Now you're just being disengenuous.

Explain why you'd break a chain (twice) instead of setting a limit screw or wrapping the cable around a water bottle cage?

Not hard to do if several of the strands that make up the cable have broken over time.

See my follow up post above. That's what I was experiencing. Turned out I was coming close to full breakage.

Yeah, try that on my bike with the cable routed through the chainstay and out the bottom. You'll fail. Matter of fact, you personally would be walking home (while I ride home).

But I don't care about that, if people have other ideas then cool. But now you're trying to spin the argument. You made the claim that if you break a chain to shorten it then you have to completely replace it, and you were so snobbish about it that you personally insulted me. You're inexperienced and are wrong. You can add links back to the chain with replacement pins that Shimano sells in packs of three. Or a quick link if you desire. Only a complete newbie would not know this.

This is silly.

It is obvious that anyone with a chain tool can shorten a chain. Can we agree on that? If one is careful, one can even leave one pin in on plate, and push it back in---if you don't have replacement pins.

I always carry a couple sets of quick links---Needed them Tuesday night, and will replenish the stock, because I not only fixed the chain, I rode another 20 miles on a hilly route, and another 25 miles last night. Didn't need to replace the chain.

For those who want to replace the quick links later on with standard links ... as LazyAss says, there are replacement pins. I have used them, they work.

I personally wouldn't shorten the chain, because I have a mini-tool so I can use the limit screws to put the derailleur where I want it, and the chain is fine as is. But if a rider wanted to break the chain and rebuild it later ... Absolutely No Reason one could not, and Absolutely No Reason to replace the chain. Seriously .... why not just use the tools and parts available and return the chain to whatever length?

If someone thinks it wouldn't work, I would like to hear a precise and detailed reason why.

As I said .... anyone who had a chain tool would likely have a screwdriver and could bypass all that by using the limit screws.

EDIT: Interesting note about internal cable routing. On a CF bike with internal routing, unless the cable fortuitously broke at just the right spot .... I would never be able to fish out the frayed cable and feed it back through, and if I did it would be sawing through the CF with every bump and vibration.

Yet again---Using the limit screws obviate all these debates.

This thread, especially the discussion about recognizing a cable about to snap, really illustrates the difference between maintenance and repair.

Waiting for a symptom is repair. Doing it proactively before there is a problem is maintenance.

This thread makes it clear that many don't maintain and so run the risk or wind up doing emergency roadside repairs. Some are good at it, and very creative but I would not pat myself on the back for being a great mechanic on the side of the road when the problem could have been prevented in the first place with proper maintenance.

Things happen and stuff breaks. I know that. I've helped people on the trail and on the road too, but have always ridden away thinking that the whole episode could probably have been avoided had the bike been maintained before there was a problem.


-Tim-

Again, limit screws.

I'm completely right. Your method is ridiculous and is much more complicated and involved AND requires carrying an additional tool AND requires the repair of YET another piece of equipment.

Sure, you can break a chain and add back to it repeatedly. And each time run an additional risk of incorrect installation. A dumb idea to begin with, and far worse for someone who phoned in a ride.

Dumb idea.

Two years ago I was riding an old Schwinn LeTour I had just restored. 15 miles from home the freewheel locked up for a split second, chainsuck completely ripped the rear derrailluer off the bike and twisted the dropout beyond all repair. I shortened the chain and rode home in one gear. I ended up re-lengthening that chain and putting it on another bike. I have at least 1000 miles on it with no issues.

Like I said, if people have different ideas then great. Although your idea is worthless if the cable snaps at the derrailluer. But you're one stuck up youngster. Your nose is so high in the air that you might fall over backwards. And no, it does not have to require an "additional" tool.

https://cdn.road.cc/sites/default/fi...review_500.jpg

Oh, so now it doesn't actually ruin the chain, you just might put it back together wrong. Nice spin :lol:

If you're going to incorrectly install a pin somehow that I can't imagine then I hope you don't install new chains, either. Because it's the same process :lol:

Seeing as there are 10-packs of 1800mm shifter cables on Amazon for $11, isn't the whole argument moot? If the shifting gets sluggish, just change the cable. Something about an ounce of prevention? I mean... it's a dollar.

Question - was this 10-speed (5700) 105? or 11-speed (5800)?

Breaking shifter cables was a known problem with 10-speed. I never had it happen, possibly because I replace cables about twice a year due to riding on lots of gravel, but I know it happened a lot.

Also, I found the shifting to be finicky and unsatisfying no matter what I did. Again, I've heard from others that I'm not the only one who had issues with the 10-speed 105.

I've done both on the road; a DR hanger snaps or the pulley falls apart, shorten the chain and go single speed. If it was my own bike I'd probably have spliced the chain back together; but it was my son's MTB and I just bought a new chain for it, since it will last for years no more miles than he puts on it. I don't think either way would be dumb.

I don't recall having a shifter cable break but I've seen them frayed and threatening to, and when a brifter died I fussed with the DR and rode it as a 2-speed. Oddly enough I didn't miss having the gears that much and it was 2 or 3 weeks until I replaced it. Whatever it takes to keep riding is a win as far as I'm concerned.

Actually, that's even better.

Pull the cable out of the shifter, and then run it through only the derailleur. Use the barrel adjuster to fine tune the chain position.

Properly repaired chain is as good as new. Why wouldn't it be/ it has the same parts as any other chain. As for muffing a repair ... that can happen with any repair. I could try to use the limit screw to put the chain on the largest cog, overshoot, and send the chain into the spokes ... or go the other way, overshoot the smallest cog, get the chain wedged between hub and chain stay, and snap the chain that way.

Can we all agree that, if the derailleur works, limit screws are the simplest way to get home with a broken cable, and if the chain has to be shortened, it can be lengthened, and that doesn't hurt the chain? I mean, these things are objective facts in pretty much the entire bike-maintenance community ... surely it is safe to say fire is hot?

I don't want to suggest that this debate is edging ever closer to being a little silly but ......

LOL ..... good shot, because it is 100 percent accurate. If you cannot successfully repair a chain you cannot successfully replace a chain.

I guess the answer is, call Uber and have the driver take you right to the bike shop.

The poor OP, who actually did that exact thing (well, he called a friend) might have paid a little extra ... but he avoided the whole mess in the posts above.

:D Don't Try This at Home. We Are trained Professionals.

New Shimano chains like the CN-HG901-11, now use a quick-link.

I must be misunderstanding. If the cable snapped at the derailleur, then the end would be frayed, and I wouldn't have superglue or a soldering iron to seal up the end so I could re-route it through the derailleur barrel adjuster. Yes, the whole length of the cable before the fixing bolt would be fine---the cable would just be an inch too short. But that missing inch of cable would knock out most of the bigger cogs---the derailleur wouldn't swing that far.

If you Could manage to thread the frayed, untwisting end back through the barrel adjuster, you would still need to tie the cable off somewhere and ride single-speed.

The tool LazyAss showed above has a Phillips screwdriver suitable for adjusting limit screws. However, as he explained, he was once in a situation where the derailleur came off ... so adjusting the limit screws wouldn't have done him much good.

If we all take a step abck and a few deep breaths ... and stop trying to "Win" the thread ... the suggestions about breaking and shortening the chain does make snese in that situation, and in fact, Nothing Else woudl work in that situation. The suggestions about limit screws and about tying the chain to the bottle rack are also both useful alternatives, in certain but not all situations.

Someone reading the this thread to learn, not to win, would have learned three possible fixes which would cover about every situation involving cable breakage. Four, if you count having a friend pick you up and drive you to the shop. :)

Yes, thanks. (Emphasis added.)

You know what really matters out of all this: Plus the guy learned about maintenance and repair, as Timothy H noted.

Good stuff.

When was the last time you saw a cable snap at the derailleur end?


I use Di2 with hydraulic discs, so I never worry about cables snapping. ;)

You're anecdotal experience notwithstanding I would never shorten and rebuild a chain. I've used Rubiks solution in the past and it's fast and works well.

The other alternative is to switch to Campy. When my shifter cable starts to fray near the shifter the sharp little strands poke through the hoods into my hands and remind me to change the cable. I usually wait until I'm down to two strands before changing. I like to get the maximum life out of my cables :)

These days if my rear cable broke I would just put it in the little ring up front, continue my ride and consider it a low-cadence training day.

yes, well ... that was the specific premise YOU addressed, so it really doesn't matter what I have seen ... you said it, not me. :D (Just being a richard for laughs .... I just didn't understand what you were saying, coupled with what Lazy was saying .... no problem.)
Those of us back in the Stone Age face travails you bicycle astronauts cannot conceive. Life as a paleo-cyclist is So hard ..... :D

Why on earth not? All your doing is removing and installing pins, just like you do when you install a new chain. It's getting weird around here.

If your derrailluer gets ripped off like mine did, and is very common in the MTB world then you'll be walking home.

a) Campy doesn't recommend it b) More work than the alternative



This is the road bike forum. The only time my derailleur was damaged was when I knocked myself out with a concussion. I would have ridden home if I could but fortunately my derailleur was broken and I was forced to get a ride home (which I don't remember).

On all the group rides I've ever been on I've seen guys lose their RD multiple times, usually because they went down. I saw one guys carbon chainstay snap off at the hanger while he was just cruising about 10 years ago. If I ever saw a cable snap I don't remember it. I personally have never snapped a cable. But I have ripped a RD off.