Chain tools- who carries one?
05-20-11, 02:42 PM
#51
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Once you've broken a few $30 multi tools you start to feel like you'd have to be a wacky survivalist to keep buying them. They seem to mostly be junk. That's my complaint about them.
Really though, a spoke wrench and spare spoke seems more important than chain tool. Like I said, I've seen more broken spokes than broken chains.
Really though, a spoke wrench and spare spoke seems more important than chain tool. Like I said, I've seen more broken spokes than broken chains.
05-20-11, 04:02 PM
#52
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Once you've broken a few $30 multi tools you start to feel like you'd have to be a wacky survivalist to keep buying them. They seem to mostly be junk. That's my complaint about them.
Really though, a spoke wrench and spare spoke seems more important than chain tool. Like I said, I've seen more broken spokes than broken chains.
Really though, a spoke wrench and spare spoke seems more important than chain tool. Like I said, I've seen more broken spokes than broken chains.
A nice big, shop chain tool would be great, but who wants to carry one of those around?
Since I switched to an IGH, I'm thinking the chances of chain problems have diminished, so I stopped carrying it around
05-21-11, 03:49 AM
#53
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That's a very fair argument, though you've gone over the top a little with that last hyperbole about all the over-preparedness. Chain tools integrated into multi-tools are very compact, it's hardly wacky bomb shelter survivalist to carry one. Neither it is reckless to NOT carry one in a typical commute and, after all, this is that forum.
I developed the habit from mountain biking. There you can and eventually WILL have to do without a spoke or two, or one brake or be stuck in one gear for a ride out if you bike enough. You can still make headway so impaired, but chains are much more binary -- cell phone or no, you're walking for a while if you have a chain problem and no chain tool. Not from Mongolia, but rarely as simple a "honey come pick me up" either and that environment creates more stuck links, chain suck, snaps, etc.
I developed the habit from mountain biking. There you can and eventually WILL have to do without a spoke or two, or one brake or be stuck in one gear for a ride out if you bike enough. You can still make headway so impaired, but chains are much more binary -- cell phone or no, you're walking for a while if you have a chain problem and no chain tool. Not from Mongolia, but rarely as simple a "honey come pick me up" either and that environment creates more stuck links, chain suck, snaps, etc.
Last year, after 3 decades of riding, I had my first chain problem that required a call for a ride home. In my case, a twig had somehow lodged in my chain sucking it into the derailleur cage, which in turn got sucked into the cassette, which promptly destroyed my ultegra derailleur, severely bent the derailleur hanger on a new steel frame (where the hanger is part of the frame, not a separate component), and put a permanent kink in what was a new ultegra chain.
The only roadside tool I had that day was my cell phone, and fortunately for me, was the one tool I needed to get back home. My thinking is to plan for the most likely problems, but don't worry about freakish corner cases.
05-23-11, 04:21 AM
#54
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I use a shop tool in the shop, as the mini-tools aren't great - just use them once or twice to get the hang of them. But they're not bad, and all this chain tool breakage now being cited is odd.
Back to the broader topic, I think there are two very reasonable positions being articulated:
1) chain problems are VERY rare and dead bike options aren't bad (e.g. walk, help me honey call), no need to bother with a chain tool on a commute just in case lightning strikes
2) take-along chain tools are available that are very small and can stop the bleeding / start the breathing if your bike has a rare chain attack, so you can keep going if you don't have or like the dead bike options
Players' choice.
I agree with both positions, trend strongly toward #2 myself. On the rare occasion when I realize I am sans chain tool, I do not break out in a panic.
Back to the broader topic, I think there are two very reasonable positions being articulated:
1) chain problems are VERY rare and dead bike options aren't bad (e.g. walk, help me honey call), no need to bother with a chain tool on a commute just in case lightning strikes
2) take-along chain tools are available that are very small and can stop the bleeding / start the breathing if your bike has a rare chain attack, so you can keep going if you don't have or like the dead bike options
Players' choice.
I agree with both positions, trend strongly toward #2 myself. On the rare occasion when I realize I am sans chain tool, I do not break out in a panic.
