Have you broken a chain?

[Deacon Blues]

Broke my chain on my regular carbon road bike while doing a group ride 100km from home.
Mine own fault-riding through a campsite and after a sharp turn came to a short, steep hill.
I was in my big front ring, so as I started to climb the hill I went from the big to small ring.
Big mistake!
The angle of the chain, while moving to another ring, plus me applying power for the hill cause the chain to snap.
The links on both sides of the break were twisted, so a quick link wouldn't work properly.
I ended up calling BCAA (which took and hour and a half to pick me up) for a tow (ride) back to my car, which was parked 20km away.
If it was closer to home I would have asked my wife to come and get me, but I didn't want her to drive the 100km.
I learned my lesson

 

[PCeBiker]

This. Drivetrain are damaged because of bike misuse. It is not that the chainring snaps because excessive stress was applied to it but because the ring hit a rock.

It Doesn't Matter !!

With a hub drive, you can completely remove your chain, sprockets, and derailleur and still power your way home.

A mid-drive Needs a chain to drive the e-bike.

A hub drive is simpler, more reliable and doesn't need a drive train.

My chain, sprockets and pedals are simply an accessory to be used in case of emergency.

 

[fooferdoggie]

It Doesn't Matter !!

With a hub drive, you can completely remove your chain, sprockets, and derailleur and still power your way home.

A mid-drive Needs a chain to drive the e-bike.

A hub drive is simpler, more reliable and doesn't need a drive train.

My chain, sprockets and pedals are simply an accessory to be used in case of emergency.

so your saying buy a e scooter then you wont have to worry about the parts bikes have?

 

[PCeBiker]

so your saying buy a e scooter then you wont have to worry about the parts bikes have?

Not really.
I'm saying that a hub drive motor is more reliable when the shyte hits the fan.
Less chance of complete failure and more chance of self recovery.

If I have a complete failure, I'm looking at a $300 tow home, plus pushing my e-bike (or carrying it when the tire goes flat and gets jammed in the frame) to the nearest road for pickup.



As much as my e-bike and it's throttle are hated here, I can still power my way home, even if it's at 3 kph.


I still have a fully functional pedaling system to pedal home (slowly) if I have an electrical issue.

With a hub drive, the electrical and the mechanical systems are separate.
You can rely on either if need be.

 

[PCeBiker]

I actually pedaled my ebike today.
I didn't really wanna but what the hell.

My Watt meter dropped from around 250 Watts to around 150 Watts.

My ebike is completely pedalable.

I choose not to pedal, but that's mostly an excuse.
I have severe emphasima but I choose to not pedal.
I prefer to smoke my cigarettes and Vados when I'm riding.

I intend to get my sorry ass home myself if I have a failure. I don't care if it takes me half a day.

Spending $300 to get home is a waste of money in my books.

 

[PCeBiker]

If I remove my chain, pedals, and sprockets, I am technically and legally breaking the law.

I don't mind carrying around all that drive chain crap if it keeps me from being busted by the PoPo.
And I can always pedal home if I have to.

 

[AHicks]

so your saying buy a e scooter then you wont have to worry about the parts bikes have?

This is a perfect example of nonsense logic.....

 

[fooferdoggie]

This is a perfect example of nonsense logic.....

just going by what he said.

 

[TrevorB]

Life time of cycling, mainly commuting, touring and MTBing, 25000kms of that riding is on middrives. Finally broke my first chain couple months ago on middrive, turbo and wrong gear at lights. Was easy fix with chainbreak tool and spare link. If I was worried about broken chains would buy middrive with IGH, single speed chains are almost impossible to break as they stronger to start with and don't need to deal with poor shifts.

 

[Captain Slow]

I have never broken a chain in all my years of riding. I'm not sure how many km's that represents but I'm going to guess that's around 50,000 km's over several decades. I am a smaller guy so I develop less power. Having said that, my carbon Cervelo is cracked on both sides of my bottom bracket after about a decade of use. I tell people it failed there because of all the power I generate

I have a friend who broke a chain on his mountain bike when he was just riding a paved trail and not riding hard at all. Sometimes it's just bad luck.