Worst thing ever.
Today I went for a group ride with the club, and nearing the top of the first hill it started to sound like my shit was mis-shifting. My initial reaction was “thats weird, cables must have stretched a little or something”
Then BAM, so I think I’ve tossed a chain. Roll to the top of the hill, look down, chain is gone.
Found it like, 20 feet back, one of the female links 7 sorts of fucked up.
Ruins my road ride plans AND I’ll probably have to go to my previous place of employment to buy a new one and it’s going to be awkward.
Broken chains do indeed suck. I snapped two chains within a week last fall, but both were because I either installed it like a dumbass or pieced together old chains in my excitement to ride a bike that was otherwise complete instead of getting a new chain like a sane person would. Both incidents found me walking a pretty ridiculous distance to the shop with a look of shame on my face, not fun.
No other shops you could go to, frank? And wah happened to your employment at said shop?
[quote=Elderberry]Broken chains do indeed suck. I snapped two chains within a week last fall, but both were because I either installed it like a dumbass or pieced together old chains in my excitement to ride a bike that was otherwise complete instead of getting a new chain like a sane person would. Both incidents found me walking a pretty ridiculous distance to the shop with a look of shame on my face, not fun.
No other shops you could go to, frank? And wah happened to your employment at said shop?[/quote]
Only shop closer than a half hour drive,
AND.
When I was hired, I told them I would be racing weekends in the spring and that was all chill until spring came around and they tried to schedule me for no time other than weekends. So when I gave them my availability, they said they would send a schedule and never did. I asked when I was working a couple times, each time being told they would send me a schedule but never responding to my emails. One day I went in to buy tires, and they just didnt give me my employee discount and the next time i asked about working my manager fed me some bullshit about me not being reliable, even though I’m around every weekday. I got fired and no one bothered to call me.
On another note, is it bad to simply put chain ends together traditional style, like, by using a chain breaker? I’ve always done it cause I hate master links, but I’ve never bothered to see if theres anything wrong with it. Someone school me?
Every link you assemble using an old pin is going to be weaker than both an unbroken link and a properly used masterlink. I don’t think it is a huge deal, but if you do it a bunch (like if you clean your chain off the bike several times), your chain will be weaker. If you replace your chain every 6 months or so like you should, you’ll probably be fine. Shimano chains never use a masterlink, but you have to use a new pin to reconnect them.
I’ve reassembled the chain on my fixed gear bikes many times (with the old pin) and I’ve never had a problem. But I don’t see why you shouldn’t like masterlinks. They make shit a lot easier.
I piece together old chains all the time for tallbikes and stuff and have never had one break. these bikes are basically for cruising and don’t get mashed on hard, and it doesn’t matter too much if the chain skips a little or if they don’t shift properly. For my regular bikes, I definitely try to use a master link or new pin. I don’t always do things the way you’re supposed to though, and I have never ever had a problem.
We had a recumbent guy come in to the shop once and ask for half of a 9spd chain. We asked him if he needed sram or shimano and he said it didn’t matter. No only was this dude mixing old and new chains (he needed a chain that was 2.5 times the length of a stock chain so he just threw together what he had), but he was linking shimano to sram without any sort of master link or sub-pin. We kind of looked at him funny and said we could only sell him a 9spd chain in a box, not just half of it. He started getting a little pissed, but then another mechanic heard about the brand mixing and started telling him how dangerous it was to do that and he got really mad at us. Dude ended up storming out, saying that he wasn’t coming back. That was a good day in the shop.
welp, we shall see how it goes haha.
i’ll just keep the chain breaker with me i suppose.
I use the masterlink on my road bike, but not on my fixed beater, as I’m sometimes using a half link on it anyways. I do keep a mini chain tool and a couple links with me most times just in case somethin’ stupid happens.
That sucks about your employment, dude. And that it’s the only shop anywhere near. There’s about forty shops in the MInneapolis/St. Paul area, so I guess I’ve gotten spoiled with the availability of bicycle-related commerce.
Believe it or not, about 15 minutes after I read this thread, the exact same thing that happened in the OP happened to me while sprinting to outrun a bus.
Fortunately I was able to avoid being run over and had a chain breaker on my multitool.
Unlike the OP, none of the links or plates were mangled. The pin was simply missing.
[quote=Elderberry]I use the masterlink on my road bike, but not on my fixed beater, as I’m sometimes using a half link on it anyways. I do keep a mini chain tool and a couple links with me most times just in case somethin’ stupid happens.
That sucks about your employment, dude. And that it’s the only shop anywhere near. There’s about forty shops in the MInneapolis/St. Paul area, so I guess I’ve gotten spoiled with the availability of bicycle-related commerce.[/quote]
Well, I dont go in there much now, and if I ever need any labor done on my bike I’ll make the drive elsewhere for it, so it’s no big deal really. But yeah, a bit off-putting
What brand (and “speed”) of chain was it? The newer ones cannot be joined in the traditional manner by pushing the original pin into place. The Shimano chains use a special replacement pin and most other use a masterlink. Pushing the original pin back in is asking for trouble. I have seen derailleurs and hangers ripped off when a chain snaps under load.
I broke a chain on while I was mashing up a gnarly uphill on the mtb. It was the fucking suck, I could have been hurt bad. Didn’t have a chain breaker so I tried to put it back together by bashing the pin back in with a rock. It worked for about 20 mintues and then it broke again. I now carry extra links/chainpins/breaker on the mtb. Hasn’t happened to me on a road bike yet.
I’ve only broken one chain before, and it was after a drunken bike maintenance session. I bet it wasn’t a coincidence.
Pushing the pin out and back in will often lead to a broken link. I generally keep plenty of these around:
Though I mostly use Sram chains with masterlinks now as the 9s variety is better and cheaper than the Shimano alternative. I’ve had the same experience with a badly spliced chain. Rode it for a couple days at which point it broke and I nearly went over the handlebars. Ended up walking very far.
reading this thread almost makes me think that it would be a good idea to get one of those ridiculously expensive campy chain tools.
Or just use a masterlink.
snapped a chain once while crossing a 3 lane (each way, 6 lanes total) road in Shanghai. Truck was coming at me, good thing i gave the thing enough of a push before it snapped to get me across to the other lanes where there was no traffic. Very scary, now i’m super aware of chains, the setup, maintenance, and wear and tear.
FWIW I broke a plate on a Z chain once (actually a few times), patched it up with random links and continued to use it for a year. Still run it on my polo bike.
A chain that runs with a straight chainline is a different matter than a multi-speed chain that has to flex a good deal (esp. 9 and 10 speed chains). I would be reasonably comfortable with a patched together single speed chain, but very uncomfortable doing it on my road bike.
i pressed the pin in a 10s sram chain. needed to break it because i missed that tab on the rear der. and the power link is permanent.
so i thought oh well i’ll just break it and press the pin back in.
thought it was cool until my chain broke on me a month or so later.
i just use the power link now. you can buy them at the bike shop for pretty cheap.
any 9 or 10s chain it is probably better to use the link.
i think maybe campy has a special tool to use a pin in their chains though…
1/8" chains i just break and repress pin…never had a problem.