Connex 11sX 11-Speed Chain - 118 Links

I was hesitant to purchase such an expensive chain for my commute bike, which runs a mix of Ultegra and 105 11-speed. A mix because, as I wear out the 105 components it came built with, I am upgrading to Ultegra for its hopefully more sturdy build. See, I put 40 miles a day round trip on my commuter, 4-5 days per week depending upon how lazy I get. That adds up quickly, and being a big guy I tend to erode cassettes and stretch chains on a regular basis. I replace my chain about twice a year once the chain gauge makes it clear, as it the noisy shifts and chain slap do not indicate. The cassettes go just as quickly and usually get swapped about the same time.I regularly clean and wax treat my chain using a 20-year old jar of Performance paraffin lube. Up until the Wipperman I was using the Dura-Ace chains, since the price difference was not that great. I also used the KMC master links made for 11-speed chains, which are supposed to be one time use, but I found them to work fine at least 4-5 times before I ended up losing them during the chain clean. The wax was only applied after a new chain started to get noisy. If you have not switched to waxing your chain, I suggest giving it a go. The difference is impressive, going from noisy to almost silent when peddling. Bit messy, but not all that difficult or expensive.Back to the Wipperman. This thing was pretty, making the Dura-Ace chain look down right rough straight out of the box. Feels smoother, although that may be rationalizing on my part having spent this much on a chain. Having stainless inner links is what I assume makes the Wipperman so pricey. Supposed to be better at handling water, although I have yet to experience rust on any of my chains with decent maintenance, and I live and ride in a humid area. What sold me on the Wipperman was the Connex link that is supposed to be reusable. Itself it costs about 1/2 the chain, so I justified the purchase based on the cost of the Connex link. Seemed reasonable in my mind...especially once I read the horror stories of chain links (replaceable?) breaking while riding.Installing the chain is pretty simple. Measure out the length of your old chain, checking two more times to be safe, then use a chain breaker to shorten the new chain down, and connect using the Connex link. I suggest going to the Wipperman website and downloading the instructions for the proper orientation of the link, as the included sheet has too small a print for my aging eyes to decipher. Once you see it, you will get it I should add.In the one month of use so far, I find the chain smooth and mostly quiet. Not as quiet as a fully waxed chain, but the addition of some Boeshield T-9 solved that. Once I perform my monthly maintenance of cleaning and waxing, I expect it will be just as quiet. Long term, I will report on later. I will keep track of my mileage and see how long it lasts before requiring replacement.Recommended.25 December 2018 update:I managed to get about 2,500 miles out of the chain before it stretched too much, both via chain chain gauge (cheap Nashbar clone of Park Tool’s lower end model) and eventual slipping on new cassette. I regularly maintained cleaning in mineral spirits, skipping previous Simple Green in sonicator after discovering rust on pins (probably from getting a bit too lax in letting it air dry). A quick soak in some aqueous rust agent fixed that, followed by a quick dip in isopropanol. That aside, I regularly hot waxed it after an hour or so soak in mineral spirits. Also went to using White Lightning (in place of Boeshield) on it between waxing, which helped reduce maintenance time.Other than the slight rust issue, the chain worked great. The link is still going strong with the much less expensive Connex 11S0 model, and the usual Ultegra chains. Which brings me to a “but,” in my recommendation.I still think it is a great chain, but I will no longer be ordering the 11SX model. Yes, it lasted a bit longer than some of the Shimano chains I have used, but at significant price. I can not longer justify the cost, given that I can get more distance out of two Shimano or Connex 11S0 chains together. I have decided on the 11S0 chains, since it also includes the same reusable link for half the price. What I now do is rotate four total mixed 11S0 and Dura-Ace chains on and off the bike, as needed. This roughly works out to once a month, depending upon weather and the number of days I commute. Once the wax wears off and the chain gets noisy, I remove the current chain and replace it with an already waxed chain and link. The previous chain then gets a long soak in mineral spirits until another swap, after setting the clean chain aside to dry (no rust so far). Then I do a big wax session with several cleaned chains.So, the 11SX is still nice (and pretty, if a chain can be that), but just not economical for me. The ideal setup would be multiple 11SX chains in the same rotation, of course!

I’ve had these chains on three bikes and the master link is the star of the show. The chain degreases easily, the master link is infinitely re-usable, it shifts great on my GRX 810, 105, Force1 and Rival1. If you don’t remove the chain from your bike often then these probably aren’t worth it. I can’t say that they are any better than other chains, but I do tend to get about 4K miles on them

The one and only bike chain you should consider putting on your two wheel steed. That coupled with the simplicity of the Wippermann Quick Connect link makes this the best chain on the market

I get at least twice the milage out of this chain versus the regular Shimano ones. Shifts cleanly and Quicklink means that the chain can be removed and reinstalled very easily.

I love the Wipperman Connex Chains this is my second and it works great. Strong and the quick link is the best in the industry.

My Bicycle came with a KMC Chain...broke 3 times over the Winter months. This high quality Chain hasn't broke and is dirt simple to install/remove due to the tool-less link mechanism.

Great stainless steel chain rollers, reusable links included. Works on an Ultegra UDi2 and Dura-Ace Chainrings. Not noisy and quiet shifting probably because of the electronic shifting but works for me.

I have used Wipperman Connex chains for the past 9 years, logging about 20,000 miles on a 10 speed cassette drive train with no problems. I just updated my bike with all new components (new wheels, cassette, derailleurs, cranks, and bottom bracket). The new system is SRAM Red 22 with the 11 speed cassette. I bought this new Wipperman Connex 11 speed chain thinking that it would work well since the 10 speed version worked so well on my previous SRAM Red 10 speed drive train. I was wrong. This 11 speed chain is noisy and hops and pops at the extremes of drive train tilt immediately upon installation on the new drive train. I immediately switched the chain to the SRAM Red 22 PC chain without adjusting the bike further, and all the noise and hops and pops disappeared immediately. I guess that the Wipperman Connex 11 speed chain is really not compatible with the new SRAM Red 22 drive train. By the way, I made sure that the Wipperman Connex master link was not installed upside down for this test. I will likely use the SRAM Red 22 PC chain with the Wipperman Connex master link, since that combination did not result in any problems.