Putting a new chain on my son’s 8 speed bike, using Shimano HG71. It came with a type of quick link I had not seen before (pic) as I usually use sram or kms links. Theory is you slide one post through the rather phallic end, rotate it around and then slide the other post through the hole.Well the first part went fine but for life of me I could not get the hole line up with the other post. After 20 minutes, I

gave up and used the kmc master link that was on the chain I replaced. That took 8 seconds to install. What am I missing?

The rotate 180 degrees is an ingenious design. However, sometimes these can be trickier than other quicklinks to install. Did you put the skinny plate on the right way out?

That these are cheaper to make, so they suck.

However, you need to flex the chain to the side to get the second pin to line up with the hole. Then you let it straighten out and the second pin seats in the slot.

After fitting the first end and sliding the joining plate along, place a thumb on each end of the plate, fingers behind the chain, and press thumbs/pull fingers. As the chain flexes sideways the pin will click into place.

+1. And having experience with this type of link it should work mostly OK but if you remove and replace it a few times the bending action can tend to make the side plate with the pins weak and snap before the chain wears out. Good thing is the two pins will hold the link in place for a little bit without creating a catastrophic groin or dental injury. Ouch. A proper big name quick link will be better.

Ah the flexing escaped me. Oh well, next time. KMC hasn't let me down yet,

It's very possible to over flex and ruin the link.

So then maybe stick with KMC design. Why fix what ain’t broke?

Patents & that

Although they do use the KMC style design on 11 & 12 speed chains

This is a KMC design. It's roughly 15-20 years old, but it's a KMC design, for sure. While they were waiting out the Sachs patent on quick links, that's what they came up with.

Some catalogue chains are made by KMC, so it shouldn't be surprising, really.

Demonstrated in the "Quick link type 1" section. Not the most intuitive, but not too tricky when you know how it's done:

Connecting bicycle chains (quick links, pins etc.)

^^^ I'll add that it's much easier to bend the link to install that plate when the chain is on the bike and using the bottom section of chain.

You’d always do this when the chain is on the bike wouldn’t you?

Ha ha, very good point. I was more referring to the vid and someone may get discouraged by it being too difficult when practicing off the bike for the first time. I find these are actually easier to use than the current quick links but as mentioned in other posts the side plate can snap from too much bending from multiple remove/replace so I prefer the one-pin-on-each-sideplate versions for durability.

I'm always somewhat shocked that the ConneX Quick Link isn't the industry standard at this point. It's ease of use, reliability and reusability is simply unmatched by other quick links.

That price - most people won't pay more than that for the whole chain.

Great design though.

Seriously? That's less than a lunch at Subway.

People who think that's a high price probably shouldn't be in this hobby.

Gremlin,

An 11sp Connex link is insanely priced at $21 on Amazon, but a 9sp link is $9, and it's $6 from Performance. I doubt that the difference is manufacturing cost. I use the 9sp link, I recommend the Connex to anyone. Look Ma, no tools!

They come up with a 12-speed chain link yet?

Apparently, you're thinking locally, not globally.

To get back on topic:
That quick link design is good.
It would make sense to mass produce only that one design, globally, at a lot lower price (for the same quality).
But that would be directly opposed to how capitalism works.

A Connex 12sp chain link is listed on Amazon for $29.

Interesting, thanks. Seems it's specifically designed to be re-usable as well as easy to fit, offsetting its rather high price.

(Amazon's Rufus tells me: According to customer reviews, many cyclists use this chain link specifically because of its reusability - particularly those who frequently swap chains or remove them for waxing. One reviewer even mentioned that while it's more expensive than one-time use quick links, it pays for itself after 5-6 uses.)

Except that I usually use a standard quicklink at least 5 or 6 times so it will need to be 30-36 times

but yeah it’s a clever design