Lucky to make it back.

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I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
If you can fit a new chain then you can do an emergency fix at the roadside with a quick link :okay:
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
If you can fit a new chain then you can do an emergency fix at the roadside with a quick link :okay:
It does amaze me how a broken chain defeats people easily. A while back, I stopped to ask if a cyclist was in trouble. Turned out his gear hanger had snapped. I asked if he had a chain splitter with him and said just take out a few links and turn it into a SS. He did have a chain splitter with him, but he had decided to call out his OH to come out and collect him! Didn't even attempt a roadside repair.
 

CanucksTraveller

Macho Business Donkey Wrestler
Location
Hertfordshire
It does amaze me how a broken chain defeats people easily. A while back, I stopped to ask if a cyclist was in trouble. Turned out his gear hanger had snapped. I asked if he had a chain splitter with him and said just take out a few links and turn it into a SS. He did have a chain splitter with him, but he had decided to call out his OH to come out and collect him! Didn't even attempt a roadside repair.
That's a bit trickier for your layman to be fair. I'd be happy to replace a link, but with a broken hanger and a potential conversion to a single speed, I might be tempted to phone a friend too, lest I shag it all up. Not all of us are workshop gods. 😄
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
It does amaze me how a broken chain defeats people easily. A while back, I stopped to ask if a cyclist was in trouble. Turned out his gear hanger had snapped. I asked if he had a chain splitter with him and said just take out a few links and turn it into a SS. He did have a chain splitter with him, but he had decided to call out his OH to come out and collect him! Didn't even attempt a roadside repair.
That's a bit trickier for your layman to be fair. I'd be happy to replace a link, but with a broken hanger and a potential conversion to a single speed, I might be tempted to phone a friend too, lest I shag it all up. Not all of us are workshop gods. 😄
That reminds me...
A Scottish lad arrived on one of our training camps in Spain with a hanger bent by baggage handlers. He straightened it out but it snapped off in the middle of his first ride, resulting in his mech going into the back wheel so he ended up with a broken hanger, broken mech, broken chain, and broken spokes ...

He was damn lucky because:
  • Between us, we had enough tools and know-how to bodge his bike into a singlespeed to get him back to the hotel
  • Great ex pro Robert Millar was staying at the hotel
  • He was the same size as RM
  • RM had a collection of superbikes with him to test for Pro Cycling magazine (Pinarello, Colnago, Bianchi etc.)
  • RM lent him a different superbike every day in return for a mini-review!
:okay:
 

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
That was a lucky spot and a pretty significant failure! What's the mileage on the chain?

Reminds me I need to get an 11sp quick link now I have an 11sp bike.. but they're eye-wateringly expensive for what they are (along with the chains). I wonder if this legitimately correlates with manufacturing cost or just price-gouging because it's higher-end gear..
 

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
It does amaze me how a broken chain defeats people easily. A while back, I stopped to ask if a cyclist was in trouble. Turned out his gear hanger had snapped. I asked if he had a chain splitter with him and said just take out a few links and turn it into a SS. He did have a chain splitter with him, but he had decided to call out his OH to come out and collect him! Didn't even attempt a roadside repair.
I think this mindset is endemic in modern society with a service-centric economy, where people are increasingy distanced / de-incentivised from doing anything practical themselves in favour of relying on paying someone else to do it for them.

Personally it makes me extremely uneasy to have no working knowledge of / control over the gear I own, but then as is often patently obvious I'm not like everyone else...
 
I have never seen a side plate off like that. What could have caused it? I have just fitted a new chainset with lower gearing and had to shorten the chain. I will have another good look at the chain now to make sure I haven't done any damage. New gearing is fantastic 42/32/22 rings. Just right for me. Had to lower the front changer too but all is good.
 
Location
London
I think this mindset is endemic in modern society with a service-centric economy, where people are increasingy distanced / de-incentivised from doing anything practical themselves in favour of relying on paying someone else to do it for them.

Personally it makes me extremely uneasy to have no working knowledge of / control over the gear I own, but then as is often patently obvious I'm not like everyone else...
Agree. The bicycle is one of the relatively few things you can have control of, that's part of its simple wonder. Of course many folks are working hard to banish this evil simplicity.
 
Location
London
That was a lucky spot and a pretty significant failure! What's the mileage on the chain?

Reminds me I need to get an 11sp quick link now I have an 11sp bike.. but they're eye-wateringly expensive for what they are (along with the chains). I wonder if this legitimately correlates with manufacturing cost or just price-gouging because it's higher-end gear..
Am i correct in thinking that 11speed quick links are non re-usable as well?
Lots of tricks like this.
I can't remember where it kicks in, but higher speed chains also need to be replaced at 0.5 percent rather 0.75 per cent wear, which makes them pricier than may first appear.
 

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
Agree. The bicycle is one of the relatively few things you can have control of, that's part of its simple wonder. Of course many folks are working hard to banish this evil simplicity.
Indeed; and being skint and untrusting with an aversion to reliance upon others I always strive to keep what I own to stuff I can (at least to some degree) maintain myself. That said while I agree that to work on bikes can be quite simple (again, manifestations of the impure agendas of others notwithstanding) I am sometimes left in awe at what a pure, efficient and elegant device they are from an engineering perspective :smile:

Am i correct in thinking that 11speed quick links are non re-usable as well?
Lots of tricks like this.
I can't remember where it kicks in, but higher speed chains also need to be replaced at 0.5 percent rather 0.75 per cent wear, which makes them pricier than may first appear.
Most are supposedly non-reusable. Apparently KMC state that their Missing Link (below) can be re-used 2-3 times; presumably the failure mode is that the little high spots inside the slot wear; potentially allowing the two halves to slide relative to each other and separate when the chain isn't under load.

kmc10xlink.jpg


My CdF has one of these links and has done about 1800 miles now on a waxed chain; this gets done every 300-350 mile so must have been apart and back together maybe five times with no apparant ill effects. I guess the time to stop using the link will be when it becomes noticeably easy to open and close.

The exception to these limited-use links are the Wippermann items; which are nice in that they can be removed without tools and apparently infinitely reused (although I guess you'd want to the links when the chain's worn out).

Connex-Link-detail.jpg


When I got my 10sp bike I bought a new Wippermann 10S8 chain (£20) and a couple of links (£5.50ea); using one link on my existing KMC chain, keeping another as a spare in my cycling rucksack and rotating the chains when one comes off and needs a wax.

I'd planned to do this with the 11sp drivetrain on the CdF, but so far supply and cost issues have put me off. Oddly Wippermann don't do a direct equivalent 11sp chain to the one above, but there's about a 55% hike in price between the 10sp 10S0 (18 Euros) and 11sp 11S0 (29 Euros). Even more shockingly the links are more than double; 7 Euros for the 10sp and 15 Euros for the 11sp :blink:

Again I'm not sure if this can be justified on tolerancing / material spec grounds or whether the manufacturers are just taking the pish :sad:


I'd not even considered the wear issue being relevant to the chain spec.. I think my Shimano checker does 0.75% wear and is convincingly showing all my chains to be healthy currently. If the wax hype is to be believed they should go on for many thousands of miles.. at some point I'll measure them with a rule to try and put a number on the wear :smile:

Apologies to @gavroche for the thread hijack - got a bit carried away there!
 
OP
OP
gavroche

gavroche

Getting old but not past it
Location
North Wales
Indeed; and being skint and untrusting with an aversion to reliance upon others I always strive to keep what I own to stuff I can (at least to some degree) maintain myself. That said while I agree that to work on bikes can be quite simple (again, manifestations of the impure agendas of others notwithstanding) I am sometimes left in awe at what a pure, efficient and elegant device they are from an engineering perspective :smile:


Most are supposedly non-reusable. Apparently KMC state that their Missing Link (below) can be re-used 2-3 times; presumably the failure mode is that the little high spots inside the slot wear; potentially allowing the two halves to slide relative to each other and separate when the chain isn't under load.

View attachment 541929

My CdF has one of these links and has done about 1800 miles now on a waxed chain; this gets done every 300-350 mile so must have been apart and back together maybe five times with no apparant ill effects. I guess the time to stop using the link will be when it becomes noticeably easy to open and close.

The exception to these limited-use links are the Wippermann items; which are nice in that they can be removed without tools and apparently infinitely reused (although I guess you'd want to the links when the chain's worn out).

View attachment 541930

When I got my 10sp bike I bought a new Wippermann 10S8 chain (£20) and a couple of links (£5.50ea); using one link on my existing KMC chain, keeping another as a spare in my cycling rucksack and rotating the chains when one comes off and needs a wax.

I'd planned to do this with the 11sp drivetrain on the CdF, but so far supply and cost issues have put me off. Oddly Wippermann don't do a direct equivalent 11sp chain to the one above, but there's about a 55% hike in price between the 10sp 10S0 (18 Euros) and 11sp 11S0 (29 Euros). Even more shockingly the links are more than double; 7 Euros for the 10sp and 15 Euros for the 11sp :blink:

Again I'm not sure if this can be justified on tolerancing / material spec grounds or whether the manufacturers are just taking the pish :sad:


I'd not even considered the wear issue being relevant to the chain spec.. I think my Shimano checker does 0.75% wear and is convincingly showing all my chains to be healthy currently. If the wax hype is to be believed they should go on for many thousands of miles.. at some point I'll measure them with a rule to try and put a number on the wear :smile:

Apologies to @gavroche for the thread hijack - got a bit carried away there!
No need to apologise, interesting reading. An 11 speed chain is £28.00, don't know about the cost of quick links though but will find out when I get the chain done. :okay:
 
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