I don't really know. It happened at a residential intersection with a 4-way stop, so traffic was fairly continuous at 6:30pm on a Friday evening. I spent a good five minutes hunched over like a fool on the corner looking for the broken link, but wasn't able to locate it. A side plate obviously came off because I had two inner links at the ends of the broken chain, but whether it was separation or failure can't be determined without the evidence!

Once I install a chain, I never remove it except to replace it. However, I did un-rivet this particular timing chain maybe 4500 km ago because the frame needed to be repaired (one of the tabs holding the bolts that tightens the eccentric was starting to crack), so re-riveting is pretty suspect. However, this is not a 9- or 10-spd chain, this is a cheap chain more in line with 5- or 6-spd use, so there's more tolerance for inexact riveting. That said, it's probably a good idea never to re-rivet a chain, as this always weakens the platess, or widens the hole for the rivet. Especially when there are connector link products out there that do a much faster and easier job.

The other alternative is to use a 1/8" track chain, which is not designed to bend sideways, works with 3/32 rings, and which comes with a master link that can be removed as often as you like. Except that we're likely looking at combining two chains with two master links.

L.