Rod's trailside chain problem reminded me:
was able to escape family matters, meaning driving to NY every weekend to help elderly parents, long enough to get a nuclear family vacation (+ Daughter & Son's partners) on Martha's Vineyard. 1 big family ride, a cpl shorter rides w/ Wifey & a cpl solo rides w/o being accused of being anti-social. 1 ride w/Wifey featured a beach & a lunch break at Noman's restaurant. on the way back to the house, just after leaving the rest. a chain quick-link separated on my bike & I heard it clink away into the trailside brush. as-with most vacations, there's always a long list of activities & losing my chain several miles from base was a big hiccup. not to mention that my physical state was not happy w/ the prospect of the long walk in the sun. the 2 kids had our 2 cars so I might have been rescued. dug into my trunk & found some things to try. of the 3 chain tools I own, the one I had with me, broke while trying to remove the pin on the remaining side of the existing quick link. I wasn't thinking clearly. then I realized what was in play & I found a complete pair of old, used quicklinks. I struggled for a considerable time getting one of the sides to mate with what was still on the chain. kept trying one, then the other w/ just fingers, & to my delight, was able to attach it & got it to lock in place. we rode home as if nothing ever happened. thank you disposable gloves & a patient Wife
since it was later in our stay I thought it would put an end to my riding. so I bought a chain. however, since I didn't bring chain pliers on vacation, I wasn't able to disconnect the new/old quick link connection w/ just my hands. heck, if I can't get it off, it's certainly not going to fall off on it's own! it's not an old chain, so I think I'll just keep it as-is, for now & I ordered a cpl new quicklinks for the trunk
the ones on the chain now are the type that have 2 sides that look like this
which is what I struggled with, trailside
but then I saw this other type, so I ordered a cpl of these. they appear to be maybe easier to use? I may not find out for several years when I'm in distress trailside again
