What do i need to fix a snapped chain on the road in an ever
Discussion
Bit of a numpty question here but what exactly do i need to repair a shipped chain in an emergency? got a couple of events coming up and would hate them to be ruined by a snapped chain. It looks a fairly simple task but what exactly do i need to do it as different chains seem to need different types of links. The chains our bikes use are as below.
KMC X10L and KMC X10 NP
KMC X10L and KMC X10 NP
Any chain can use a link (or probably a pin too).
A link is the easiest / safest way to fix a breakage on the road. If you snap it you'll need a chain tool - you'll be left with a pair of outer plates you don't want - a link joins two inner parts. A pin joins a outer/inner pair, but if it just snapped, chances are the outers will be a mess.
I keep a spare KMC link and a chain tool in my toolkit. If it breaks, that'll get you rolling again in mins.
A link is the easiest / safest way to fix a breakage on the road. If you snap it you'll need a chain tool - you'll be left with a pair of outer plates you don't want - a link joins two inner parts. A pin joins a outer/inner pair, but if it just snapped, chances are the outers will be a mess.
I keep a spare KMC link and a chain tool in my toolkit. If it breaks, that'll get you rolling again in mins.
A quick link is easier because if you use a pin you'll need to carry something that can cut the end once its in place. Also get one of these to save yourself getting covered in oil when the chain snaps.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/x-tools-chain-c...
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/x-tools-chain-c...
Edited by paulmon on Friday 5th August 07:24
I carry a chain link tool and a quick link - you can replace the snapped link with a quicklink, even if it was a pin link. If you see what I mean !
Just check though - my chain tool is attached to my multitool. Which is great..... except the allen key you need to turn it is also on the multitool so you can't use it for the chain tool. Unless I am being dense! (Entirely possible!) So I carry a spare allen key in the right size too, just to save messing around.
Just check though - my chain tool is attached to my multitool. Which is great..... except the allen key you need to turn it is also on the multitool so you can't use it for the chain tool. Unless I am being dense! (Entirely possible!) So I carry a spare allen key in the right size too, just to save messing around.
dreamer75 said:
I carry a chain link tool and a quick link - you can replace the snapped link with a quicklink, even if it was a pin link. If you see what I mean !
Just check though - my chain tool is attached to my multitool. Which is great..... except the allen key you need to turn it is also on the multitool so you can't use it for the chain tool. Unless I am being dense! (Entirely possible!) So I carry a spare allen key in the right size too, just to save messing around.
My multitool allows me to remove the Allen key needed to drive the chain breaker. It's all I use. I carry a Quicklink too, it speeds things up hugely compared to farting about with rivets. The last time I had to mend a chain I was in the middle of the Barden Moor at the back of Rylstone and it was p*ssing down, so I didn't want to hang around.Just check though - my chain tool is attached to my multitool. Which is great..... except the allen key you need to turn it is also on the multitool so you can't use it for the chain tool. Unless I am being dense! (Entirely possible!) So I carry a spare allen key in the right size too, just to save messing around.
Park Tools' 'CT-5 Mini Chain Brute' is my chain splitter of choice. Robust, is fairly flat to store, and you can replace the pin if it breaks...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/park-tool-chain-brute-chai... Wiggle - @ £9.99 currently.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/park-tool-mini-... CRC - @ £10.49
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-maintenance/b...
la-211146540484|crid:89798789164|nw:g|rnd:16713024584154349339|dvc:c|adp:1o3&gclid=CMi9sbzxqc4CFRYTGwod-GgLsQ Halfords have it @ £9.99 too and they do 'Click and Collect'. (Ignore that 'tongue out' smilie - it's hidden in the link code, but the link still works)
That wee beastie will pop the pin(s) out of your chain to isolate and remove broken/damaged link(s).
Repair links? I used to use KMC Quick Links, but found that when dirty they are a pain to split by hand. Dead easy to fit fresh ones though.
Recently, on my MTB, I switched to Wipperman Connex re-usable chain links. Slightly different design, supposedly easier to split by hand, and certified as re-usable (for the life of the chain)...
Quite possibly more expensive than the KMC links, but so far I'm impressed.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/wippermann-connex-10-speed... Wiggle again @ £6.05
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/wippermann-connex-li... Ribble Cycles @ £6.05 too
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/wipperman-connex... Pedal On @ £7.99
I'd err on the side of caution, and carry more than one spare link. Which would, in pure VFM terms, point you toward KMC as they are often priced and carded in pairs, whereas the Wipperman type are singles. I had a chain snap at a race this year, barely 150 miles old, and it very nearly cost me my race because I'd not gotten around to buying the right links for it (plenty of 8-speed in my kit from the previous bike
). I was lucky in so far as I had a pliers on me and I fashioned a bodge to complete the race, but had to take it easy and walk the climbs for fear of it snapping again. Get your spares right from the get-go, and keep them with/in/on the bike. They're like umbrellas - you only seem to need them when you've left them at home... 
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/park-tool-chain-brute-chai... Wiggle - @ £9.99 currently.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/park-tool-mini-... CRC - @ £10.49
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-maintenance/b...
la-211146540484|crid:89798789164|nw:g|rnd:16713024584154349339|dvc:c|adp:1o3&gclid=CMi9sbzxqc4CFRYTGwod-GgLsQ Halfords have it @ £9.99 too and they do 'Click and Collect'. (Ignore that 'tongue out' smilie - it's hidden in the link code, but the link still works)That wee beastie will pop the pin(s) out of your chain to isolate and remove broken/damaged link(s).
Repair links? I used to use KMC Quick Links, but found that when dirty they are a pain to split by hand. Dead easy to fit fresh ones though.
Recently, on my MTB, I switched to Wipperman Connex re-usable chain links. Slightly different design, supposedly easier to split by hand, and certified as re-usable (for the life of the chain)...
Quite possibly more expensive than the KMC links, but so far I'm impressed.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/wippermann-connex-10-speed... Wiggle again @ £6.05
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/wippermann-connex-li... Ribble Cycles @ £6.05 too
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/wipperman-connex... Pedal On @ £7.99
I'd err on the side of caution, and carry more than one spare link. Which would, in pure VFM terms, point you toward KMC as they are often priced and carded in pairs, whereas the Wipperman type are singles. I had a chain snap at a race this year, barely 150 miles old, and it very nearly cost me my race because I'd not gotten around to buying the right links for it (plenty of 8-speed in my kit from the previous bike
). I was lucky in so far as I had a pliers on me and I fashioned a bodge to complete the race, but had to take it easy and walk the climbs for fear of it snapping again. Get your spares right from the get-go, and keep them with/in/on the bike. They're like umbrellas - you only seem to need them when you've left them at home... Pachydermus said:
In 30+ years of club cycling I've never seen a snapped chain. Am I just lucky?
Have I just cursed myself?
I've had two plain straightforward chain snaps. Both MTB, one on sandy heathland and the other in a beach race. Common factor was sandy surface and probably being in too high a gear when I 'bogged down'. Both were repaired with improvised bodges, one effected with a flint using the chainset as an anvil, the other with the pliers on a Leatherman tool. In both cases, a quick-link repair would have been faster, and I'd have had more confidence in the result, rather than being restricted to 'get-you-home' purely emergency measures.Have I just cursed myself?
The only other one was a road bike which dropped the chain off, fed the derailleur into the rear wheel, and damaged the chain in several places. The one quick-link I had got me going again, but eventually, 30 miles later, the chain snapped again elsewhere and I walked the rest of the way home. Hence why I'd suggest always carrying more than one spare link, no matter how skilled or resourceful you think you are.
On a similar sort of vein, does anyone know if there's a repair that will effectively turn a mountain bike into a single speed in the unlikely event of snapping the replaceable hanger and stupidly not carrying a replacement - which is what happened last weekend to me on the West Highland Way.
I was carrying a chain tool so was able to split the chain, remove the rear dereuiller & broken hanger, and then take out a few links to put the chain back on but it was either just a little too loose (& therefore skipping up & down the cogs) or a little too tight (& therefore locking up the back wheel). I concluded that even as a single speed, you need some kind of chain tensioner so had no option but to remove the chain completely and use the bike as an expensive scooter for the last 7 miles into Fort William.
Was I missing something obvious?
I was carrying a chain tool so was able to split the chain, remove the rear dereuiller & broken hanger, and then take out a few links to put the chain back on but it was either just a little too loose (& therefore skipping up & down the cogs) or a little too tight (& therefore locking up the back wheel). I concluded that even as a single speed, you need some kind of chain tensioner so had no option but to remove the chain completely and use the bike as an expensive scooter for the last 7 miles into Fort William.
Was I missing something obvious?
dreamer75 said:
Just check though - my chain tool is attached to my multitool. Which is great..... except the allen key you need to turn it is also on the multitool so you can't use it for the chain tool. Unless I am being dense! (Entirely possible!) So I carry a spare allen key in the right size too, just to save messing around.
My multi tool (topeak I think) the side comes off (i think you're meant to be able to use it as a tyre lever) and has a little allen key built into the side to use to turn the chain splitter. gansstraat said:
On a similar sort of vein, does anyone know if there's a repair that will effectively turn a mountain bike into a single speed in the unlikely event of snapping the replaceable hanger and stupidly not carrying a replacement - which is what happened last weekend to me on the West Highland Way.
I was carrying a chain tool so was able to split the chain, remove the rear dereuiller & broken hanger, and then take out a few links to put the chain back on but it was either just a little too loose (& therefore skipping up & down the cogs) or a little too tight (& therefore locking up the back wheel). I concluded that even as a single speed, you need some kind of chain tensioner so had no option but to remove the chain completely and use the bike as an expensive scooter for the last 7 miles into Fort William.
Was I missing something obvious?
I don't think you were missing anything. You can only get away without a chain tensioner if you are lucky enuogh to find a gear/chain combination that fits exactly. I managed this on a SS conversion for an old pub-beach-town bike, but it was by luck rather than judgement. It's enormously difficult to do and not something I could ever do on the run. You'll end up having it run to the smaller gears whenever it gets the chance. There's little point in carrying a tensioner after all, may as well carry a spare derailleur.I was carrying a chain tool so was able to split the chain, remove the rear dereuiller & broken hanger, and then take out a few links to put the chain back on but it was either just a little too loose (& therefore skipping up & down the cogs) or a little too tight (& therefore locking up the back wheel). I concluded that even as a single speed, you need some kind of chain tensioner so had no option but to remove the chain completely and use the bike as an expensive scooter for the last 7 miles into Fort William.
Was I missing something obvious?
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