Daenaerys Targaryen the breaker of chains

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  • #920430
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    Ok.

    On the way home on Saturday, going up the “hill” on North Hampton, fortunately only a couple of blocks from home, I managed to get my chain very badly stuck in my front gears. As in all wrapped/entangled. The wheels still rolled, and I walked the bike home to the bike room. We had a trip to Baltimore planned, and I had no time to address this till yesterday evening.

    I cannot brute force the chain out (though maybe if I tried a LOT of lube?)

    It seems to me there are two approaches. 1. Loosen the pedal arm/chain rings 2. Break the chain

    I was unable to loosen the pedal arm at all.

    Breaking the chain ring then presents two options. A. Open the master link B. Open another link

    I found the master link and managed to wriggle it away from the chain rings. It is far too stiff for me to open with my hands, and my bike room does not have the “master chain link opener” I see referenced on line. Some online videos suggest making your own with a wire coat hanger.

    To open one of the regular links, you use a more standard chain opener tool. My bike room DOES have that. I refrained from using it, as the videos etc warn that once you open a link that way, you cannot reuse the rivet (at least for many gearings).

    POTM (my daughter) arrived home Monday night, and reminded me that she knows how to use the tool to open links (she did that in making the bike chain menorah) but she cannot speak to rivet reuse.

    Should I 1. Open one of the links with the tool and just reuse the rivet 2. Same as 1, but try to find another rivet to replace (if I can find the leftover chain from the menorah project, or buy a rivet?) 3. Just buy a new chain (no I am not sure if the chain is stretched – don’t think so) 4. Buy a tool to open the master link. 5. Try to make my own tool with a wire hanger (or assign this project to POTM) 6 Give up and take it to Phoenix or Spokes ?

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  • #1088026
    FFX_Hinterlands
    Participant

    @phog 179114 wrote:

    This! And, Daenaerys-style, leave that little section of chain in there, as a warning to other chains not to go there….

    Add this to the list of “posts that make me snort/laugh and make my office mates look over to see if I’m OK.”

Viewing 31 replies (of 31 total)
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