MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Outside the shipshop post ride last night, I hopped back on my bike and laid down some serious power for an impressive sprint home.
Atleast in my head that was the plan, what actually happened is my chain exploded and I cracked my nuts on the stem and very VERY nearly went overthe bars andheadbutted a bollard.
By exploded I mean I literally picked up 4 pieces of chain.
I'm obviously registering my thighs as a dangerous weapon as a precaution but anyone any ideas (pretty sure I know)
Ouch! Did something similar with a new chain on the way back from a bike service. Left the lights (slightly up hill) and the chain went leaving me on the floor looking surprised. That was fun.
I never found the quicklink (the chain was replaced in the service), but I think that went and it pretty much flew off the chainset.
I however, will not be registering my thighs as dangerous weapons. Concealed weapons maybe...
I had the chain break on me while on my fatbike a few years ago, the timing while in easiest gear going up one of Hampshire's steepest roads (Dell Rd in Midanbury, hits ~20%) was not ideal! 😮 😆
I think my chain managed to skip a tooth and the NarrowWide chainring did the rest.
dunno about why it skipped though.
Saved it like a boss
Did the chips contain plutonium?
That's some power. I'd start the next ride with chips and be awesome all ride rather than just the final stretch!
On a serious note, was the chain SRAM?
Four pieces is pretty impressive!
I used to bust quick links with the associated slapstick dismount.
Didn't matter if shop, factory or me fitted.
Stopped using them for years but the new ones seem ok.
Awesomeness can cause this. Same outcome as as a slipping 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub! Hope you clackers aren't damaged!
OOOOh i've done that. I headbutted a taxi
That’s some power. I’d start the next ride with chips and be awesome all ride rather than just the final stretch!
good point, i'll rethink my entire nutrition.
You got lucky. I know someone that happened to and they ruptured the artery in the top of their thigh and knocked themselves out. Very nearly died.
Have a good look at the chain, I had one with multiple cracks in the sideplates, luckily noticed during maintenance but I've heard of a couple more instances recently where the chain has snapped and the side plates are cracked. Probably fakes, I can't remember where I got mine.
check for bent chain rings/ cassette teeth... forcing the plates of the chain apart. IME Singlespeed chain usual snaps when a stone in the chain bends the plates out and pop.
That is very weird for it to break in more than one place so worth checking there isn't something else up with your drivetrain that caused it.
What speed was the chain? They're getting ever increasingly thinner these days
They’re getting ever increasingly thinner these days
As a ****ty luddite who's moved back to 8 speed, I'd agree.. also the gaps between the cogs are smaller thus making the gears more likely to skip, increasing the chances of the chain snapping.
I've had a few close ones with snapped chains in the past, not happened since I moved back to 8 speed.
A friend of mine seriously tore a hamstring doing this back in the day.
Anyone know the load rating/yield strength of new chains? I'm assuming that 11/12 are weaker than the thicker chains?
I certainly pay attention to replacing my chain regularly, but having said that I'm way less strong than I was back in my 20s.
A big guy at work managed to strip the teeth off a chainring on a cheap Chinese bike doing same too.
12 speed chains appear to be more durable than wider chains.
It's the rollers that get narrower - not the plates.
ahem... 8speed poster above consider yourself warned. Its 1x8 though so pretty modern...
I pretty much know it was the narrow wide chainring becasue I also picked up a collection of poped link half, nothing has broken it just dismantled itself.
Are you all suggesting my blue LX deraileur might be due retirement?
Mine went last year just after climbing Honister on the Bash. Fairly low mileage Sram chain, and on inspection loads of cracked plates. Never seen anything like it !!
i broke a couple of chains last summer. cracked plates as above.
what is the chain line like in the lowest gear? shimano now spec 55mm for boost. i ditched that and fitted a 51mm chain line crank.
i’d not thought about the chain being a fake, as mentioned above. mine was a kmc. can’t remember if i got it on line
Shimano is 52mm for 142/148mm, 55mm for 148mm if chainring/chainstay combo needs the clearance, and 56.5mm for 157mm.
Got 52mm on both my 148mm bikes.
I dropped my chain on my singlespeed one time when out the saddle powering up a short climb. I went right over the bars with such force that did a front flip landing flat on my arse, totally unhurt. The bike also did a front flip landing back on its wheels and carried on rolling a bit. One of the WTAF! moments.
Hope your bruised pride (and ball bag) heal up.
weirdly the only thing that actually hurts is the back of my right hand. I don't really know how but I think I must have saved it with left hand only!
I must have looked mega powerful THEN mega skilled
I bought a chain last year for my then 10 year old son.
Snapped on the first climb, joined it back together and thought I must have fitted it wrongly somehow. Snapped another 2 times before I took a closer look at the chain, it had already started to rust and had "Shimano HyperGlide" spelled wrongly 🙈
Fake, of course, got a refund but it's made me far more wary.
Happened to me with. 2 month old sram chain. Awful thing. KMC all the way.
Did the chips contain plutonium?
That would make them .... fission chips
The aforementioned chain, cracks all lined up
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Just to set some things straight.
I only use KMC chains, best of gear.
It was 8 speeds.
The links burst rather than anything snapping.
I mean literally it sounded like a bag of cash hitting the floor.
Jesus, that pic of the chain is mad.
I mean literally it sounded like a bag of cash hitting the floor.
No shit!
Joshvegas.
I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am :-
1/ How a skilled,hard Fifer didn't save the cracked nuts moment with a super controlled endo, while
also holding a bag of chips in one hand.
2/ That you gave me an instant (and painful) flashback to a time,many,many years ago.
Stopped on my trusty commuter,at the only set of traffic lights in the village,I am beside a bus
taking a lot of people that I knew into town.This included someone I fancied ,who just happened
to be sitting at one of the window seats.Being the King of cool and out to impress ,I gave it max
as the lights changed and instantly snapped the chain,rattled my nuts on the top tube,but also
managed to land upside down underneath bike.Never did get that date 🙂 😀
Chips are ridiculously expensive, did you save them?
The other side to this is your diet for such an intensive sprint, carbs and fat we're clear on, but vegetables? Only mushy peas are right.
And Protein? Several choices here but I clearly haven't been getting this right 🙂