Never, but I do t carry half the shite people appear to either.
Keep your bike maintained and mechanical sympathy
Guess I’ve now jinxed my next ride
I recommend using yours at home, just to check it works OK and isn't going to break on first use, or find out it's a complete POS. The one with the Topeak Ratchet Rocket set is actually fairly decent
I used mine last year. Sons birthday, went for a family ride into Nantes for the day while on hols in france. Daughter wasn't paying attention and rode into the back of my sons bike. Snapped the mech off at the hanger. Was fairly peeved at this point! Don't carry a spare hanger for his bike. Used my chain breaker to singlespeed his bike and continue (gently). Saved a birthday disaster, created a good story/memory
Me this morning ... whilst getting absolutely slaughtered by March flies (horse flies)
Saved me a decent walk.
Twice in 37 years of riding off road.
2nd time was last week whilst exploring in France. We were 15 miles off road away from van.
Chain broke and lost one of the little wheels so had to take out another link before repairing with a SRAM split link.
Once in 38 years but pleased I had it. Broke rear mech hanger. Had to go single speed. It would have been a long walk. Luckily for me, I have the minuscule lightweight WTB 80’s chain breaker tool.
Twice on my own bike in 30+ years of riding.
Once on a 9sp drivetrain, my old MTB probably early 2000's in Swinley Forest.
Second one was during the Three Peaks CX about 10 years ago. Hit a rock, pinch flatted the rear tyre and the impact bounced the bike around and knocked the chain off the big sprocket and over into the gap between cassette and spokes. One of those mechanical incidents you couldn't repeat if you tried!
Chain was tangled behind the cassette, tyre was flat but I couldn't get the wheel out cos there was no slack in the rear mech. Had to split the chain using the breaker tool (naturally the quick link was in the bit of the chain buried behind the cassette...), get the wheel out, fix the flat then reassemble the chain, cutting out part of the damaged section of chain.
Eventually DNF'd - the chain kept breaking, it was by then too short to use the big ring and it couldn't take any power through it.
Had to use it a couple of times on other people's bikes when ride-leading. Always the result of ham-fisted shifting under load.
TBH I'd say at least once a year, within my riding group. Enough I keep at least two 10/11/12 spd quick links in my bag (the 10spd can probably be retired).
Many years ago, my first foray into a forest with my brother mtb-ing, resulted with my chain broken and him with a flat tyre, we had nothing and spent a couple of hours walking out... I bought a Multitool with chainbreaker & puncture kit and and never looked back
Last year, on the Bryan Chapman audax. My chain jammed and twisted so that it would then jump with every revolution. I managed to buy a new chain in the next town and fit it on the pavement. I was a long way from the nearest train station. Other than that I can only think of two or three times other than the notoriously fragile Shimano chains of the early '90s. Like everyone else I switched to Sedis.
I've only ever broken one, in the mid nineties. Never knew about Shimano faulty chains. Just realised that I only ever pack my ancient park tool if I'm on the MTB, but these days I'm riding road / gravel far more
Rarely but it's essential when you do as there's really not much alternative. I did have a real stroke of luck once gravel touring. I bent the chain and derailleur, broke the hanger and ripped tge cable outer. I was about 5 miles from a small town with an even smaller bike shop. We sorted the chain with 4 quicklinks and a chain cracker then single speeded to the shop. Astonishingly he had the correct hanger, his last 11 speed chain etc. He loaned me tools and space to fix the boik and after half an hour, I was back on tour. A true Gent and the best £70 spent.
I've just been scaning back through the stories here and I don't think I've detected any use of a chain tool on a road bike. Selection bias aside, I'd be expecting at least someone to have broken a road chain. Is it really that rare?
If it helps, I was on a road section when I did mine... I know what caused it. Sudden uphill, like from flat to 15% and I dropped to the front small ring and changed to the big rear sprocket AT THE SAME TIME. This obviously put enough slack into the system to allow the derailleur to wrap and then get ripped off.
That could easily have happened to me on a 2x road bike on that section/incidence of operator error.
As the chain tool is part of the multi tool I always take, I don't see any reason not to have a chain cracker with me on most if not all rides - just in case.
I’ve just been scaning back through the stories here and I don’t think I’ve detected any use of a chain tool on a road bike. Selection bias aside, I’d be expecting at least someone to have broken a road chain. Is it really that rare?
Three posts up from yours.
Last year, on the Bryan Chapman audax.
Three posts up from yours
*dunce hat emoji*
Last time I broke a chain was 2018 I was 120km into the Cairngorm loop. About 60km from the car. And 30km from a road.
It was a 9speed Shimano and I found I had no quick link in the usual place under the seat ..... Probably given it out to someone else when riding and not replaced.
If your careful you can rejoin a Shimano chain with a shitty multi tool and ride another 180km on it.
As it's a tool that can't easily be bodged or substituted and will result in a long walk on most of my rides*
I have one either in my bag or stashed on the bike and will continue till i stop riding
* If your riding is laps of a trail center then YMMV.
Used the chainbreaker twice out and about, once for me after a complete snap of the chain, second time at BPW for someone else, even gave them my spare link, was actually just happy to use it as that link had been in my kit for years!
Nowadays, always carry a breaker and 2 spare links when ebiking, the strain going through that chain at times is pretty severe, and i'm too cheap to replace chains until they're at deaths door.
*dunce hat emoji*
Tbf it didn't actually break, just twisted badly.
Last year some time... But it was pure neglect, the chain was shagged and I knew it.
Every other time I've used it for at least 5 years has been on someone else's bike. But I've got a topeak hexus that has a decent chaintool built in so there's no reason not to have it.
I have a belt drive Shand...?
Selection bias aside, I’d be expecting at least someone to have broken a road chain. Is it really that rare?
Touring tandem, yes.
Chain tension on a road bike is much lower than an MTB of course, before you consider the amount of dirt and likelihood of botched shifts under extreme load.
I have a belt drive Shand…?
Brings back memories of trek districts and the number of pissed off owners with snapped gates belts when I worked at a national retailer of treks.
Kinda like the rohloff of drive trains.
Infrequently breaks. But when it does you are walking home.
Ooo @thecaptain You've just reminded me, I've broken the drive chain a few times on the tandem. The last one was climbing Greenhow out of Pateley Bridge. We were making good progress when we came to some traffic light controlled roadworks. Cue stop/start on 15% then another as we got to the front of the lights queue. Another loaded tandem stop/start on 15% was too much for the poor chain. I chopped out the damaged links, added a quicklink and ta da! It's happened a few times as I really don't like getting off and walking...
Twice in 20 years. In both cases it would’ve been ride ending, but not the end of the world. I’d just have had to walk to the car park. In one case, I might have been able to do something with the stainless steel cable ties I always carry.
Probably twice in the past 15 years. I think that a lot of broken chains were caused by rough front shifting which is not possible to do on most Mtbs these days with single chainrings. I always carry everything that I might reasonably need on a ride and it pisses me off when others have mechanicals and want to borrow my tools because they don't have what they need
