New Chain Required

[Mak'em Lad]

Hi, had a problem on the ride today, the chain snapped. Had to 'phone a friend' to get me home as I'm not geared up for repairing chains on the roadside.

I wasn't too happy with the chain a couple of months ago as I thought it was worn (stretched!) so purchased a wear indicator tool & this showed the chain was within its wear tolerance.

I ride mostly on hardpack or road on a mountain bike fitted with hybrid tyres (no extreme offroad).

The baike comes fitted as new with a Shimano HG73 chain on a Truvitiv Firex 3.1 GPX/Sram SG950 setup & I have looked at info on replacing the chain and come to the conclusion I need the following items.

Shimano HG73 Chain
Shimano chain connector pin (plus spares)
Park Compact Chain Tool
Finishline Dry Teflon Lube (but not to use any till the manufactures lube has worn off)

Do I require any extra items & will the park tool fully remove the pin as I understand that it is esential these connector pin are 'use once only' & that they can be a bit of a bugger to remove and/or fit.

 

[tonyzackery]

Originally Posted by Mak'em Lad .

Hi, had a problem on the ride today, the chain snapped. Had to 'phone a friend' to get me home as I'm not geared up for repairing chains on the roadside.

I wasn't too happy with the chain a couple of months ago as I thought it was worn (stretched!) so purchased a wear indicator tool & this showed the chain was within its wear tolerance.

I ride mostly on hardpack or road on a mountain bike fitted with hybrid tyres (no extreme offroad).

The baike comes fitted as new with a Shimano HG73 chain on a Truvitiv Firex 3.1 GPX/Sram SG950 setup & I have looked at info on replacing the chain and come to the conclusion I need the following items.

Shimano HG73 Chain
Shimano chain connector pin (plus spares)
Park Compact Chain Tool
Finishline Dry Teflon Lube (but not to use any till the manufactures lube has worn off)

Do I require any extra items & will the park tool fully remove the pin as I understand that it is esential these connector pin are 'use once only' & that they can be a bit of a bugger to remove and/or fit.

You got everything you need. Do it once, and you're an expert./img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif
No real rocket science involved in changing chain...
And those "use once" pins - I've reused them many times and NEVER had an issue. Let me go and find some wood to knock on now....

 

[Mak'em Lad]

Thanks for the quick reply Tony.

Will order 3 chains (with the lube, 5 pins & Park tool) as it will only cost £12.48 more than if I only buy 1.

 

[Motobecane]

idon't use shimano chains, I use SRAM much easier dealing with the sram masterlink than using a chain tool.

 

[kdelong]

Originally Posted by Motobecane .

idon't use shimano chains, I use SRAM much easier dealing with the sram masterlink than using a chain tool.

+1. Don't take a chain checker measurement as gospel truth. Some of them are not very good. The best that I have seen is the Park CC-2, but it still doesn't beat measuring 10 links between the centers of the pins. It should be 10 inches exactly for a new chain. The chain should be changed at or before the 10 links measure 10-1/8 inches between the centers of the pins.

 

[davereo]

Wear and breaking are not neccesarily connected. I had a KMC DX10SC chain snap on me that was only one month old. One of the connector links spread open allowing the roller link to pull out.

 

[tonyzackery]

LOL! Chain checker? What's that? LOL! Never used one - never will, probably. When my shifting gets pretty sloppy regardless of cable/derailleur adjustments, I simply change the chain. No science involved - only practicality/pragmatism. I'd venture to say that I change chains much less often than most that follow wear guide recommendations. $25-$45 a pop still in my pocket - I'm okay with that...The manufacturers probably hate my kind though...

 

[swampy1970]

If you're running the new Dura Ace or Ultegra chainrings or even something like Q-Rings then fairly frequent chain replacement, say two or three times a year is a good way to keep the uber expensive rings quite a bit longer. I know the DA rings are no longer the $300+ they were not too long ago but $200 a ring is some serious coin...

If you ride somewhere that sees a fair bit of snow, rain, mud etc etc then replacement as well as a good cleaning/lubrication schedule is a requirement. At first its a PITA but when you get it down it's only a 5 minute job to make the entire drivetrain look brand spanking new.

 

[swampy1970]

Originally Posted by tonyzackery .

LOL! Chain checker? What's that? LOL!
Never used one - never will, probably.

The moon and stars have aligned and I gotta agree with you on this one. Chain checker? WTF...

I think I need to invent a little 'widget' to tell people when to breathe when they're sleeping, it'd be just as useful as a chain checker.

 

[tonyzackery]

Originally Posted by swampy1970 .




The moon and stars have aligned and I gotta agree with you on this one. Chain checker? WTF...

Get over it, already. No need for the histrionics, pal. Life's too short...