removing rear wheel with a tight chain
 

i bought a used track bike last weekend, it rocks. problem is, the chain is quite short. there's a little slack, but when i slide the rear wheel to the front of the track ends, the chain can't slide off the cog. short of spinning off the cog or unscrewing the chainring, is there a quick way to get the wheel off in a pinch?

With the chain at its slackest, try 'rolling' the chain gently off the cog. Carefully pull sideways on the chain up by the cog, and spin the drivetrain slowly so that the chain will hopefully jump the cog because its so loose. If not that, then I'd break out the chain tool and open up the chain. Did you check to see if the chain has a master link in it? Try that first.

generally, if you spin the cranks (with rear wheel off the ground, of course) while trying to lift the chain up and away from the bike it will come off without a problem.

Usually, is you're running a short chain for mechanical advantage or what not (I've had that explained to me, but still don't quite get), there' stypically enough slack to roll the chain off. just push the wheel up as far as it will go and get as much chain slack as you can from the lower level of the chain and then roll off the chain from the cog. I know this is a horrible description, but it's the best I can do. To get it back on, do it all in reverse. It just takes practice.

Instead of trying to get the chain off of the cog first, take it off the chainring. It's not hard, like shants said just spin the cranks while pushing/pulling the chain off to one side so that the teeth from the chainring miss the chain.

just be REALLY careful not to get your finger caught in the chain.

be REEEEAAALLLLLLY careful of those fingers.

if its one of those easy to remove pin things on the chain, maybe just break the chain. i have the same problem, and with really snubbed drop outs on my bike, and gearing that doesn't allow for great chain length, the only way to rock it is with an ultra tight chain. one more link and the thing is at the very back of the dropouts... i have to dismantle the chain to get rear wheel off... annoying!

thanks, all good suggestions. i'll try again when i get home.

Is it unsafe or just uncool to use a master-link on a fixie(particularly one seeing track use)?

Nah, I'm all about the masterlink. I've never had one fail on me and I put a decent amount of miles on my bike.

same here. i have snapped 2 chains without, and never one with.

Keep in mind I've only had experience with the SRAM powerlink -

How do you work a powerlink on a bike with a tight chain? You have to be able to move the chain at least a bit to get the link unstuck. Do the shimano ones work differently?