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Chain

Old 10-27-04, 06:17 AM
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Chain

Snap, crunch, Ow my plums, ooooeeeeeeeyyyy, Phew!

That was what went through my mind about 3 sec after trying to pull away from the traffic lights on the way home last night. My chain snapped whilst standing up to get a good getaway.... Luckily no serious damage to me or bike and I was not far from home. My consolation prize was that I was right outside the best chippy in town, so I had a great dinner

The chain was an Sram PC48 and failure was due to a split in one of the side plates - about 18 months to 2 years old with a good few thousand miles on it. On inspecting the remainder of the chain I found another split that looks just ready to "let go". This is annoying, since I was hoping I could nurse this chain and cassette through the winter and fit the nice shiny new one when the weather improves next spring.

Thanks for listening,

Cheers,

Ed
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Old 10-27-04, 06:28 AM
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you probably could if you had some spare links to repair the broken ones.

it sounds as though if your chain is coming apart in a couple places, it may be so stretched that it could use replacing anyway though.

replacing a 15 dollar chain frequently could save ya from having to replace the whole deal (cassette and rings) with the chain cause they wore down too much under a stretched chain.

apologies if i am repeating previously learned knowledge.
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Old 10-27-04, 07:05 AM
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Originally Posted by Ed Holland
...about 18 months to 2 years old with a good few thousand miles on it.
I'd say you got your money's worth out of that chain and move on.
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Old 10-27-04, 07:08 AM
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For the price of your dinner, you probably could have bought a new chain.
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Old 10-27-04, 07:27 AM
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Thanks for the input folks

....actually dinner was £4 - a close call considering the chain. I have a new SRAM PC68 chain and cassette ready for action. Yup, I definitely got my money's worth from the chain - it has a noticable elongation (about 3/32" over 12") and I'd been watching it carefully. It was a matter of hoping to save the new gear until after winter.
Considering the price of cassettes for my beloved Sora groupset, it is not economically viable to replace chains more frequently. The flip-side is that I don't need to save hard for replacement parts, so a new chain and cassette every couple of years is not so bad to swallow. I don't believe that these things last as long as they ought to though

Cheers,

Ed
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Old 10-27-04, 08:49 AM
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IMHO, a nice wide spread of 5 gears in back and three in front with 1/8" wide chains cogs and rings would last way longer and be just as good. i'd buy one for all my bikes!

but who wants to build a drivetrain that would never need replacing?
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Old 10-27-04, 10:55 AM
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You can frequently buy Dura Ace chains, or Sram PC89/99's, for < $20. Considering a tank of gas for my CRX ran $18 the other day, I could replace a chain a week and still save money over using the car. If I had an SUV, I could replace a bike a month on the gas money. Those things are costing $50-60 to fill and most people I know fill once a week.
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Old 10-27-04, 12:51 PM
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Max - I agree entirely, those things used to seem to last forever, the sprockets were 'ard as nails.

Mark - where are you finding such high quality chains at those prices? I'd be interested to know as I'm often over in LA. The gas comparison is no use to me, I don't have a car

Again cheers for the replies,

Ed
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Old 10-27-04, 01:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Ed Holland
Snap, crunch, Ow my plums, ooooeeeeeeeyyyy, Phew!
The same thing happened to me but with only 4 months/1200 miles of commuting on my Sram equipped Lemond.
At the bottom of a steep hill 1/3 of a mile from home. The guys at the bike shop (to which i walked the next day) said it probably happened because of a dirty chain. Also, the bike was in a gear too high at the bottom of the hill. There was definitely pedal-mashing happening when the chain broke. Fixed it with a repair link.
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Old 10-27-04, 01:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Ed Holland
Max - I agree entirely, those things used to seem to last forever, the sprockets were 'ard as nails.

Mark - where are you finding such high quality chains at those prices? I'd be interested to know as I'm often over in LA. The gas comparison is no use to me, I don't have a car

Again cheers for the replies,

Ed
Performance has the DA chain on sale for 19.95 or 21.95 all the time. I usually pick one up when they're on sale. Of course in San Diego, almost all LBS's seem to be a Performance bike.
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