Before somebody (possibly me) dies, please help me.

KMC 10-speed Missing Link connectors – they are re-usable, aren’t they?

I cannot get mine to open. Blood, sweat, tears and snot (yes, snot) have all been involved in the epic struggle between man and metal that has been ensuing in my shed this evening.

What do I have to do to open this little effer? I reckon there’s only another 10 minutes of struggling with it before I either (a) take off and nuke it from orbit or (b) use a chain breaker to pop another rivet and fit YET ANOTHER missing link to this damnable chain.

pair of link pliers make it a doddle ….. even make sram non reusable ones reusable 😉

Had no problems with 9-speed links – able to pop these by hand all the time. Surely it can’t be that I need a tool to open 10-speed links?

I ground off a small amount of material from some retaining clip pliers which then fit nicely around the pin barrel on the link. Remember to squeeze the chain plates together when applying force with the pliers.

Stumpy,

If you have no link pliers try this; get a piece of old gear cable, pass it through the links on the outside of the missing link and pull across the link to compress it. This usually works and pops it open, great to do on the trail if you’ve got cold hands or your chain is very dirty.

Not had any bother with my 10-speed ones yet, but I will sooner or later- powerlinks sometimes stick/corrode together/gum up.

I ground down a set of broken circlip pliars to do the job but the “proper” tools aren’t expensive, Superstar do a reasonable one.

for future ref the BBB 10sp links are re usable and come apart really easy

Put the link diagonally into a pair of pliers so you’re squeezing opposite sides of the link then squeeze – it usually works for me.

Cheers inbred – will try that tomorrow morning (when I am less inclined to axe murder).

Stupid question, but do you suggest putting the gear cable on the rivets/bushings which form part of the missing link itself, or ‘one up’ on each side from the missing link itself?

Thanks all for suggestions – will try them all tomorrow (and should I fail with all of them, get yet another bloody tool)

Northwind; like this?

I find mine a pain too. I tend to give them a spray with degreaser first then fight them with a bit of cloth round my hands. Squeezing them, pulling them, shaking them, swearing and squeezing them again tends to take about 10 minutes to have the desired effect…

But yes, if I ponied up for a pair of link pliers the chain swap would be a lot less detrimental to my sanity.

Squeezing them, pulling them, shaking them, swearing and squeezing them again tends to take about 10 minutes to have the desired effect…

😆

I have a log splitter which, for a moment of red-mist-informed thinking was starting to look mighty helpful…

Stimpy,

Runs off to check chain………………………, across the missing link bushings/rivet plates. 😀

I use nine speed sram powerlinks on my ten speed chains, they work perfectly 🙂

The special pliers are great when you’re in the garage. Less so when you’re miles from home, your rear mech has imploded and they’re still in the garage…

Cheers Rob, might try popping a nine speed link on when (if) the 10-speed one ever comes off.

I struggled for an hour with my 10 spd KMC links. Then caved in and bought the tool. It is cheap enough and I thoroughly recommend it!

Kevj, those look familiar 🙂

bit of bent coat-hanger wire in my toolkit when I’m out riding – works very well

If you can wait and have a spare fiver, CRC do a BBB set of link pliers. Bought some for exactly this problem.

Murder Death Kill update.

Pinkster’s suggestion of diagonally-applied pliers did the trick.

Thank you all very much for your help.

Now, about the alloy freehub body on my Mavic wheels which I’ve managed to scar in the space of four(!) rides…

Time for a different cassette (one with a spider) or are there steel freehub bodies for Mavic Crossrides that are evading my internet searches?