Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Building a Chain

Not sure if this is the right section or not, but I'm planning on customizing my bike a bit with a two tone, black and white paintjob. I plan on doing a few other things to further the black and white theme, but among them is building a chain, link by link, of alternating black and white links.

My question is, is it possible to build a chain yourself? And/or where might i find a premade one matching the description above?

i guess you can buy one white chain, one black chain and then alternate the links yourself. it would very time consuming and tedious process, make sure you have a good chain breaker. :thumb:

This will take hours.

You sound like you have a lot of time on your hands. If it were me, I'd spend more time riding my bike and less time worrying about style points.

whatever. these guys are spoilsports. build the chain and then build another with the other 50% of the link and i'll buy it off you. pm me if yr into it.

You sound like you have a lot of time on your hands. If it were me, I'd spend more time riding my bike and less time worrying about style points.

I wonder what America would look like if they had this philosophy when writing the constitution.

Okay, so i need a chain breaker, presumably available at most bike shops?

Well, the whole "makeover" process i have in mind will probably take a few weeks anyway, so time really isnt an issue.

chrissmedley, i'm almost for sure going to, but i wont start till i get back to school at the end of August. I'll keep you posted.

I'd stay away. You can get black and white KMC "Z" chains. First of all they are low quality $8 chains, secondly you are not supposed to continuely break and re-connect chains, that's why master links were invented. Every time you break a chain you are increasing the odds of it failing while riding, and I have had this happen with a cheapo KMC "Z" before. Plus if you are new you are probably going to not know how to get the chain link installed perfectly so that it won't snap on you. It's easy but not knowing wha you're doing is silly. In the end it's your stylish bike, not mine. Hope you have a brake.

another genius plan from the fg/ss gallery.

I'd stay away. You can get black and white KMC "Z" chains. First of all they are low quality $8 chains, secondly you are not supposed to continuely break and re-connect chains, that's why master links were invented. Every time you break a chain you are increasing the odds of it failing while riding, and I have had this happen with a cheapo KMC "Z" before. Plus if you are new you are probably going to not know how to get the chain link installed perfectly so that it won't snap on you. It's easy but not knowing wha you're doing is silly. In the end it's your stylish bike, not mine. Hope you have a brake.

Helpful, constructive criticism.


another genius plan from the fg/ss gallery.

Pointless trolling.

This would be a much nicer place if those who have nothing meaningful to add would just put their $0.02 in the bank.

Pointless trolling.

This would be a much nicer place if those who have nothing meaningful to add would just put their $0.02 in the bank.

come on man, this is just a straight up terrible idea. Putting together a chain full of stiff, improperly joined links to look cool is just bad news waiting to happen.

If you really HAVE to have a black and white chain, why don't you just buy a white Z chain and paint every other link black?

what if you just took the two chains and did half black half white? same effect, not quite as cool, but not nearly all of the splicing, reducing time, effort and chance of the chain failing. or just in four alternating color pieces or whatever...

you could find out what the chain is on the dawes st because the chain on that looks to be silver and black.

you will weaken your chain and eat it hard in style when it explodes.

Well I have tried something similar to make a bracelet for a girl and it DID NOT work. If you try to attach chain links together without a master link, you will get a giant headache most likely.

I have never seen a chain breaker than can perfectly align the small metal bolts and then allow you to put them BACK into the chain pieces. Every chain I have seen has bolts that are flattened on the outside edges, making them keep the chain together. When you break the chain, the flattened bits are forced through the chain pieces, and deformed usually. Putting them back in is similar to fitting a bolt that is too large because the end is slightly smashed / flanged. Also you would have to somehow get it perfectly straight, maybe a certain chain breaker has a perfectly formed mechanism to do this but you would still be dealing with 'broken' bolts that you pushed out of the chain in the first place.

They really are not designed to be put back together! Only the master link is good for that.

They really are not designed to be put back together! Only the master link is good for that.

It can be done, however it isn't easy and things can get extremely hard if you push the pin completely out of the link.
The key is to push it out enough so that the inside link will loosen out, but not so much that the pin comes out as well.
Then you have to fiddle with the re-joined link for a while to make sure that it moves freely and doesn't bind/lock up.

Pointless trolling.

This would be a much nicer place if those who have nothing meaningful to add would just put their $0.02 in the bank.
i don't troll, i just point out flawed ideas sometimes. there's nothing wrong with caring about aesthetics on a bike, but every time you brek or join a chain you weaken it. building a chain from individual links is just dumb.
now go to your nice happy place.

Thanks go out to a few of you, others, thanks for your concern, but i know the risk involved. To the naysayers, is this SS forum not for encouraging creativity and crazy ideas?

Looks like i've gotten all the help i need from yall.

Mods, please close thread

Something like this (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-08-24-iraqi-constitution-draft_x.htm) with God in place of Allah, Christianity in place of Islam, and a dash of this (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.3162.ENR:).

as long as it's a link by link job, you should consult sheldon for a thorough cleaning before assembling:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

Thanks go out to a few of you, others, thanks for your concern, but i know the risk involved. To the naysayers, is this SS forum not for encouraging creativity and crazy ideas?

Looks like i've gotten all the help i need from yall.

Mods, please close thread

I think you have an interesting idea but keep in mind the issues raised with reconnecting the links. I once accidentally took one link too many off a chain and it took weeks of fiddling with it before I finally worked out the stiffness. I would agree with the suggestion to get the best chain breaker you can find if you really want to go forward with. I would also agree that it is not the best idea but I have done far less intelligent things in my time. Just make sure you ride with a break until you know the chain is safe.

Good luck!

Thread bookmarked! I want to see how this turns out.

Thanks go out to a few of you, others, thanks for your concern, but i know the risk involved. To the naysayers, is this SS forum not for encouraging creativity and crazy ideas?

Looks like i've gotten all the help i need from yall.

Mods, please close thread


Hope you got a dental plan! :thumb:

All those pins will end up costing a fortune. Aren't they a few dollars each? How many links do you have? You will end up with at least a hundred dollar chain.

if you try to attach chain links together without a master link, you will get a giant headache most likely.


are you kidding me, have you ever used a chain tool before in your entire life? thay work perfect.

if you try to attach chain links together without a master link, you will get a giant headache most likely.


are you kidding me, have you ever used a chain tool before in your entire life? thay work perfect.

except for those inevitable stuck links/stiff joints and the damage you do to a pin by breaking/rebuilding it.

just get this
http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=24530&category=1614

or this
http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=16788&category=1614

and be done with it.

except for those inevitable stuck links/stiff joints and the damage you do to a pin by breaking/rebuilding it.

If you end up with stiff or stuck links, you are doing it wrong.

i don't troll, i just point out flawed ideas sometimes. there's nothing wrong with caring about aesthetics on a bike, but every time you brek or join a chain you weaken it. building a chain from individual links is just dumb.
now go to your nice happy place.

Okay, see, if you had posted this to begin with, I wouldn't have said anything. Do you see my point? There's a big difference between "you're stupid" and "you're stupid, here's an explanation as to why you're stupid and how you can avoid being stupid in the future."

except for those inevitable stuck links/stiff joints and the damage you do to a pin by breaking/rebuilding it.

shut the **** up chris. you're just mad because your z-chain broke.

@op: if you use a good, heavy duty chain breaker like the park 1/8" breaker with a loosening shelf you should be fine as long as you're precise and careful.

Edit: Also make sure your chainline is buttah if you wanna do this.

shut the **** up chris. you're just mad because your z-chain broke.

@op: if you use a good, heavy duty chain breaker like the park 1/8" breaker with a loosening shelf you should be fine as long as you're precise and careful.

passive agressive anger much? "Z" chains are pieces of crap.

i see your point, and you're right. i usually try to avoid such bad behavior on bf, but i just get chapped seeing so many people new to cycling (particularly in the fixed gear scene) that just don't have a clue and don't seem bothered to educate themselves about anything to do with cycling other than what color to spray paint their aerospoke or who makes pink riser bars.
i mean there's a history to cycling, and a reason for the way most things are done. i dig all kinds of new folks getting into riding, but i hate road bikes (and face it -a fixed gear on the street is just a road bike) as a fashion accessory.

There is a lot of bad advice in this thread. I worked with a BMX dude who built 3 color chains, alternating 3 or 4 links at a time. He rode hard. He was also a good mechanic. No fail.
I dunno about every other link.

i see your point, and you're right. i usually try to avoid such bad behavior on bf, but i just get chapped seeing so many people new to cycling (particularly in the fixed gear scene) that just don't have a clue and don't seem bothered to educate themselves about anything to do with cycling other than what color to spray paint their aerospoke or who makes pink riser bars.
i mean there's a history to cycling, and a reason for the way most things are done. i dig all kinds of new folks getting into riding, but i hate road bikes (and face it -a fixed gear on the street is just a road bike) as a fashion accessory.

Thats why, if you READ my original post, you'll see that i ask if it can be done. I am fairly new to this game, and thats why i came here to ASK.

i remember now why i joined this forum last year and then promptly left.

Thanks go out to those who gave constructive criticism. To those that were *******s, go **** yourselves.

Oy vey...

, go **** yourselves.
every day homie.

if you try to attach chain links together without a master link, you will get a giant headache most likely.


are you kidding me, have you ever used a chain tool before in your entire life? thay work perfect.

ah well, guess i haven't tried a good chain tool?

Doing this yourself is gonna be a real pain.

I say **** everyone on the forum and do it. At least you're not asking what kind of deep-v wheels you should get, or whether or not you should ride with one or two straps or vans vs converse.

1) Ride with a brake at least and be prepared for whatever consequences might arise from doing this; breaking the chain at essentially every link and then reconnecting it (and doing this yourself) probably isn't the best thing for it.

2) Do invest in a nice chain breaker as you're gonna be putting a lot of stress on it. Pedros makes a new one these days with I think three or four replacement needles inside of the handle that you can replace yourself.

3) Practice on an old piece of chain or some extra links first to get the hang of a chain breaker.

And yea... **** everyone here. Do it dude, its new and unique.

http://www.cartooncritters.com/dressupimages/troll.gif

its new and unique.

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...

I personally haven't seen or heard about a multi colored chain. Maybe that makes me the guy who lives under a rock, but nowhere have I ever seen it.

pointless and it will look like garbadge, cheap tacky garbadge

Solution: two chains. One white, one black. Use a road double up front and put two single cogs from a cassette on a rear wheel with a freehub body (with spacers as necessary). If fixed, weld the freehub in place. If for a single speed, use a White Industires Dos freewheel (or the freehub setup). Cut each chain to the necessary length.

Or, better yet, shifters + derailleurs + ride your bike.

The issue with using a chain tool is that many chains nowadays are peened. The pins are mashed slightly into a mushroom head that gets sheared off when breaking the chain resulting in an unstable link if you try to rejoin it. http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=25

Apart from being a diddly project, there shouldn't be a lot of problems doing this as long as you're careful and use an unpeened chain.

KMC's website might help you select an appropriate chain http://www.kmcchain.com There's an icon system that shows if a particular chain is peened.

While not white, KMC does make a silver/black chain
http://www.kmcchain.com/index.php?ln=en&fn=find&mo=view&id=631

Tioga Crazy Chain.

I am showing my age.