Mountain Biking - broken chain

Well, hopefully one of the bike shops near me will be open tomorrow morning so I can buy a new chain and go riding for the first time since last weekend. Having the last three days off and not being able to mtbike due (to family festivities) has totaly sucked.

My question is this... if I can't find an open bike store, can i just take the broken (2) links out of my chain and put it back on? Obviously I won't be able to shift into the large chainring due to the shorter lenght but I never do that anyway. Should I worry about the structural integrity of the rest of the chain?

BTW it's a Shimano LX chain which I broke when I downshifted while attempting to climb a really steep hill.

PS it's awsome to see the forums back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

taking 2 links out of your chain shouldent be a problem to anything, and you could still shift into the big ring.......right guys?

The only problem may be getting the bike onto the big ring and large cog in the back. You should never use this combo anyway, but if you accidently shift into this combo and the chain is too short you can stretch you rear derailler out and kinda jam everything up.

I had a bike set up like this before. The shorter chain lessens chainslap.

Did you get your ride in over the weekend? Ditto on removing the 2 links. Shouldn't affect anything but will get screwed up if you're in the big ring and large cog.

L8R G8R

Sadly no... I was too lazy to get up early and by the time I was ready to go it was raining (Unlike some, I have yet to find pleasure in mountain biking in the rain. Expecially in the fall when there are tons of wet, slippery leaves). So now I'm at work on monday morning and very depressed. :(

But I was thinking of taking out the links anyway in the future, because I sure would like to have less chain slap, and I almost never use my big chainring on the trail expecially not cross chained with the big cog.

I was actually wondering why high end mtbs come with a tripple at all. A lot of racers remove the smallest ring (my leg muscles are not there yet) from what I've heard and most recreational riders never use the big one. On a freeride bike I'd replace the large ring with a bashgard but on a superlite XC bike it seems like it'd be best just to remove it all together, assuming you could get cranks that would work that way. Is that the only problem?

As far as removing either the small or the big chainring, it won't negatively affect anything at all. You will have to readjust the limit screws in your derailleur, but that's about it! I've thought about removing the big ring and using a bashguard as well, but I haven't yet!

Some manufacturer's like Ritchey and Cannondale equip some of their bikes with a 2x9 system. The middle ring is smaller like a 28 vs a 32 and the big ring is usually a 44. This gives them a broader range of gear ratios without having a granny gear. I'm like you where I'm not strong enough to give up my granny gear. Maybe by next spring!

L8R G8R

I like to use the big ring on super steep(dh)/technical sections as an insurance not to take chunks out of my leg in the case of a crash.. and it's also nice to use the 44T for bombing down fireroads as quickly as possible:D