hooray! i finally got my bike put together. bought all the piece-parts
online, made a real mess of the apartment. got me one of those
groovy shimano HG-73 chains. of course i needed to shorten the
chain, AFTER snapping on the master link thingy. no master link
thingy tool, that bugger just won't pop off.

used my chain tool to remove one pin, a second pin pushed thru enough
to remove the section of chain. popped the pin back in and good to go.
just like a 'normal' chain, or so i thought.

seems with these these new-fangled space-age chains,
the pins are not to be re-used. gotta use a special replacement pin.
ransacked the apartment (i don't throw nuthin' away), but no pins.

did the search on this here forum, some say you can re-use, some say
the chain will explode. i doubt i'll be able to find the pin that was reinserted.
when done, it moved smoothly, and the mushroom ends appeared undamaged.

what's the real deal? is my touring-mtb chain going to fall apart under
load halfway up the mountain? i've been using HG-53 chains until now,
reusing the pins with no problems. was that also incorrect?

**replacement pins? qwik-links? not in this town! one shop sells bikes,
in addition to refrigerators and microwaves. nearest bike shop is 100
miles away....and they refuse to sell parts. want a chain? must also
buy derailleurs and shifters.

Just keep an eye on it, check at least once a week.
My LBS changed my cassette and chain one time.
I think they used a KMC chain, anyhow they didn't do
a good job and the pin started to come off. Now I do
my own work and prefer SRAM's chains with the power
link.

Failed chainlink by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

Please no comments on the condition of my chain, this bike commutes in winter slop

it seems the HG-53 and HG-73 are basically the same chain, except for the coating
on the plates. (i got the 73, as i read somewhere the plating stood up to grime
better) i've been reusing HG-53 pins for years, sometimes when the chain was in
very poor condition, and have had no problems.

maybe less of a problem since my chain is new?

i'll keep an eye on it. and will scour my chinese dictionaries and try to translate
kwik-link.

Great picture.

It's not the best idea to reuse pins but then, if you've been getting away with it on HG53s and you know the risks, there's no reason I can think of that the HG73s will be any different.

That said, you obviously have the interweb. Why not order a few chains and pins online and combine on shipping? Then you can have (relatively more) worry-free cycling.

"Why not order a few chains and pins online and combine on shipping?"

Why not switch to SRAM chains and use their excellent PowerLinks? Extra PowerLinks are about $4, I carry spares just in case, or to help somebody who needs to mend a chain.

...because they tried to re-use riveted chain pins

Whoa. I thought some of our local businesses have ridiculous conditions on what they sell and how, but this shop is right up there with them, if not beyond.

I did a similar thing with a HG-40 chain (I initially tried to re-use the Shimano Quick Link but it snapped soon after...while riding, thankfully the area was quiet and I was near my house anyway!)

Ended up having to buy a KMC chain link (https://www.wiggle.co.uk/?s=kmc+link)....worked well for me so far..

Yep, that would also do it.

I've been re-using pins on 9 speed and less chains for years and never had one move out. Most of the chains I've used are SRAM but I've also used Wipperman, KMC, and Shimano.

Non-reusable pins have been the norm for 20 years or more but some riders do get away with it if they are light and/or ride in relatively flat terrain. I personally would never trust a re-riveted chain. The consequences of failure can be very expensive.

Just ask David Millar.

I'd like to point out that I am not suggesting that the Slipstream mechanics reused a pin here. That was just plain unlucky.

20 years? who knew? i've been re-riveting chains since forever. noone told me, just
happened to come across a warning not to reuse. did around 20k miles the last
few years thailand/cambodia/vietnam/laos/china without a chain failure.

i'm guessing the chain would only fail if the outer plate is pushed out when the
rivet is pushed back in. but the lawyers make 'em say nevernevernever.

nevertheless, i have ordered 5 kmc quickie-links online (total cost of $4, highway
robbery!). i'll replace the reused pin..........if i can locate it.

The key issue on whether you can reuse a pin is whether you have hyperglide, or a similar cassette under another name). The cut-away teeth, and shift ramps make shifting much smoother, and without them modern index systems wouldn't work well. These systems also allow shifting under load which is where the problem arises. Aggressive shifting, especially under load, puts tremendous side load on the plates and causes broken chains by pushing the plates out on the pins until they fall off. This is worsened by narrower chains whose pins are almost flush leaving zero room for outward plate movement.

Some 20 years ago, chain makers started peening the ends of the pins over the plates like a rivet to keep the plates from moving out. That pretty much solved the problem except for the most extreme cases, but also meant that you couldn't push pins back and forth. So any 8s or more chain needs to be closed with a special pin, or a connecting link to maintain integrity at the splice.

Will it break immediately if you push the pin back? No, it's as strong as it ever was. That is until you shift under a bit of load as the splice comes onto the cassette (roughly 3 or 4 out of 114 times). Then the plate will be pushed out a bit. Do this a few times and the plate will be hanging by a hair, then when you climb your next hill, it'll let go.

So it you're a light rider, who shifts smoothly, and never under load, odds favor you. But, as anyone who's ever broken one can tell you, a chain will always break at the worst possible moment, when you're putting maximum load on the pedals and it's no fun.

If you were using older 5/6-speed chains then reusing the pins was standard procedure. Newer narrower chains are different and their pins are both shorter and the plates thinner so the bond is inherently less tolerant of sideloads. That is why the standard pins are riveted in place and pushing them out removes the rivet "head".

As FBinNY and I stated, if you are a light rider, ride in flat terrain and shift smoothly under low chain tension, you can get away with reusing a pin. Violate these requirements and you are on your own.

BTW. every current chain manufacture tells you not to reuse a pin in their installation sheet. You do read the instructions don't you?

instructions? hah! i squeeze the toothpaste from the center, and sometimes when i wash my
hair, i lather and rinse but skip the repeat. i'm still alive.

got about 5000 km on the chain with no problems. stretched to the limit and replaced with
another HG-73 (4000-km tour myanmar/thailand/malaysia coming up). the new chain came
only with a pin partially inserted, requiring the chain tool to install. it did not have the
non-reuseable shimano kwickie link as with the last one.

i cleaned the chain enough to inspect. with flashlight and magnifying glass, i was unable to
pick out the pin that i had re-inserted 5000 km's back. i'm convinced that unless you're really
doing something incredibly strange, a re-pinned chain 'probably' won't break. i think the
ones that have broken were because the pin was carelessly replaced, and the warning is
just lawyer-speak.

that being said.....in future, if i install a chain that i expect i'll need to remove temporarily,
i'll use a quickie link instead of re-using the pin.....just in case.

There's a point you may be missing.

Since the chain came with a partly inserted pin to be pushed across, it's logical to assume that's the correct way to close the chain, and you'd be right. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's the correct chain for your drive train. What makes Hyperglide and later systems shift smoother, especially under load, creates side stress on the plates. Also chains for 7s and more have pins flush to the outside of the plates so they'll be narrower, leaving no margin for any spreading. That's why modern chains require special pins or connectors.


Looking at the photo, it looks like your chain didn't have flush pins, so it was a classic chain without peened rivet heads. OK to close with a chain tool, but not proof against the side stress shifting with Hyperglide causes.

that was interceptor's chain, the one the bike shop re-pinned.

i gots hg-73 (box marked LX or 105) with flush pins, hg50-9 cassette, fc-m440 cranks

I first used a Shimano HG chain in 1992. Carefully followed the instructions, and the "special pin" didn't break correctly when removing the tab. So I pushed it out and put the chain together the old-fashioned way. I used Shimano HG chains until last year, so that was 19 years of ignoring the special pin.

I switched to SRAM and had the PowerLink snap while accelerating from an intersection. Trust me, I checked, double-checked and triple-checked that thing on the first few rides. Now I put SRAM chains together the old-fashioned way too.

I've re-riveted 5-, 7-, and 8-speed chains with no problems. With 9- and 10-, the peening at the end of the pin is too critical and the margin for error too small. I've seen 8-speed chains broken this way, and I can only surmise that the cause was the pin not going into the far plate straight, or the plate not firmly against the back anvil. Also, some Pedro's chain tools have a hardened insert on the back anvil that occasionally breaks or falls out.

well, that just sucks! MY CHAIN BROKE!

getting in a final ride to the beach (10 miles) to check that everything is setup and running properly.
rebuilt my rear wheel, built a front wheel, all seemed just fine. easy day, no hills, no sprinting,
just a leisurely ride to the beach.

250 km on the new chain, and one of the plates falls off. just cruising through the flat rice fields,
no weird shifts, nothing out of the ordinary. ping! --chain drops off......and all my tools are in
nice piles ready to be packed.....

very strange. the first time it ever happened, and i had NOT reused a pin.

While reusing pins greatly increases the chance of a chain break, not reusing a pin doesn't guaranty it won't. Gated (hyperglide type) shifting can be very hard on the chains, especially if done under load. As the chain does hard bends during the shift the plates are forced sideways, and can sometimes come off despite the peened pins. The annoying thing is that chains don't always break immediately after the shift, but rather continue to work with the plate hanging on the edge of the pin. Then when you least expect it, usually farthest from home or transit, and of course on the day that you finally decided that it didn't make sense to carry a chain tool around all the time.