How to Fix a Bike Chain – Repair Broken Chain
Intro:
Hey everyone! Today, we are going to teach you how to fix a bike chain. So, without taking your more precious time let’s get started…
Steps covered in this article:
- Take Off The Link
- Put The Chain On The Bike
- Put The Chain Back On The Chainring
How To Fix A Bike Chain
When the chain breaks, typically, what happens is the link will spread apart exposing the pin which causes the chain to break. So, what you’re going to do is gonna remove the link where it’s flared out. You actually have to shorten your chain by about a link. Since you’re shortening the chain, typically, this repair is to get you back home, and then you probably want to replace the chain with a new one.
Now, here’s a tip is when you get a brand-new chain. You will have to shorten the chain and when you do that you can save some of the links that you take out to fit your bike. That way if you have a chain brake, that’s really not that old, you can add two links back. To put the chain back to the link that it should be. Also, when you buy a multi-tool to carry on your ride, make sure you buy one with a chain breaker.
Step 01: Take Off The Link
For this repair, take your chain tool first. So, as I said typically when a chain breaks, the wide link will flare out. What you’re gonna have to do is you’re gonna have to take off the link and the small one, so you’re left with a wide link there to match over to the narrow link.
Firstly, put the chain in your chain breaker, so turn your chain breaker and then you’ll have to start using a little force once the chain tool starts pushing on that pin. Keep turning it, now this is very important you do not want the pin to come all the way out. It will get started to come out, so you want the pin to not come all the way out. You want to be able to remove the wide and narrow link and still have the pin, sticking out of the wide link.
So, what I typically do is I get it to about I think it should be then I back the chain tool off and I just kind of tug on the chain with a little bit of force and see if it comes apart. So, if you have to back the pinout and probably it’s getting close and you don’t want to push it all the way out. Just go another half a turn, maybe one full turn and you’ll see if it can come out. So, turn it more, and let’s see if they’ll come out. If it’s not then turn it just a little bit more, takes a little bit of patience and trial and error to make sure you get it to where it sticks out but does not come all the way out. Once you have your wide link to match up with the narrow link and the pin is sticking out.
Step 02: Put The Chain On The Bike
Now, what you’re gonna do is put it on the bike and then put the chain back together. Put the chain on your bike, starting with the front chainring but before you do. Keep in mind that some chains are one-directional, some of the Shimano chains only have the lettering on one side. If it’s pretty small but you can see that the lettering is on just one side of the chain so you want to make sure the lettering is facing out. If you have a front derailleur, you have to make sure you put the chain inside the front derailleur. Also, if it’s a narrow-wide chainring you’re gonna see that one tooth is narrow and one tooth is wide if that’s the case, make sure that the narrow link of the chain goes on the more narrow tooth of your front chainring.
When you are done this, now it’s time to put the chain around the cassette and through the rear derailleur. But before you do so, shift the rear derailleur. So, it goes all the way down to the smallest cog. You want to have the rear derailleur go that way and that would be your hardest gear in the back.
Take the chain and just lay it on that smallest cog in the back and you’re gonna go around the derailleur. It helps if you have a derailleur that has a cage that is tighter like the Shimano ones, you want to disengage the lever, if it’s in a on position just move it over. So, it’s down that’ll relieve some of the tension on the derailleur cage and then just kind of weave the chain through the derailleur. Make sure you don’t go on the outside of the rear derailleur and then just pull the chain through.
Before you put the chain back together, one thing that helps take tension out the chain is if you pull it off of the chainring and just kind of lay it down. So, that it’s much easier to put the chain back together. Now, with the chain through the rear derailleur, you’re gonna put it back together. You are going to push the two links together. If you left a little bit of the pin, sticking through the middle of the wide link, you’ll have enough to put the chain back together. So, you don’t have it fall apart, as you’re getting ready to use a chain tool. What I mean is, as you would probably see that the chain will kind of hold together. So, you’re going to take the chain tool and you probably will have to back out that pin in the chain tool a little bit, so that you can get it on the chain pin. You are just going to push the pin through and you want to make sure you go to where that chain pin is flush with the chain. In other words, you don’t want to push it through too far. You can compare it to some of the other pins.
Usually, what happens is when you put the chain together with your chain tool, the link is going to be a little bit stiff. So, what you can do is just kind of bend it back and forth and that will loosen it up.
Step 03: Put The Chain Back On The Chainring
The final step is to put the chain back on the chainring. Remember, if it’s a narrow-wide chainring to make sure the narrow link of the chain goes on the narrow tooth of the chainring. You can push on the derailleur cage to take tension off and then once it’s on there, let go of your rear derailleur cage and that will tighten it up. If you have a mountain bike with a Shimano clutch rear derailleur, don’t forget to engage that clutch before you start riding again.
Hope so guys you liked reading this article. I tried my best as much as possible ways to make you understand everything clearly. So hopefully, this article is gonna be helpful for you in how to fix a bike chain. Please let us know in the comments below and if you did like it make sure you keep visiting us to learn many more things. Have a nice day!
Useful Tool Link:
- Chain Breaker … click here to buy
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