put a new shimano chain (9 speed) on my bike today. the instructions said to use the pin designed for narrow 9 speed chains, which was in a seperate plastic packet. before I used it, I removed the pin which was already half inserted in the one of the links (does that make sense). Was that stupid?

bald spot you can use the half inserted pin aswell, as it is a shimano joining pin. The one in the packet is a spare, or i suppose it can be used if you shorten the chain and take off the end with the half inserted pin, either way if you have used one of the pins you will be fine.

great – cheers hustler