Bicycle Mechanics - bulk chains

Does any place sell bulk chain to individuals? It would be nice to be able to buy chain say, 10 feet at a time, rather than a bike at a time.
Thoughts?

that is a great idea. I would buy a roll to have around to outfit flip bikes.

jim

Wouldn't that be great. I figure there must be something like that in this world.

Tandem chains? (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=266218&highlight=tandem+chain)

http://www.bikecanada.com/list.php?prod=chains I just looked at this more, too pricey. The quotes at the top of the page have a x 25 I dont know if that is 25 chains, or what. At 25 chains, that is 20 bucks a chain.

Not a bad idea. Most likely, chain is manufactured in lengths hundred of feet long and spooled.

See: http://www.askmrbike.com/ask%20chainbulk.php for a similar question and answer. I looked at the Action Bike website and could not find a reference to bulk chain. If you find it, can you let us know?

As the link also says, you could probably buy industrial chain meeting the width and pitch from industrial supply houses, but I am not sure if they have the sideplate features needed for crisp shifting.

When I had my shop I used to buy Sachs chains in bulk. It was 10 individual chains in a common box rather than 1 long chain. I'm thinking you'd have to have about 20 to 25 chains hooked together before you'd have enough to get a "bonus" chain from the extra links.

You might want to take a look at the chain that is used in automatic garage door openers. I don't know, but it looks like bike chain to me, and comes in long lengths.

That is a great idea. I already buy 10 packs of tubes and might even start buying cables in bulk, chain would be excelent.

Years ago Sedis used to provide chain on large (100M?) rolls to European racing team mechanics. Those were the days when chain was a comodity, the shaped sideplates, etc. hadn't been developed and the mechanics used to change chains on race bike every day during a major stage race or before each classic.