I did some work on my Rohloff bike today, installing a new chain & chainring and reversing the sprocket. When trying out the bike afterwards, something in the drive train was making a loud cracking noise under load. First I thought it was the hub, but after a while, I tracked it down to the new chain I had put on. Putting on the old chain was the only thing that made the noise go away.
What would cause this kind of noise on a new chain? Did I break it or did it came broken out of the factory? Should I try to get a refund?
You can hear the cracking here: