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Hardtail setup options


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9 hours ago, Kyle said:

Great color.  

I have a pipe cutter you could borrow for that fork...

Thanks, I have a friend with a cutter. Waiting on Seth's fork at this point. That is the pike off of my FS bike and will probably stay but I am waiting until I have all of the forks paired up with the right bikes before I start cutting steerer tubes.

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1 hour ago, AustinBike said:

Worst part was I think I still have one in my pack. The key is not carrying it but REMEMBERING that you are carrying it. 

When I first was reading the bit about the rock I was all ready to post up suggesting you look in your pack for the part. Remembering the time you were packing a derailer (Sheldon Brown spelling) that someone needed and writing up how incredulous folks were when it was needed and you whooped it out on them.

Looks like you beat me to it by confessing to likely having the chain ring (and most of the rest of several bikes) in your pack. 😀

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Yeah, that was because I was cheap. Bent an x9 pretty early in life but straightened it out. Bought a replacement knowing that one more bend and it was gone for good. Carried around the replacement in anticipation. My fear was that if I put the new one on I would bend that one pretty quick too, so I was leaving the old one on as a sacrificial lamb for the next rock strike. I find that I am pretty cheap and any time I finally replace a part I think "man, I can't believe I rode like that for so long" but then I keep doing it. Idiot.

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4 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Yeah, that was because I was cheap. Bent an x9 pretty early in life but straightened it out. Bought a replacement knowing that one more bend and it was gone for good. Carried around the replacement in anticipation. My fear was that if I put the new one on I would bend that one pretty quick too, so I was leaving the old one on as a sacrificial lamb for the next rock strike. I find that I am pretty cheap and any time I finally replace a part I think "man, I can't believe I rode like that for so long" but then I keep doing it. Idiot.

This is my exact same maintenance plan. 

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I got this new ultrasonic cleaner, and I thought I'm going to save a bundle on chains.  So I threw my $16 PC850 chain that survived RHR24 mud, then Dirty Dozen mud, but was still showing under 50% (even though the mud looked a bit metallic at times).   After cleaning I found a split side plate.  I replaced it with the cutoff pieces I always save from new chains (not with a power link but with a pin I didn't fully push out).  Last week when I tried to ride Peddlers (to see how this 70°HTA SS compares to my FS bike), it snapped...right at the pin I re-used.  It would have been fine but I did not have a power link with me.

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I've found that if you push a pin out of a side plate, that link is toast.  I tried to not fully push out a pin on my SRAM 11 speed chain on my single speed chain and it snapped the first ride out.  Power links are the answer and those suckers seem as strong as a normal link. 

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I've been re-using pins forever, sometimes on the trail (before powerlinks).  This is the first time it got me.  I still have a bag of new 9-speed Shimano pins.  I should use them on my road bike next time I replace the pins, and save the quick link as a spare.

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I did that once on my BMX bike when I was a kid. It snapped a few feet in front of a wood jump I was approaching at speed and threw me onto my head on the frozen ground. I only had to learn that lesson once. You know how they say "a chain is only as strong as its weakest like"? That applies here.

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Chain pins have a very small retaining lip on them almost microscopic. When you push one out you shear that lip, that's why they're not reusable. If you push a pin too far into the link when you install it you can partially or totally shear that lip causing it to slide out and break the chain. It's only the newer chains 10s and up that are constructed like this. I guess because of how narrow they are. Next time you push a pin out look at your chain tool you'll see a tiny ring of metal on your tools pin. It's also important which side you slide the new pin in at least on Shimano chains, it has to be installed from the outside of the chain.

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You can take a punch or a drift and tap the end of the pin to flare it out a little. With the other end of the pin pressed firmly against some sort of anvil, of course.

Consider how the pin is really a rivet and it doesn't take much expansion on the end to prevent it moving.

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My position on this is that a new chain is usually less than $20 and I can get many months of use out of it.  If it breaks, it can really f'in hurt.  I'll recycle tubeless solution from one tire to another but when it comes to chains, I'd sooner put on a new one than smash around on pins.

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2 hours ago, Ridenfool said:

You can take a punch or a drift and tap the end of the pin to flare it out a little. With the other end of the pin pressed firmly against some sort of anvil, of course.

Consider how the pin is really a rivet and it doesn't take much expansion on the end to prevent it moving.

This is not worth the (likely) potential of failure and a hard fall when it does. A new KMC Missing Link is less than $5.

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This was on an 8 speed chain and with solid pins.

I don't do this on the 9-11 speed chains.  I recycle 9 and 10 speed links, but not the 11 speed link.  I've had a new 11 speed link fail on me (the thin lip upon which the pin locks just sheared off) so I don't mess with 11speed.

Until this last experience, my only chain failures were not related to pins:  bent/twisted link (not sure how that happened on a road bike when putting maximum power down at somewhere over 40mph...scary!) and the failed 11spd SRAM power link in the first lap of the Dirty Dozen last year.  Brand new chain and link too.

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I heartily agree that buying a new chain is always the better choice. As long as you have that choice. I suppose this was more about understanding what keeps it together, in case knowing that might get you back on the bike rather than walking beside it.

My suggestion was more of "what to do if you have no other choice" than anything else. I've done it trailside once, using what I had with me. After it coming loose the first go, without any attempt to flare the ends. It worked, and got me back to the car.

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