bicycle repair Tip How to repair bike chain links (using a chain tool) > Bicycle Repair Tips

 

okay so today we're gonna be talking
about chain breakers and chains I'm just
gonna show you how to use your chain
breaker a chain breaker looks something
like this you might have one in a
multi-tool or you might have one loose
like this but the basic concept is the
same you have these two little sections
here which you lay the chain on you have
a crank and you have a pin in the middle
if you have a multi-tool tool with a
chain breaker it's gonna look pretty
much the same at the most basic level
this one of course you turn it by
putting an allen key in there because
it's part of this multi-tool this is one
chain link or what will be referred to
as one chain link so if we were to
remove a link from this chain take the
chain breaker put it on this end right
here move this until it hits the pin
make sure it's kind of centered on and
the first time is gonna be really hard
and it's gonna pop the link out and then
as you push it it's going to push the
link further and further out now the
chain breaker is measured so that if you
max it out here that's gonna not quite
pop the pin all the way out of the chain
but it's gonna be sticking out just like
this if you max out the chain breaker
it's basically gonna push this link
right up to the edge here but I don't
like to do that so I'm gonna push this
chain link almost all the way to the end
and then I'm gonna back off and now
chain still together but if I go like
that it comes apart now as you can see
this chain pin is still sticking out a
little bit in the center there and
what's good about that is if I want to
join another link let's say a links
damaged and you're replacing it I can
get this under it pop it in and then
it's easier for me to line up the chain
breaker see if that pin was completely
flush with the edge of the chain link
this would move all around and then if I
was trying to get this pin back in it
would be very hard to line up on the
chain breaker I would need three hands
basically to do it let's join this
link back up same part of the chain
breaker but with the pin facing the pin
and the chain breaker so we're gonna
start turning this and as you can see
it's moving the pin back into the chain
now there is no measurement on the chain
breaker for this you have to look and
make sure you're not pushing it too far
so as you can see we have the link on
this side in the right spot and we have
the link on that side in the right spot
so let's take it off and it's joined
this this is a little tight here where I
put this this chain link in you know
that would cause some problems on a
bicycle when you use a chain breaker to
add a link it tightens it a lot and the
drivetrain of a bicycle is a very
fine-tuned mechanism and if the chain
link is too tight it's gonna have a lot
of trouble so that's what this part of
the chain breaker is for this part of it
sticks out a little bit and this side is
sort of flush if I were to take the part
that's sticking out put it in the chain
breaker over here what it's going to do
is push the pin into the chain and on
this side it's not going to get pushed
out because look it's not resting up
against anything on this side of the
chain breaker the chains resting up
against this metal here
so the chain stays in place and it
pushes the pin if you put it on this one
it moves the pin but it leaves the chain
to move out so you're actually loosening
the link if you push that in a little
bit
now this link is loose as hell you don't
wanna make it too loose but you can
adjust it like the other links most
bikes that have years they have enough
links where you can take one out and it
looks still work so you have a bad link
you can just take it out let me give you
an example here let's flop the chain up
in one spot so I can kind of show you
what I'm talking about here okay
I didn't mean to fuck it up that bed now
you're like shocked you can't ride the
bike like that is this link messed up no
looks okay so that's okay now this one
is bad so can we just take off this
piece well let's try
let's see what happens if we just take
off that piece okay cool this looks okay
oh well we can't we can't really put
these together right okay it's like I
said the beginning that one link is
those two pieces let's get this out now
we can join it back together now most of
the time you're just gonna be taking out
links because you have a master link but
I have a lot of trouble getting master
links on and off I actually have flesh
trouble just joining a chain with the
chain breaker then putting a master link
on and off but it is generally good
practice to use the master link because
the more you take the pins in and out of
your chain the more it's going to get
worn out so here I put this back
together and it's actually not too tight
at this this would probably work just
for good practice let me make it as
loose as the other ones put it in here
get up to the chain breaker and we'll
just push it just a tiny bit and now we
have a nice happy segment of chain
without all these damaged links you'll
figure it out thanks for watching