hour) wise I’ll just run the KMC. If it’s going to be a big difference the KMC will be a trail backup and I’ll run another eagle GX.

 

I’ve used a few of the x12 KMc chains and have had similar issues including rapid wear. I won’t use it again. In use sram eagle chains on 11s road and 12s mtb exclusively. The quality of the sram chain is an order of magnitude better

 

and the quality jump from GX to X01 is also very noticeable (durability / longevity)

 

Check your B-gap. The first chain might have been sized incorrectly.

 

System engineering - since you have full SRAM Eagle, stick with SRAM chain like XX!. It's the best for your setup.

I tried KMC on my full SRAM eagle and it sucked. It's not smooth and it is noisy. Switched immediately to XX1, it made a world of a difference.

 

I have a KMC on one bike and an XX1 on another at the moment. Adjusted, I can't tell too much of a difference. I certainly don't get the noise the OP is getting. At all. Does it wear faster? Sure.

 

Switched back to GX chain per your guys recommendation. Will use KMC as a backup chain.

 

just keep a close eye on stretch. You can hose a drivetrain if you go past a certain point. Gets spensive when you have to replace cassette and chainring. Its why my GX stuff became X01...much harder materials.