Ok, screw that chain
Screw that chain tool, too. They’re both worthless. I didn’t even make it up Roswell Road today before the chain started to lock up. I pulled over (and probably almost got run over a couple of times) and couldn’t find any stiff links or misaligned pins stuck in the usual places, but I didn’t make it another fifty feet up the hill before the chain broke again. This time the pin launched itself somewhere out into the road, but oh ho! I thought to myself. I have a chain tool! I’m prepared! Maybe that Boy Scout belt (it’s really a mighty fine belt) that I wear all the time is more than just symbolic. It didn’t work out.
The Topeak chain tool, besides apparently being maybe a little breaky, has a design flaw with regards to the pin that pushes against the chain links. The pin unscrews, which makes some sense, but the housing for the pin, the knurled part you can see on the picture for this entry, tends to get stuck on the cradle when you screw it all the way in, which you need to do for storage. In addition to that, the pin apparently isn’t really the right length. Once I got the tool back together, the pin would slide in and out, and I only had about half the length I needed to actually break a link. I think there was probably a ball bearing or something up inside there, and I think that bearing is now at the bottom of a storm drain somewhere. Why was the pin not long enough to begin with? I don’t know, but the tool sucks. I decided to just write the dumb thing off as a loss and admit failure in this particular chain repair endeavor. I fortunately didn’t have far to walk home. I hope that when I waved at Greg, the maintenance guy who lives beneath me and who helps me save a ton of cash on my heating bill, on the way back into the complex that he didn’t think I was brandishing a weapon with the chain in my hand. I don’t suppose I could do much more damage to a person with that narrow little thing than get grease on their face, but these are the kinds of things I think of when I’m walking a broken bike. Anyhow, the chain broke near the links from the Trek, so I probably screwed up replacing the pin or created a stiff link that I just couldn’t find, but I also realized today that since my large chain ring hit the ground, and I had the chain on the big ring when I wrecked, the chain probably hit, too, so that’s the story I’m going to go with for now. Both breaks have occurred in the granny gear, so I still don’t consider the bad teeth an emergency. My chain broke and needed replacement, and I threw out that crappy Topeak chain tool even though it did look kind of cool.
I drove to work today, and I bought a new chain and chain tool at Roswell Bikes. The chain tool is the Park Tool CT-5 mini tool, and, though it’s not as symmetrical, it’s smaller and lighter than that Topeak thing, and it doesn’t hurt my hands when I try to use it without gloves. This new chain tool also has a neat feature in that the distance you need to push the chain pin out is the same as the amount the tool will screw in, whereas the Topeak tool would push the pin all the way through the link and halfway to the moon if you let it. I won’t doubt you again, Park Tool, unless there’s something else that looks good that’s a whole lot cheaper. As for the chain itself, Roswell Bikes keeps things like chains and brakes and cables and whatnot in the back, and I didn’t care to argue, so I submitted myself to whims of the guy working the register today. The only chain factor I was aware of is the number of rear gears, since you need something with enough links and the right width. I asked for a nine-speed chain, and the dude asked me what kind of drive train I had. My drive drain is really a mishmash of whatever Schwinn could get their hands on, so I kind of sputtered and guessed Shimano for the rear derailleur. I guess that’s how I ended up with a Shimano chain. The derailleur is actually Sram, but I don’t think it really matters. I have a tool and a chain. The chain cost more than I expected, but it looks like a really nice chain.
I don’t know a whole lot about chain brands, but this Shimano thing seems pretty high class. One thing different about is that instead of the flat pins I was used to, the pins flare out against the walls of the outer links, providing more strength or something. The downside of this for you and me (mostly me) is that the flared part shears off when you break a link. Shimano’s solution for this is to provide special replacement pins: instead of just pushing the same pin the other way when you connect links, they provide a special pin that’s about twice as long and has a piece that breaks off. These pins have the flared part on one end, and once you’ve used it to poke the old pin the rest of the way out, the pilot piece breaks off to create a new kind-of flared end on the other side. It seems pretty neat, but these replacement pins cost about five bucks for a pack of three, and the new chain only came with one, so I was nervous for the rest of the day that the lone pin would fall out of the flimsy box and be lost forever. I have everything back together in spite of my fears, and I learned from Park Tool’s chain installation guide that the upper set of fins on the chain tool isn’t for different chain sizes but rather is provided as a tool to help loosen stiff links. I don’t know how this is supposed to help, but that’s what it’s there for, and I used it to loosen the connection point once I got the chain onto the bike. Whatever. I have a new fancy chain, I have a new light and sturdy chain tool, and I think I have everything back together and properly adjusted. I guess I’ll figure out how it all goes tomorrow morning.