What does “pair of quicklinks” mean?

I recently bought some quicklinks. Before I placed my order I asked if a pack contained a single quick link, or a pair, as I’ve generally seen them sold in 2’s. I was told that a pack contains a pair of quicklinks. But when they were delivered, each pack contained what – to my way of thinking- was a single quicklink ie 2 little bits of metal. Apparently to the shop that is a “pair”. Who is right ??

They are are. 2 quick links make a pair.

I’ve never seen them sold in your definition of a pair. Every pack I’ve seen or bought has had two halves of a quick link in it.

Same only seen multipacks described as 2 quick links or 5 quick links.

Grammer pendants ensemble….

They are are. 2 quick links make a pair.

Fair enough. Now tell me how many links are in your chain 🙂

1 quick link is needed to join 1 chain.

A pair of quick links will join 2 chains.

Although they’re not usually sold in pairs I don’t think?

Shimano 12 speed can be purchased in a pair of pairs (4 pieces/ 4 halves)

A picture paints a thousand words – or a link, because STW.

https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-sm-cn910-12-12-speed-quick-link-2-pack-195885.html?utm_campaign=googlebase-GB&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=shopping&utm_term=Road+Bike+Chains+%26+Chain+Accessories+&ucpo=116974&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-uK0BhC0ARIsANQtgGMtxz3UZSWVLxPwPKyYn7-xHQlXZWVo6l0A5sS0pYnoOKx8N_F7KMUaAhvTEALw_wcB

 I’ve never seen them sold in your definition of a pair. Every pack I’ve seen or bought has had two halves of a quick link in it.

First hit on Google – “pack of 2 links”

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Shimano/SM-CN900-Quick-Links-for-11-Speed-Chain/FV1L?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&co=GBR&cu=GBP&glCountry=GB&id=740073&ds_eid=3823279037&ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=&ds_cid=20157694724&ds_ag=&ds_agid=&ds_k=&ds_kid=&ds_kids=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADpReTjpyQL79vJEOaeBgoJC-Kexm&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-uK0BhC0ARIsANQtgGPNpoBTmVrlnKNNw8JoVqk2Jpjw87lFl-DU7ntrqOIJom8Os-UHOI4aAgvuEALw_wcB

If you bought a pair of socks, how many socks would you expect to receive?

More confusingly, if you bought a pair of trousers, how many would you expect to receive….

Edit : I think of a pair of quick links as being like a pair of socks

A pair of quick links will join a pair of chains.

Each piece of metal is half a quick link. By definition it cannot be a whole quick link as it cannot do the one job of linking a chain on it’s own.

A quick link is a pair of interlocking plates used to join a bicycle chain. Best to call it two quick links if you want 2 sets of interlocking plates.

Remember if it’s SRAM it’s not a quick link it’s a power link. I’ve been caught out with that one.

Be wary getting your bike fixed at a shop who interprets “quick link” as a single bit of metal 🙂 Your bollocks will be hitting the top tube before you’ve got round the block 🙁

A pair implies 2 bits that are used together rather than 2 of the same item. If you had asked if a pack contained 2 quick links then you’d be correct.

pair

<i style=”max-height: 999999px;”>noun</i>

1.

a set of two things used together or regarded as a unit.

“a pair of gloves

But then a vast amount of adults still think they brought things at the shop.

for me like a pair of shoes, and you shouldn’t mix them

I ordered 4 links per my definition. They sent 2 links. I queried it and they are sending me another link, hence I will end up with 3 (my definition). Seems fair, given the evident ambiguity:-)

Grammer pendants ensemble….

Spelling pedants assemble.

a set of two things used together or regarded as a unit.
“a pair of gloves

Sure, but you never say “glove” when you mean 2 gloves.

“I’m going to take off my gloves” – yes.

“Before waxing your chain remove the quicklinks” – no.

Spelling pedants assemble.

Joke pedants despair 🙂

Before waxing your chain remove the quicklinks” – no.

Very true

If you go to a real bike shop you can just see what you are getting.

If you must order on line just buy two so you have either one, or one and a spare.

It’s retail nonsense.

Shimano refer to the two pieces as “the QUICK-LINK”, e.g. “Insert the QUICK-LINK pins between the inner links from both sides as shown in the figure” https://si.shimano.com/en/pdfs/si/0159A/SI-0159A-006-ENG.pdf

One QUICK-LINK is two pieces

QUICK-LINK in upper case to satisfy the pedants 🙂

Anyway, how do they sell a chain? 114 links or 456 parts?

To me [like the OP] : A quicklink is the two separate bits of metal that fit together to make it work. A pair would be two of them (4 bits of metal) I also know that some people refer to the single item as ‘a pair’ – like trousers or shoes. Both can be right, you just need to clarify when buying them.

The point is that the name of the thing defines its purpose. It’s a quick link. You can’t link the chain together with just one (half) of them. It inherently consists of two bits. A chain consists of 114 links, this item replaces one of them. This is different from a sock which is a useable entity in its own right. You can wear one of them (trust me I broke my ankle. )

“Before waxing your chain remove the quicklinks” – no.

are you not meant to wax them? I take them off, but dunk them in the wax too.

I take them off, but dunk them in the wax too.

Is that the plural “wax” or the singular, “wak”?

Before waxing your chain remove the quicklinks” – no.

This hypothetical situation could be avoided by not waxing the chain.

are you not meant to wax them? I take them off, but dunk them in the wax too

They can get wax in the little grooves making a poor installation very possible, so advice on health and safety grounds is not to wax them. Makes no difference if you are not ham fisted.

There was a time when wiggle sold one side of a link so you needed to buy two, I think they soon realised how dumb that was, planet-x did it to me once, literally pointless purchase.

I consider them in the same way as a pair sowel.

Edit: mibbies I’ve got ma spelling of pair/puir wrang. Broke joke. Acht weel.

My perception is that ‘a pair’ of links would be enough to join one chain.

Grammer pendants ensemble

This deserted for moor reconnoitring.

Clearly two halves of the whole is one quick link.

A packet of two quick links would have four bits in it.

A “pair” of quick links is just the kind of thing that makes my inner pedant twitch.

I bought a quicklinks online.  The unit was marked as “a pair”.  I wanted a spare so I bought 2 pairs.  I ended up with 4 quicklinks 🙂 ie 8 halves

Before I placed my order I asked if a pack contained a single quick link, or a pair, as I’ve generally seen them sold in 2’s. I was told that a pack contains a pair of quicklinks.

If I’d asked if a pack contained a single or a pair, and was told a pair, I’d expect two sets. If it just said a pair, with no qualifying context, I’d expect a single set.