Can I use two powerlinks on the same chain?

In the process of fitting a new RD I stupidly made the chain too short (SRAM PC991 Crosstep) and now I have to add two links back in. Is there any reason I shouldn’t do this by simply using another powerlink? The two powerlinks would be right next to each other. Thanks.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

-It will start a chainreactioncycle! 😆

I don’t see why not.

Hope so, some of my chains have 4 power links in for various reasons….

Speaking as a serial chainbreaker, I can confirm that the sky will not fall down if you have more than one power link on the same chain.

The powerlink is the strongest bit of the chain usually, nowt to stop you having a chain full of ’em other than the fact it’d cost a fortune and weigh a ton!

Yep I used two powerlinks on my commuter last year and I had no issues.

Jeez, you’ll be using a garden hose and fairly liquid to clean your bike next. Crazy I tell you, crazy….

Thanks guys! Reassuring to know my chain isn’t gonna explode into a thousand bits and pepper my legs with shrapnel…

There’s no reason at all why you couldn’t make an entire chain out of powerlinks…… 🙂

At the risk of stating the obvious – why not just add another complete link to the chain from the bit you cut out in the first place? You do still have it I assume?

At the risk of stating the obvious – why not just add another complete link to the chain from the bit you cut out in the first place? You do still have it I assume?

Well yes, that’s what I’m trying to do in effect, but I have to join it to the rest of the chain somehow, and that involves either inserting a special rivet if its a Shimano chain, or using a powerlink if its a SRAM one, as you can’t re-use the rivets you took out these days.

Ah yes I see your point. You need to obtain a new Shimano pin specific to your chain – 9 speed are grey I think. Drive it through the chain with your tool and then snap the protruding end off with pliers; but be careful doing this and make sure the link is set properly. Any LBS should have the required Shimano pin and would probably join the chain for you at minimal cost. KMS links work well with Shimano chains as do Sram. If it’s not a Shimano chain then there’s no need to drive the pin all the way out – just enough to split it. You can use more than one quick link in a chain; but in different places. Not together as they won’t fit. Hope this helps.

my mate had 5 power links last count he is a tight wad though

my mate had 5 power links last count he is a tight wad though

Sound familiar. 😳

Tightwad? Depending on where you get them from powerlinks are blummin’ expensive!

I have used up to 4 in the past to make a ‘Frankenchain’. In fact I could cobble together a new chain from the bits of offcut chain I have lying about the garage 💡

3 powerlinks here.

perthmtb – Member

…I stupidly made the chain too short (SRAM PC991 Crosstep) and now I have to add two links back in…

old_mtber – Member

At the risk of stating the obvious – why not just add another complete link to the chain from the bit you cut out in the first place?…

perthmtb – Member

Well yes, that’s what I’m trying to do in effect, but I have to join it to the rest of the chain somehow, and that involves either inserting a special rivet if its a Shimano chain, or using a powerlink if its a SRAM one, as you can’t re-use the rivets you took out these days.

old_mtber – Member
Ah yes I see your point. You need to obtain a new Shimano pin specific to your chain…

Am I missing something here? In the OP, perthmtb states that he’s trying to add links to a SRAM PC991 chain. So why would he need Shimano pins to do this? Unless things have changed
(chainged? 😛 ) since last time I bought a SRAM chain, they don’t need specific pins to rejoin them. Have they now gone down the Shimano route, whereby pushing out a pin enlarges the hole and requires a fractionally larger pin to rejoin the chain? If so, I’ll be bloody annoyed. I need a new chain for my bike and I’ve always bought SRAM chains (and Sachs-Sedis before SRAM bought them out) over Shimano for precisely this reason.

3 links and a KMC split link here 😳

Always enjoy harvesting the old powerlinks form my used chains. Got 4 from the last one.

It’s fine – my wife’s bike has had two in it for years, I had a high end chain laying about that I had stupidly over-shortened and figured she would neither notice nor knacker it. She didn’t.

There’s no reason at all why you couldn’t make an entire chain out of powerlinks……

[smart-arse]Yes there is: They’re only the outer plate links … [/smartarse] 😀

didn’t a guy from sram use an all powerlink (and some inner links too 🙂 ) chain?

One of the main reasons I stick with SRAM rather than Shimano chains is that you CAN reuse the same pins. I have had trouble with the crosstep chains though. I wouldn’t use one again.

GavinT – Member
One of the main reasons I stick with SRAM rather than Shimano chains is that you CAN reuse the same pins…

Thought so.

I used 2 have 6 on one chain 🙂 when I replaced I stripped the power links off and have them in my pack ready to use again 🙂

Sorry – I missed that you have a Sram chain and got confused when Shimano was mentioned in a later post!

Just use a link from the piece you cut out but don’t drive the pin all the way out – just enough to break the chain.

One of the main reasons I stick with SRAM rather than Shimano chains is that you CAN reuse the same pins

Hmmm… Thought I read somewhere that it was unwise to re-use pins on any narrow (9/10 speed) chain these days, as the narrowness of the plates means a good fit between pin & hole is critical, and driving a pin out widens the hole a little, so it now becomes a weak point in the chain?

Not saying it can’t be done, just if you have a Powerlink handy, why would you risk re-using an old pin/outer plate?

Edit: Ah yes, found it now – quote from Zinn and The Art of MTB Maintenance, “Never use the same pin (except in an emergency out on the trail) on a 9 or 10 speed chain”

definitely don’t reuse KMC pins. You break off the outer riveted shoulder part when you push the pin out.

I would only re-use old power/master links in an emergency as I guess they will wear with the rest of the chain.

Bur yes, several is fine. I have 2 on my current chain after breaking a link. Makes you more likely to be able to undo one of them when it’s covered in cr@p