"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - I broke my chain

Took the chain off for a cleaning yesterday and one of the bushings that holds together the inner plates fell out. Luckily it was at the very end of the chain (incidentally, it's one of the bushings to which my MasterLink connects) so I was able to remove a whole link and keep truckin'. Still, I can now claim that I've broken a chain.

Watch your back, Millar... bdcheung is hot on your trail.

whipperman?

KMC

edit: wouldn't let me do all caps without some other text

hope it's not the KMC X10.SL 10 speed. just bought one off of pbk.

^^ it was. And it's fairly new - new chain/cassette at the beginning of the season. It's the first time I've ever encountered a problem like this before, though, and I've been using the X10SL chain for a while.

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, botto, they're good chains. I chalk mine up to being the .001% of chains manufactured that break prematurely. If another roller breaks, then i'll complain. That the chain broke where the masterlink connects also has me thinking I may have installed it incorrectly one time that put undue stress on the roller. Who knows. Like I said, one break is fine, another? I'll be mad.

Does that chain come with a removeable master link, or have you added it? I read that Shimano does not recommend a masterlink on their 10sp chain, and driving out a pin each time I want to remove the chain doesn't seem like a good idea.

Did you remove the masterlink at FTP... Duh!

@JayhawKen: It came with the master link.

@skinnyone: smartass! ;)

I've broken a chain.

You're a monster, BD.

I broke a 105 chain too.

(But only because I installed it incorrectly and the connecting pin started coming out and the chain started skipping around the cassette and got a little messed up. Whoops).

Did you chuck your bike?! Pros do it.

Yeah, I threw it all the way onto the rack we have in the garage. Quite impressive.

Only time to remove your chain is to replace it.

I've found that the frequency of removal for cleaning and the frequency of removal for replacement are inversely correlated.

Oh, and had I not removed the chain for a cleaning, I probably would have broken the chain on a ride. Or, even worse, a race. Just something to keep in mind before you step off your soapbox, curiouskid.

I wipe mine off every day, relube and wipe it down once a week. That's all it needs.

Sounds like bdcheung accidentally got the chain they tried to ship to botto. :eek:

I wipe mine off every day, relube and wipe it down once a week. That's all it needs.

Thanks for the advice. I'll add it to the pile.

Just my pov, not advocting that it is the only valid opinion on the subject. But it was probably your quick link and constant assembly/dis-assembly that led to the failure to start with.