Broken quick link = almost caused a long walk

[Cassie]

Thought I'll share this pearl of wisdom with yuo guys....

 

Recently got a new bike...so also had to get another saddle bag & set of spares and duplicate essential goodies.

 

Bought a 10spd quick link and "forgot" to put it in saddle bag...

when did I find out? This weekend when I was on a solo ride in a far off place!!

 

Chain started skipping a couple of times at onset od ride...I did not think too much about it...thought it might be a stiff chain link OR just the geras that neede a bit of tweaking from settling in (the bike is THAT new)...

 

Anyways - 12kms into my ride....my 6th sense told me to stop and just check why this chain is skipping more persistently now...

this is what I found....

 

 

closer look:

 

 

I crapped myself when i discovered that my brand new quicklink was still at home...talk about Murphy's Law!!! Never in all my years of riding did this happen to me...

 

Well, long story short....The chain was not entirely broken yet...so I "limped" back home gingerly...only applying very light pressure on the pedalling stroke....

 

AND I MADE IT BACK!!

 

Phew...lesson learnt (1) try not to cycle alone (2) carry all you essential spares with you (3) check you gear and go on your 6th sense!!

 

 

This being a brand new KNC 10sp link....why the failure?? Perhaps incorrect installation from factory? Dud?

I haven't really had the time to put that chain throught its paced yet...so not my fault (I think)..

Edited January 8, 2013 by Cassie

[Johan Bornman]

Your chain is siff, but you know that.

 

Looks like a faulty link to me and this is certainly rare, but serious enought to remind everyone else that carrying spares is something that saves walking.

[Cassie]

Yes, I confess...I did a previous ride ~40km and did not clean chain before this weekend's ride...

ALSO - I'm trying out thsi new chain lube...called "castrol whatever is left over in my iol can" with a nice old squirt bottle applicator...make the chain black & dirt a little bit quicker than usual....

 

see my next post on easy chain cleaning...

[V12man]

Learn how to break and rebuild a chain without a quick link - that will get you home for sure - even if you have to lose a few gears usage for a while with a slightly too short chain - good skill to have.

 

You LBS should have lots of short bits of chain for you to practice on rather than a still working chain.

[Cassie]

Learn how to break and rebuild a chain without a quick link - that will get you home for sure - even if you have to lose a few gears usage for a while with a slightly too short chain - good skill to have.

 

You LBS should have lots of short bits of chain for you to practice on rather than a still working chain.

 

yip, agree...

 

BUT I was so upset for leaving the new link at home...I wanted to just get back...and not bugger up my chain any more....

 

AND I had one half of the link still functioning so i got ~12kms of gentle cycling out of it - enough to get me home...

At home - you would not believe how I had to battle to get that bloody broken piece off!! Doubt that i would have been able to do that in the sticks...and without a decent set of pliers...

[Blokman]

Riding in the Grootbrak area a few days ago . Broke my chain on an uphill . I was in all the wrong gears.

Fellow biker stopped to help , he had a quicklink helped me on my way.

 

Had a pleasant ride together rest of the route.

Thanks Andre .I will pay it forward.

[Big H*]

Cassie, from the bottom piccie it looks as if you may have forgotten a red pipe cleaner in that link??????

[Azonic]

I've got through a bad patch with YBN chains... Sent then back to the factory in China and they sent me 5 new 10 speed chains as replacement. Yet to have problems. So ja, was probably a bad batch. The quick links on the new ones seem different than the dodgy chain's ones, so something must have changed.

 

[V12man]

yip, agree...

 

BUT I was so upset for leaving the new link at home...I wanted to just get back...and not bugger up my chain any more....

 

 

 

Properly broken and put back together the chain is as good as new and you should never notice the repair again - this is the pre-quick link way of taking chains apart.. works good, takes a bit of practice to master.