How to break a chain whip

[Ajax Bay]

the chain snapped...
And of course on the bike I've already replaced the chain so I can't ride it any more....

Assume the chain as part of the chainwhip snapped.
Can I enquire: why do you feel the need to replace the cassette? If the cassette is well and truly on (removal a separate issue - advice upthread and I must confess never having experienced a lockring on that tight (meant to be 40Nm)) why can't you ride your bike?

 

[MontyVeda]

Assume the chain as part of the chainwhip snapped.
Can I enquire: why do you feel the need to replace the cassette? If the cassette is well and truly on (removal a separate issue - advice upthread and I must confess never having experienced a lockring on that tight (meant to be 40Nm)) why can't you ride your bike?

New chain, old cassette?

 

[ColinJ]

I must have overtightened the lockring when I put my singlespeed bike together - I broke my chainwhip trying to undo the ring a couple of weeks ago. I broke the pin that wedges against the sprockets rather than the chain itself.

I deliberately did the ring up very tight because I was just using a load of plastic spacers to hold the single sprocket in place and I wanted to make damn sure that the sprocket didn't come loose. Now it is wearing out, I can't get it off!

I'll replace the pin with a small steel bolt.

 

[Ajax Bay]

New chain, old cassette?

If the OP allowed their chain to elongate beyond 1% then the wear thus caused to the cassette would mean there'd be slipping with a new chain. But this would happen only on the 'middle' sprockets. Immediate solution (pending a local bike shop visit to get the cassette off - in seconds) is to ride using just the three smallest and three largest sprockets. With a compact (even easier on a triple) that will allow the full range of gear lengths to be used.

 

[slowmotion]

I've always managed to get cassettes off with my cheap chain whip...….but never without skinning my knuckles in the process.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Assume the chain as part of the chainwhip snapped.
Can I enquire: why do you feel the need to replace the cassette? If the cassette is well and truly on (removal a separate issue - advice upthread and I must confess never having experienced a lockring on that tight (meant to be 40Nm)) why can't you ride your bike?

New chain, old cassette?

You've got it in one...

It was a combination of poor planning and procrastination: I knew the chain and cassette were getting worn, but planned to leave them working together until winter when I'd put a new chain on and put on the winter wheel with an equally new cassette. Of course, I'd said this about last winter, and now I come to thinkof it, this summer, but hey, the problem wasn't urgent so I kept forgetting.

I then compounded this by forgetting that the cassette which was worn with the chain was on the winter wheel and just swapped them over, which of course meant that first the smallest and then the second smallest gears began to slip. Of course I ignored this up until I had trouble accelerating from a traffic light a couple of weeks ago and since then I've been collecting parts and tools,one of which I promptly broke on Saturday.

The problem was I'd already fitted the chain, so it just rattled over the cassette without actually moving anything...

Today I went to the LBS with some trepidation as they aren't always that helpful, but the guy took the wheel and applied his shop-standard chain whip, then called a colleague over to help, and finally went and found a length of what looked like scaffolding at which point the lock ring gave up. He didn't want paying either but I put some money in his tips jar...

Now we have the new cassette on, new chain on, and I've got a commuter bike again...

Having compared the old cassette with the new one I'm not surprised there was slipping, in fact I'm more surprised that it held at all: the teeth on the smallest two rings are half width...

Now, will I take the advice given here and get to grips with maintenance before it all goes to pot again?

 

[KneesUp]

View attachment 414581

That's a mediaeval weapon.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Having compared the old cassette with the new one I'm not surprised there was slipping, in fact I'm more surprised that it held at all: the teeth on the smallest two rings are half width...

If you find it slips again, have a look at the chainring that you use most, as the elongated chain will have worn that (but not nearly as much as it wore the cassette). Having failed to change my chain (which had done about 1500km) before LEL, it was too far gone to change (after another 1440km) so I let the chain and cassette run on. When I started getting slipping* I had both chain and cassette ready, and that was a quick change. But then it carried on slipping. I had to replace the middle (of triple) chainring: fortunately I had a spare 42t ring in my spares box. About a thousand km later I started getting 'chainsuck' on the small chainring, so the remedy for that was to replace the inner ring. The chainsuck stopped.

* Chain 5736k, cassette 4718k (had used different cassette for hilly 1000k)

 

[MontyVeda]

...

Now, will I take the advice given here and get to grips with maintenance before it all goes to pot again?

I've taken the opposite approach and am running the chain, cassette and chainrings into the ground... gawd knows how long they'll last but I'm going to find out.

[edit] it's about two and half years since the last chain, cassette and chain rings were fitted.

 

[GuyBoden]

I've been using one of these, I find them stronger than a chain whip:
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/chain-w...MI7oaXh6bf2wIVmuFRCh3KMgocEAYYAiABEgKUfvD_BwE

 

[DCBassman]

That's a much better tool. Want.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I hate traditional chain whips; detestable, agricultural things.
I bought one of these, which does the job far more elegantly.
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/chain-whip-cassette-remover-id_8309913.html

I've been using one of these, I find them stronger than a chain whip:
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/chain-w...MI7oaXh6bf2wIVmuFRCh3KMgocEAYYAiABEgKUfvD_BwE

Guy - that'll be a TMN to @Dirk if @User13710 agrees.

 

[GuyBoden]

Guy - that'll be a TMN to @Dirk if @User13710 agrees.

Caught red handed, I admit I have not read the whole thread.......

 

[MontyVeda]

Caught red handed, I admit I have not read the whole thread.......

You did however show us a picture as well as a link though... which is worth three points.

Any idea what the rounded oblong slit in the handle is for?

 

[Andy in Germany]

I've taken the opposite approach and am running the chain, cassette and chainrings into the ground... gawd knows how long they'll last but I'm going to find out.

I think I found that one out. If only I'd actually written the date down when I changed them last...

I used the bike on my commute today, It took a bit of a re-tension on the front mech to stop it throwing the chain in the big ring but that's settled down, and almost everything runs smoothly now if you ignore a very slight rattle on the rear mech, which I intend to do...

Commuting now involves going through a forest again and over the fields; order is restored to my personal universe...