I went through everything I own. That’s not hyperbole, I physically touched every single thing I owned today. It’s “easy” when your entire world is a 10’x13’ bedroom with a closet but still a considerable amount of work when you’ve compartmentalized and developed storage like I have. Still, no luck. I think I must have taken it to the office (courier office) at some point and then at that point it was gone.
On the good side though I spent probably 5 hours cleaning out everything I own and throwing away a LOT of shit.
But tomorrow I will go to the office to scour for my chain breaker so I can finally fucking finish this bike. And then not ride it for months because I still can’t ride a fucking bike.
I put a tubeless tire/rim wheel on the back of my LHT. Seems to ride nice. Front is still my $100 IDC Sanyo wheel, just keeps trucking along but isn’t tubeless. Seems like an upgrade, something like a nice 3W Shimano hub and an Adventure 2 rim is gonna be like $230ish, new tire gonna be another $40 or so from Germany, is it worth $300 to go full tubeless on a dead-ender bike?
Pro: can put dynamo wheel on my basket bike but then I gotta buy more lights
Con: $300 more sunk into a LHT
I just used my Crank Brothers chainbreaker the other day when I snapped a link on my ride home (incidentally Todd, that was why I was having weird shifting problems). I forgot how much work it is to use but it did the job just fine on my 11 speed chain, and I put a quick link in and rode home.
Like Andrew said, it’s the same as a mini pump - don’t buy one to use at home, but it to have for when you or a friend inevitably need to break a chain in order to make it home.
I got a Surly Wart Fork for free and I’m putting it on an old Trek 970. It’s not impressively heavier than the 1x1 fork on my Trek 850, so I don’t see the problem with it.
Incidentally, that bike belongs in this thread. It’s a 26" full OX Platinum mountain bike frame from the 1990s, and it was totally twisted and bent to shit, with a few layers of paint on it that took a fucking year to scrub off. Then I went about aligning the frame, which fortunately I can do since my shop still has old VAR frame tools in the backroom and I’m the only one who actually knows how to use them. I’m going to build it like a straight-up trend machine with dirt drops from Recycled Cycles and the dynamo front wheel from my 850 (the 850 is getting a donor wheel from a discarded Ofo bike, RIP Ofo). You guys (and probably me too) are going to hate it.
I 100 % get carrying a chain breaker and I have one in my bag (an 8sp one, should get a new one for skinny chains but it works ok).
I also carry a spare master link.
I’m baffled by the master link removal tools that have the slot for a spare and are apparently marketed as on the bike tools. I’ve never needed to remove a master link during a ride and can’t imagine a scenario in which I would need to. Only ever done it when switching out derailleurs. Broken chain: remove broken link with chain breaker, replace with new master link, stand on pedals to secure.
Is there a use case for these things that I’m not aware of, or are they as unnecessary as I think they are?
I once was a total dingus and broke open a chain at the masterlink, lost one side of the masterlink on the trail but a friend had an extra set of masterlinks that I popped on to replace. I was only half paying attention when I threaded the chain through the dangler cage and managed to get the chain on the wrong side of that cage tab that sits between the top and bottom pulley. Dammit. Didn’t have a breaker tool so I just rode home the last few miles listening to the horrible sound of chain on tab rubbing. By the time I got home I had almost cut through the entire tab. Wish I had a chain breaker tool on that trip but my problem is an edge case.
Yeah, I can’t think of a single reason to bring quick link pliers on a ride. In fact, it’s fucking stupid. Like bringing along a bottom bracket tool or a spare seatpost collar. If you’re going to prepare for literally any possible problem on your bike, you might as well never leave the house.
If you’re changing derailleurs trailside then … what the fuck?
