Originally Posted by
jonwvara
Thanks for the photo, Bob. I don't think I'd ever seen one of those tools. But it looks to me like the chain would be vulnerable to breaking at the pins if too much force is use, which is of course the way chain whips also fail. Maybe Bicycle Research used some kind of super-heavy-duty chain that's tougher than the stuff used on chain whips?
Of course, I don't know how the Suntour vise will stand up to the pipe-wrench-and-cheater-bar method over the long haul. I plan to employ it sparingly and hope for the best. In the meantime, I can only say that it didn't break on the first attempt.
By the way, I was kind of jolted by your use of the phrase "!@#$%." You haven't become a Unitarian, have you?
Even a moonlighting Freewheel Medic/Presbyterian pastor can at times curse a particularly stubborn sprocket which refuses to be persuaded to unthread. But only after it has given up broken teeth, inflicted harm upon innocent chain whips, or refused to succumb to repeated applications of penetrating elixirs and/or blow torch heating and icebox cooling.
As far as the chains on the Bicycle Research Tool, I believe they and the securing pins are of a stronger gauge than the chains and pins on our modern day chain whips. After all, most chain whips are designed to simply hold a 7-11 speed cassette in place while the lock ring is removed. They really don't need to be as robust as we freewheel mechanics and modifiers would like.