You'll always tend to hear more about things that go wrong than right, especially in forums and blogs on the net. For every split link disaster story there are probably thousands of people quietly getting on with running split links, covering tens of thousands of miles without issue. Bad news always sells more copy than good news, and those with an axe to grind tend to shout the loudest!

As you say, a good deal of failures are down to user error or poor quality parts. In fact I've seen/heard more failed endless and rivet link chains than those with spring clips and often, as you suggest, it's not the link that fails at all. Personally, I have no fear of split links or spring clips. I have run them for over thirty years on all manner of bikes (a lot of them more powerful than the XT) without any hint of trouble. Many friends of mine race classic bikes, and race them hard, who all use split links (mainly because it makes maintenance, repair and gearing changes easier and quicker). A good few of them wire-lock the link for added security, which is a great idea if you're at all paranoid about them.



Each to their own though. At the end of the day you must run what you feel happy with/suits your needs best.

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