splitting sram chains and powerlinks – enlighten me further peeps!

ok.xc full sus bike .have sram chain and groupset.x9 shifters and x0 rear mech if its relevent.9 speed block (obviously)
from the point of view of cleaning and maintaining/eventually replacing the chain , how do i split it?
ive heard of the powerlink connectors.can the y be used on any sram chain and are they good as aposesed to using a chain breaker.
at the mo it seems to have come with traditional link i.e. on pin is black and slightly different looking.
ps i have never broken a chain in any way before and have no experience of this…

Sounds like a shimano chain – IIRC all SRAM chains come with a powerlink

If there is no powerlink you have to break the chain with a chain breaker tool

Have a search on Sheldom Brown or park tools sites for instructions

so you can take a powerlink appart without any tools, yes?
are they good or do they fail at all??
will it say sram or something on the links etc?

They look like this:-

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=871

Gold for 9 speeds and silver for 7-8

No tools needed once you know the knack

Fit one now, they never fail and allow you to take the chain off/on in 30sec for a good clean. Worth carrying one as a spare for all those idiots you see on the trail with a busted chain and no tool.

Powerlinks come apart without any tools and I have never had one fail.

They look slightly different to normal links and are usually gold on 9 spd chains

Yes they are good and very easy to take apart, takes a bit of a knack but easy enough. Saves a lots of faffing around with a chain tool.

What's the collective noun for powerlinks… 😀

A clique?

a "connective" perhaps?

Fit one now, they never fail

Oddly I've had a powerlink undo itself while just riding along. Was freewheeling down a road one evening, went to pedal and found there was no chain. Found it a way back with one half of the powerlink still in place.

so if i want to fit to an existing sram chain will fitting one upset the length? will i need to remove a link or just add in the power link?

A flange?

odanny – you remove half a link – the one with the outer plates and replace it with the powerlink

update;
chain has shimano on the links and is a hg73 with the little black pin where it all links together.
can i fit a powerlink to a shimano?
could it be a shimano cassete too?

Yes you can, and yes it could, and probably is if the rest of the drive train is shimano, but it doesn't make any difference.

Can anyone tell me what the knack is for getting power links apart?

Get the KMC CHAIN LINK PLIERS Workshop pliers for quick removal of joining-links

ReallyOldGit…
Do those pliers work on SRAM powerlinks as well as KMC links?
Cheers
Sid

Push together and slide in opposite direction. Surely the easiest thing in the world to do?

I use that little hook that the topeak muti tools come with and then it's just a case of holding it by the pins and squeeze/wiggle…

Yep, great tool, work fine on Sram, Powerlink, and some odd BMX 1/8 quicklinks, and I would guess all others!!

basically just tweeks the two pins together, works great on 'grimed' in parts which are usual pain.

£7.95 from Parker International