Review on KMC Z51RB Rust-Buster, 6/7/8 Speed Chain, 116 Links, Multi-Colored by Nathan Ortiz

I have the second of these mountain bike chains that I use for both the occasional and regular commute to uni. My bike needs to live outdoors and ride through salt/mud/sand without regular washes/brushes if it's going about 5-10 miles a week. I've never had this chain grate. It has either an electroplated finish or a zinc finish that is not worn, chipped, rusted, etc. The only problem with the plating is that a new chain wears away the EXCESS plating, resulting in a black, greasy deposit. It's a little dirty, but not as bad as rust. It could also be the result of the wet bike chain lube I use. I remember reading a mention of these chains flexing under heavy use when I first bought them. I can tell you that I don't think a good example of this chain will do that. under normal conditions. For more than 1 year of use I personally have not experienced a single failure. I broke the chain but that was because some hooligans stole the bike to ride BMX. In particular, it was bending over my chainring because (I think) someone was hitting most of their weight on the derailleur without pedaling. When it bent I was able to fix it by finding the chain pins and replacing the two affected links with the extra links I received when I installed the chain, but I decided to replace the entire chain as I had the chainrings and wanted to replace the cassette. At this point (1 year of use) the coating was still sufficient to keep the wear surfaces of the chain from rusting after a week of non-use outdoors in rain and salt. In addition, it was still quite flexible between chain lubrication and coating, which indicates that the inner surfaces do not rust either.