I built and assembled our touring bikes from older steel frames early in 2010. On a training ride with my wife this past summer, she complained that the 9-speed indexing wasn't stable while in her smallest chainring. Taking unnecessary pride in my work, and maybe being just a bit defensive about it, I followed behind her and watched every shift, every combination. I even suggested (wrongly) that she needed to find other ring/cog combinations to get the same gear number. What was apparent was that is was a chain tension issue. But I had carefully set the number of links, hadn't I?

Finally at the crest of a steep climb, the unthinkable happened...her chain broke.

The link pin was lost and I broke out the chain breaker from my multi-tool and removed a link. Grimy and sweating on the side of the road, my wife standing over me, I admitted to her that this was an act of Providence, and that the now shorter length of chain might benefit her shift stability.

She looked down and said "you're my hero". No joke. I nearly cried.

Well, the rest of the ride was uneventful, except for her bonking with about 15 milest to go. We weathered that, too.

In the end, though, that affirmation meant a whole lot. Is that also part of the mechanic within?

Phil G.