This morning my chain broke on the way to work (a brand new chain and bike!) I managed to remove the offending link and re-make the chain using the original pin. It’s a shimano chin so am I right I thinking this isn’t right and special pins are supposed to be used and its quite likely the chain will let again sometime soon?

The re-made link looks perfect and was slightly stiff initially but otherwise fine?

Can i risk it for a while?

I wouldnt be surprised if it didnt let go soon. I had a similar problem and the fix was only temporary. I always carry power links now in case this does happen and you can just pop one in and away you go.

It will go, probably sooner rather than later, probably somewhere inconvenient or dangerous. Don’t risk it, get some pins.

Depends – if you got it back in just-so then it will be fine. I almost never re-join a chain in any other way, and they seem to go on.

Edit – there you go – classic stw! A range of opinions! If you’re good at joining chains it may well be completely fine for the rest of the life of the chain.

When I did this it didn’t last 2 miles – might have just been massively unlucky though

Done this on a Deore chain HG53 and it lasted as long as the bike.
Done it on an XT chain HG-93 and it snapped over and over again. I threw it in the bin and walked home.

I had a link break after about 10 miles on a new bike. It didn’t snap but the pin was loose so the chain kept coming off and it would have gone soon. I took it back (to Evans) and they gave me a new chain. The guy half-heartedly tried to argue that chain, tyres etc weren’t replaceable, which is fair enough, but if it’s brand new then it ought to last longer than that.

Can I use an SRAM powerlink on a Shimano chain? I ask because my chain snapped today and round here they only stock Shimano chains. Cant be arsed to wait for wiggle/CRC as I usually do. I’d like to continue using the powerlinks.

Yes, as long as it is the same speed as the Shimano chain (i.e 10 speeds are narrower than 9’s.)

I used to get away with it for a short time anyway when I had d’ers..

Nowadays I run KMC on hub gear and build complete chains from offcuts. – Every 5 chains I get one free! 😆

Never broken one yet and they end up totally shagged with the grit round here.