I found the weakest link in my chain today.

[Tom@WashDC]

Running hard up a 45 degree hill, shifting on the fly, found my weakest link. I've got 1,400 hard miles on my Z1 since mid June. Glad I had the tools with me and it only took 10 minutes to pop the link and add a new one. Needless to say, I rode home a bit slower and more gentle. Maintenance time!

 

[Avg_Joe]

So, was it a MissingLink or one of the regular links?

 

[Dave Rocks]

So you are out there in the field with a broken chain
and you think about staging your tools to make a nice picture
for The EBR FORUM? Nice!

 

[Tom@WashDC]

Regular link, twisted during shifting across the cogs.

 

[JRA]

So you are out there in the field with a broken chain
and you think about staging your tools to make a nice picture
for The EBR FORUM? Nice!

Obviously there were no skeeters.

I am going to start calling my Z1 "Pig Pen" cause it is never that clean and has similar mileage.

 

[Tom@WashDC]

Obviously there were no skeeters.

I am going to start calling my Z1 "Pig Pen" cause it is never that clean and has similar mileage.

Yeah, I wash her down a lot, and use a drenched wash cloth on her every day. I had a black mustang gt back in 1982', swore I would never have a black car unless I had an assistant to wash it every day. End up with a shiny black bike with shiny sparkles, cannot stand to have it dirty.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Which remind me of replacing a chain on my Vado!

 

[ElevenAD]

Running hard up a 45 degree hill, shifting on the fly, found my weakest link. I've got 1,400 hard miles on my Z1 since mid June. Glad I had the tools with me and it only took 10 minutes to pop the link and add a new one. Needless to say, I rode home a bit slower and more gentle. Maintenance time!

View attachment 135707

Very nice bike! This reminds me I need to double check and make sure i still have a chainbreaker and spare links in my trunk bag!

 

[Djangodog]

I’m glad that you shared the details and a picture or the carnage.

I have had to use a chain breaker 3 times on rides, (the first was because I broke off a rear derailleur with a mistimed downhill log hop, and twice because of broken chains). I regularly clean, lubricate my chains and inspect my them with a Park “stretch” gage, but sometimes a mechanical part will fail anyway.

A worn chain will also be less efficient and prematurely wear your chainrings and cassette, so it can be economical to change the chain before it gets too worn and always back off the power during shifting.

 

[Tom@WashDC]

Yeah, just before I left for my ride, I thought "I should check my chain stretch, and it's probably time for a new chain".
Yeah, it's time.

 

[m@Robertson]

Starting about a month ago I moved my Big Fat Dummy home to the Monterey Bay Area, where there are some epic hills in town. My motor is like Tom@WashDC's in that it too is a 160 Nm motor. Mine is tied to a 52v battery and is running 30a (BBSHD). It also has about a 215-link chain. The inclines can be pretty epic, especially if I'm loaded up from the grocery store.

The rule I have is to shift - at the base of the hill - to the most I'll need at the worst of the climb and never shift on the hill. A lot easier for me to do that on a known road than it would be on a trail.

If that Z1 is a Ludi then you have figured things out pretty good for this to be your first chain event.

 

[JRA]

"at the base of the hill - to the most I'll need at the worst of the climb and never shift on the hill"

Isnt' that the way it is supposed to be done? It's the way I have always done it even before assist on all my bikes. Unless you are racing it is effective and easy on the components. Of course there are times when it is necessary to break the rule but if you are careful it still can be done.

That said yes I have broken a few chains but not in awhile knock on wood since I have gotten my drivetrain to my liking, cheap and reliable. I can do a complete 11spd drivetrain swap, cassette, front chainring, derailleur and chain with new cable for around $125. Chain and cassette for $50 which I suspect will be the most swapped out as they usually are. So far this system is holding strong without any need of replacing anything after 600 miles.

 

[m@Robertson]

Isnt' that the way it is supposed to be done? It's the way I have always done it even before assist on all my bikes. Unless you are racing it is effective and easy on the components. Of course there are times when it is necessary to break the rule but if you are careful it still can be done.

Sort of. Depends on the hill and the rider I guess. I used to kind of specialize in climbs on a road bike (more like descents... the day's climb up the mountainside was put up with so I could do the 10-minute rocket-sled back down).

For me a climb was all about intense focus, finding my ideal cadence and sticking to it no matter the slope. So I'd never change the front chainring, but I might vary between say three cogs - one up, one down and one in the middle - for an ascent with that small variation being what I needed to keep my cadence up. Its crazy to think about now, but my front gears were 53x42 and my rears were 12-13-14-15-17-19-21. Thats never going to happen again.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Or, when you buy a new Shimano chain that was expected to come with the connecting pin only there is no pin in the package. And a standard KMC master link does not fit the Shimano chain even is both have been made for 10-speed derailleurs.
Or, when you have instantly (to make up for the above) bought the KMC X10E chain that came with the master link and you discover that because of poor manufacturing tolerances the master link cannot connect the chain.