How to remove a bicycle chain from a bike
Removing a chain from a bicycle seems like one of those mystical things that doesn’t make any sense until someone shows you how. I remember when I got my first bicycle toolkit and saw the chain breaker for the first time I thought to myself, ‘what on earth is that thing for?’
Like most maintenance jobs on a bike though, once you understand what you’re doing removing the chain is a relatively simple and quick process.
The chain breaker
Looking like something a plumber might use, the chain breaker is the name of the tool required to ‘break’ the chain.
What you’re actually doing is turning the spinny handle to drive a pin into the chain so that it pops out the pin holding the chain links together.
Confused?
Think about a watch band and the links that hold it together, when you get a watch band resized it’s the same principle. The jeweler uses a tool to remove a link pin and then reinserts the pin at the new link to get the new desired length.
In principle all chain breakers work in the same manner but I can’t stress enough the importance of a decent one. One of the raised guides designed to hold the chain in place on my elcheapo Super B toolkit from Torpedo 7 snapped clean off on the first use, as you can see in the photo on the right.
I still managed to break the chain and put it back together again but it was a royal pain as there was nothing to ‘hold’ the chain against (I had to improvise MacGuyver style).
A chain breaker isn’t something you want to skimp out on even if you don’t use it that often. The cheaper ones will almost certainly fail when you try to use it so unless it’s cost effective to get one use out of a cheapie and then throw it away, spend a bit extra and get something solid.
Using a chain breaker to remove a chain pin
A chain breaker should have two sets of guides (4 in total) designed to hold the chain in place whilst you either remove or replace a segment pin.
If you are inserting a pin you want to use the guides furthest away from the spinny bit and if you’re removing a pin you want to use the guide closest to the spinny bit. If you try to use the wrong guides (specifically when re-inserting a pin) you’ll soon realise it all of a sudden becomes quite tricky!
When choosing a link to break make sure it’s one you haven’t broken before, this is to minimise the chance of link failure as removing and re-inserting a pin does weaken the link. Note that some chains have a marked pin (a master pin) to help you and others offer tooless removal.
Once you’ve selected a link to break place the chain on the appropriate guides. If you’re removing the pin you want to ‘drill’ the breaker bit into the pin to remove it, most chain breakers have a guide or catch for the extracted pin to fall into so that it doesn’t dissapear onto the ground.
Replacing a pin
If you’re re-inserting the pin hold the pin in place and slowly turn the spinny drive until you’ve made contact and then drive the pin back into the chain. Make sure you watch that the pin doesn’t go in on an angle, it has to be straight or you could bend the pin which will result in a stiff link.
The pin went in straight but the chain link is stiff!
When you’ve re-inserted a pin into a chain a good check is to grab the pedals and pedal backwards for a bit. What you want to look for is any ‘bumpiness’ as the chain rolls over the rear cluster and derailleur cogs.
If the chain is raised or has a gap between the chain and the cogs then chances are it is stiff at this point. You can tell if the link is stiff by moving the link up and down with your fingers.
To remedy this grab the link with both hands and flex it horizontally back and forth a few times to seat the pin better. If it has been inserted properly this should fix the stiff link problem. If the link is still stiff you should remove the pin and then drive it in again, taking extreme care that it’s going in straight.
Having said that it is a useful skill to have any you never know when you might need it. Chains do eventually wear out and if you don’t change them over they start to wear your rear cassette and front chainrings out quite quickly. Instead of just replacing a chain infrequently all of a sudden your up for a whole new drivetrain!
For what it is the price of a decent chainbreaker might seem a little excessive. However factoring in a chain breaker is something you can get many uses of over the years and that it’d probably cost the same to give your bike in for a service – it’s well worth your time and money to learn how to use one.
October 24th, 2009 at
[...] do this you’ll need to remove the chain and put it in a bottle of kerosene or methylated spirits. Let it soak for 10 minutes or [...]
November 3rd, 2009 at
[...] How to remove a bicycle chain from a bike [OzSoapbox] Tagged:aubikesrepairs [...]
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 pm Rich the stitch(Quote)
If you aren’t doing this in an emergency, buy new pins, because they are only designed to be used once. Re-inserting a used pin is asking for trouble in future. When a chain fails, if it happens at a bad time you can get seriously hurt.
Also SRAM make removable Powerlinks that you can use lots of times without any special tools. I use those because I take my chains off frequently for cleaning.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:08 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Personally I’ve never had any trouble reusing pins but I guess if you’re doing it more often or riding a little heavier (I just commute around) then it makes sense to use a new pin. I imagine they won’t cost much from a bike shop.
Stuff like the powerlinks I try to avoid. I figure it’ll just make me feel guilty for not washing the chain more often
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