There’s a recurring theme in the posts above; the people who need the chain tool are not the ones carrying it! I too have used my chain tool to fix someone else’s bike.
yep funnily enough this was the situation a few weeks ago on a ride with a couple of mates 🙂 I've had a chain snap twice on my own bike (in many years biking!), once I had the tool & could fix it, the other (pub bike) I didn't, but wasn't too far from home so just used the bike like a giant balance bike for a bit 🙂
Once in 50,350 miles (but I was awfully glad to have it on that occasion!)
I've not used one during a ride in 20+ years. Stopped carrying one about 15 years ago, although now I seem to recall my Stumpy has one built in somewhere.
When I rode regularly at Swinley I'd use the chain breaker maybe 2 or 3 times a year (on a ride)
..but I don't think I've used it at all in the last 10 years
Three times in the last 40 years and only once on my own bike. The other two were the same bloke. One Sunday his chain broke and I sorted with a quick link. The following Sunday it happened again. You can guess what he had done, nothing and he was surprised it had broken again! Some people believe maintenance is optional.
See, now, I have had recourse to use a chain breaker quite frequently, either for myself or for riding buddies. I find the ones on multi-tools do work most of the time, but man they are not easy and 2 have failed on me. Quite possibly due to user error (how hard can it be!), but both were crank bros and both somehow managed to chew up their own threads.
You can still find each of them somewhere in the forests of the Alsace area, prob a long way from the trails from where they were chucked with great anger.
The one-up breaker works, but man, it is not easy. I had a chain snap last week and it was so humid and wet, my hands were just too sweaty and greasy from the chain to get enough purchase on the stupid tiny chain tool/tire lever that I failed and bodged instread. Have used it successfully when not quite so slippy however.
Thus, FWIW, if you are going to carry one, I recommend to carry a decent one. The mini park tool one is small but it actually works in all conditions.
n more than 50 years of riding… …never.
Same, but then as I don't take any tools on any ride I couldn't use one anyway.
I reckon about once every two years. These days, with most stuff having mushroomed pins, they are less useful than they were since masterlinks take up the slack, but broken links sometimes get stuck and nothing else will do.
I recall once riding with a friend 40 years ago when his chain broke. i can't for the life of me remember if he had his own chain breaker with him or used mine. So possibly once possibly never
No chance. Quicklinks are pretty pointless if you don’t carry a chain breaker.
no luck with breaking apart a damaged chain. probably half of the chains (2 out of 4 from memory) I have broken it has been the quick link that has failed. A new one drops right in, no tools required.
I've used it a few times. Mostly back when single speed would break chains.
More recently was in the mountains and I fixed a German guys chain, otherwise he would have had a very long walk back.
I have used mine three times this year.
OK, so far it has not been needed for my own chain, but still. That's three fellow riders who were able to continue as a result of me being prepared.
About once a year. Not necessarily on my bikes
In the last five years or so I've needed the Chain breaker twice, once to shorten my Gravel bike's chain for a lashed up SS bodge to get home after a snapping a mech hanger, and once to help a Hungarian couple on borrowed bikes who were having a mare of a day at Swinley.
It both instances it was the only tool that could solve the problem. you don't need a chain breaker often, but when you do need one there's not really any viable alternatives.
It's nice to be a good Samaritan, and it's nice to be self sufficient and get that positive affirmation that comes from having the right tool for the situation.
In terms of 'Bulk' a chain breaker doesn't add a huge amount of volume/mass to a multitool, and as already noted a pair of quick links is potentially useless if you don't have a chain breaker as well...
I always have one in my kit as it can save you from a long walk home.
I have also used mine to he other people who need help once on a hire bike at Fairholmes which had a chain made up of three different types of chain.
Two years ago. My hanger snapped while riding up the Gap and, while I didn't take out the rear wheel spokes or mangle the mech, the chain was so tangled I had to split it to straighten it out - but of course, I absolutely could not get the quick link to part.
After breaking the chain with the chain breaker, I sorted it out and rejoined it with another quick link, after also attaching the spare hanger I had. I now carry those tyre levers that double up as chain pliers.....and a chainbreaker tool.
A few years ago probably, on someone else's bike doing the round Preston NCN route one evening, he'd had a new chain fitted by an LBS and I think they'd broken and joined it the old fashioned way rather than using a joining pin or quick link.
But then I could say the same about Allen keys, spare tube, emergency £20 note or even my phone. I'd probably not do without any of them though, it's cheap insurance against having to walk a very long way. Or worse, be that guy who has to borrow tools mid ride ?.
n.b. the inside of brake levers (unless you have fancy brakes with carbon / CNC levers) is a great place to tape some spare quick links so you've always got some.
probably half of the chains (2 out of 4 from memory) I have broken it has been the quick link that has failed. A new one drops right in, no tools required.
My experience has been the opposite, I've only ever broken one quick link and that was a cheap ali-express link. The rest of the time it's either just been at random points.
I too have used one several times on other people’s bikes.
Chris Juden, ex-technical officer of the then CTC advocated carrying a very small molegrips on a tour. He said it was useful for many jobs and you could leave the chain breaker at home and use the molegrips to break the plates of a chain so a quick link could be fitted.
Once, in 2006. Shortened a snapped chain and was able to single-speed home.
About 6 years ago. If I didn't have one with me it would have been a very long walk home.
Plenty of people carry quick links but no chain breaker which seems silly. How are you going to remove the broken link before installing the quick link?
I crashed a few weeks ago. In the OTB crash, my chain broke at the quicklink. I think my foot caught in the chain on my way over the bars.
99.99% of the time I have a quick link in my tools. This was the time that I had to walk home instead of a 60 second fix.
Intersted to hear I'm not alone in rarely using but still carrying one.
Given the amount of solo in the middle of nowhere riding I do the risk of not taking one is too high to contemplate. Weighs hee haw, takes up a tiny amount of space and is a god send if you do need it. My teeny tiny topeak multi tool has one and it works fine.
If a chain breaks, it's usually such an easy fix with the right tool.
Without the right tool, it's almost impossible to fix. If you're a long way from home it's a pain and ruins the day.
I have used one couple of times in50years. I always carry oe tho its on my multitool. You cannot really bodge one.
Once in about 8 years on my own bikes but twice or three times on other peoples.
I've got a Kamasa multitool. Similar design to the Birzman posted at the top of this page. It cost a tenner, it's all metal and small so why not.
Definitely have used in the dim distant past. There was a time we got what seemed to be a bad batch of chains (proper SRAM not cheap junk), and broke about 3 of them over a year or two. "Just riding along", really. Tandem but not super heavy or strong riders, we weren't even in the granny gear.
Not for a long time now though. Not riding the tandems so much may have something to do with this, also chains have got better even as they've got narrower.
Roadbiking, never. MTB or Gravel last used about 15-20 years ago. On road will ride without one but my full on MTB or gravel bikepacking repair kit has one, plus quick links and pliers, dont usually take that on normal day rides though.
Usually when riding with "that person" (you know who you are)
Not having used one for ages is no excuse for not carrying one, though - when was the last time you made an insurance claim?
Good luck getting this untangled from the derailleur without tools.
Without tools? Did you read a different post to me?
I've done a chain break and add a quick link without a chain tool several times. Mainly as the chain tool i was carrying at the time was too crap to push the mushroomed pin out... A screwdriver through the link and a couple of rocks did the trick.
For me probably around 20 years ago on a group ride. Then again the one I have is so small. It fits in my headset so I wouldn't bother not having it. It's the kind of tool that if you need, you need. It's unlikely that anybody other than a cyclist would have one so if something goes wrong you are stuck
Carry the current one but it's pig horrible to use, but luckily never needed to! Only the commute bike actually, its a tiny fiddly Lezynne multi tool which has no leverage so I don't carry it on mtb. Last time I used one mid ride over ten years I think.
My own, a couple of years back to fix a pensioners bike on a cycle path. Was a section alongside a railway track and he was a 4 mile walk from home with no option of being picked up.
My mate used his at Tweedlove last weekend. Gears were shifting badly after one of the race stages. Found a broken inner link on a week old chain. Removed broken sections, rejoined with quick link and continued race.
I’ve been riding since the early 90’s and remember the days when snapped chains were a regular occurrence. You only need one long walk home to always carry one. Modern chains are so good I think lots of younger riders have never experienced this, yet.
I’ve been riding since the early 90’s and remember the days when snapped chains were a regular occurrence.
I'm early/mid 80's and it's never been a regular occurrence.
Only time i've had an issue with snapping chains was a handful of (probably faulty) shimano 9 speed chains that used to fall apart, outer plates just used to pull off the pin. Eventually had all those replaced by shimano tech service, sold the replacements on and bought Campag and Sedis chains, no issue since. Never bought a shimano chain since either!
Other than the handful of shimanos that went pop in the space of a month, i'm probably on one chain snap every dozen years.
When did chains become too fragile to be split/rejoined???
(Says the man still running 8 and 9 speed drivetrains...)
When they went to mushroom headed/peined chain pins.
The pins can't be removed and refitted without damaging the outer side plates sufficiently that they'll no longer hold the pin. That's where the oversized shimano pin comes from.
And it started at 8 speed IIRC.
Last time I snapped a chain was when I was EBiking on a loaner bike in Spain. First time I'd ridden one for any length of time and was a bit clumsy with the gears. We only had multitool chain breakers and they are CRAP! Had to use a combination of pebbles to get the right leverage.
So I sent one of those Topeak ones to the guy that took me out as a thank you gift 🙂
I have one of the old Park folding tools, which is excellent - last time it was used was a few weeks back when a young fella needed to borrow it (twice, cos the first time he'd joined the chain with it running outside the chain stay lol ). I always carry it, but not needed it myself in a very long time.
Maybe once in 20 years.
But glad I had it
On one of my own bikes virtually never (although I did two weeks ago when an outer link plate failed).
On other people's bikes I'd say at least once or twice a year long term average. Not just splitting but stiff links as well and I vaguely recall helping someone shorten a new chain at CYB.
I probably give away at least a quick link a year as well as I've always got a little selection for all the different drivetrains our house has from 7 to 11 speed.
I've had to use mine on my own bike once in about 20 years. Stick + derailleur = walk home unless you can singlespeed it which I could because I had a chain tool and a spare link.
I've had plenty of incidents that required the chain to be removed, I think quick links have made that whole issue less of an issue though.
I lent my multi-tool chain breaker to someone on the Dartmoor Classic probably about 15 years ago when his chain snapped. I think that's it.
I can only recall one other time I snapped a chain, and though I think I had a tool with me it was pretty close to a bike shop so not worth messing with it myself.
Says the man still running 8 and 9 speed drivetrains…
If you were running SRAM (and some other) chains I think that's the last era of reusable/not mushroom pins. Shimano was probably during 8 speed.
Honestly though I'll take a quick link over trying to get a nicely adjusted and secure old school pin in 'just so'.
Last summer while I had the youngest on the Mac-Ride and my then 6 year old daughter on the tag along the chain snapped about 3 miles from home. I hadn't bothered with the multi tool with it being a lap around the block. Faced with a long push home I started on my way.
It then occurred that my daughter could possibly power us along, at least on the flatter sections. I did feel a bit self conscious about not pedaling along while she did all the work...
