Splitting an old chain

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rrarider

Veteran
Location
Liverpool
For may years I have occasionally given my Sedis Sport Ultra chain a good clean which involved removing the chain. I've always done this successfully with my Cyclo(?) rivet punch; the rivets don't have a raised head and I can do the job fairly easily.

As my good 1980s road bike is hanging up inside for the winter, I bought a 1983 Raleigh Shopper for local journeys and have removed the chain. I couldn't find the circlip type thing that my old schoolboy bike had to connect two rivets, so I punched a rivet out with the Cyclo tool. The rivets all had a head that was raised and looked like it had been peined down. I manged to clean up the filthy oily chain and pushed the rivet back in with the tool but I'm wondering if this is the normal way of splitting such an old chain with rivets like that ?

I think the chain is the original 1/8th inch one on the Shopper.
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
Ive split and rejoined chains from 1/8th and 3/32nd all the way thru to 10 speed. I know theoretically you shouldnt with the 10 speeds, but I have and it hasnt failed. I would however use a propper link when I have one.
 

GuyBoden

Guru
Location
Warrington
For may years I have occasionally given my Sedis Sport Ultra chain a good clean which involved removing the chain. I've always done this successfully with my Cyclo(?) rivet punch; the rivets don't have a raised head and I can do the job fairly easily.

As my good 1980s road bike is hanging up inside for the winter, I bought a 1983 Raleigh Shopper for local journeys and have removed the chain. I couldn't find the circlip type thing that my old schoolboy bike had to connect two rivets, so I punched a rivet out with the Cyclo tool. The rivets all had a head that was raised and looked like it had been peined down. I manged to clean up the filthy oily chain and pushed the rivet back in with the tool but I'm wondering if this is the normal way of splitting such an old chain with rivets like that ?

I think the chain is the original 1/8th inch one on the Shopper.

The chain outer width got narrower after 5 or 6 speed, the rivet heads were flattened to give a narrower width, loosing a fraction of a mm. The side plates were narrower too.

3/32 is the internal chain width, it's the external width that got narrower. The older 3/32 chain were wider and the rivet heads protruded, so you could push them out and then back in with a chain tool and they were ok, I wouldn't do that with these narrower width new chains with flatten rivet heads.
 
Last edited:
Location
London
Do you get a tin of sticking plasters and a tube of Germoline with them?

Bastard things, bring back some painful memories.
Do they work? I think I have a couple with an old kit I think. They look kind of unreliable but I don't know.

I use sram sram chains and links as a rule.
 

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
Do they work? I think I have a couple with an old kit I think. They look kind of unreliable but I don't know.

I use sram sram chains and links as a rule.

They work absolutely fine on anything without a derailleur and that design is standard issue on the huge chains found on industrial or agricultural machinery.
 

GuyBoden

Guru
Location
Warrington
I've got some snap on links for 1/8 chains. They just "snap on".

There are some at £1.35 posted for two on Ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HALFORDS...619755?hash=item3b01d2252b:g:A34AAOSwzgBYxtEX

s-l1600.jpg
 

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
I would just use a cutting disc to get the chain off which it will cut in a fraction of a second, bin and fit a new one. It's hardly going to break the bank. I would also check the rest of the drive train for wear. In fitting a new chain I would use a quick link to join it.
 
OP
OP
rrarider

rrarider

Veteran
Location
Liverpool
I would just use a cutting disc to get the chain off which it will cut in a fraction of a second, bin and fit a new one. It's hardly going to break the bank. I would also check the rest of the drive train for wear. In fitting a new chain I would use a quick link to join it.
That is so symptomatic of our throwaway society. Rather then clean something, there is someone who would use a power tool to remove an item prior to putting it in the bin. I'm so glad that I'm not like that.
 

Ajax Bay

Guru
Location
East Devon
I punched a rivet out with the Cyclo tool. . . . . I manged to clean up the filthy oily chain and pushed the rivet back in with the tool but I'm wondering if this is the normal way of splitting such an old chain with rivets like that ?
I would just use a cutting disc to get the chain off which it will cut in a fraction of a second, bin and fit a new one. It's hardly going to break the bank.
The OP has not suggested any difficulty with getting the chain off and wanted to clean it and then refit and join it up. Surely it's easier to split the chain with a chain tool than "use a cutting disc" (apologies if your comment was meant as a joke, @Crankarm ). Do you clean your clothes before wearing them again, @Crankarm or do you just wear and chuck/replace?
 
OP
OP
rrarider

rrarider

Veteran
Location
Liverpool
The OP has not suggested any difficulty with getting the chain off and wanted to clean it and then refit and join it up. Surely it's easier to split the chain with a chain tool than "use a cutting disc" (apologies if your comment was meant as a joke, @Crankarm ). Do you clean your clothes before wearing them again, @Crankarm or do you just wear and chuck/replace?

The only reason I split the chain was because I was contemplating changing its length prior to fitting a different sprocket on the Sturmey Archer hub. I would only have needed to take the back wheel out and the chain guard off to free the looped chain. One benefit of splitting the chain was that it allowed the chain to lie flatter in an old saucepan before being covered in paraffin and boiled up outside on an old hexamine stove. This brings the chain up nice and clean before it gets a quick squirt from the remnants of my last LPS3 aerosol. I realise that this method is nowhere near as good as using a plastic gizmo filled with muc wit stuff but what the hell - I'll just stick to the old ways.
 
Last edited:

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
For may years I have occasionally given my Sedis Sport Ultra chain a good clean which involved removing the chain. I've always done this successfully with my Cyclo(?) rivet punch; the rivets don't have a raised head and I can do the job fairly easily.

As my good 1980s road bike is hanging up inside for the winter, I bought a 1983 Raleigh Shopper for local journeys and have removed the chain. I couldn't find the circlip type thing that my old schoolboy bike had to connect two rivets, so I punched a rivet out with the Cyclo tool. The rivets all had a head that was raised and looked like it had been peined down. I manged to clean up the filthy oily chain and pushed the rivet back in with the tool but I'm wondering if this is the normal way of splitting such an old chain with rivets like that ?

I think the chain is the original 1/8th inch one on the Shopper.

A 1983 Raleigh Shopping bike with such an old filthy chain. No suggestion he checked it for wear. Probably worn out. Check rest of drive train for wear and replace where necessary and at least the very old filthy chain. The old chain can be chucked in the recycling as scrap metal. Simply not worth wasting time on. Life is too short to be bogged down with crap like this. A new chain can be had for £8, £10 with a quick link.
 
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