KMC 10 Speed Chain Replacement

disgruntledgoat
disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
edited May 2009 in Workshop
Right, it's time to swap my chain over and, as this is the first i've used with a "Missing link" type system, I could do with some assistance.

So, stupid question ahoy... How do I distinguish the bit I joined the chain with back in december from the rest of the chain?
"In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

@gietvangent

Comments

  • bahzob
    bahzob Posts: 2,195
    Sorry not being sarcastic but its pretty obvious. It looks different from the rest. If you cant tell it probably means your chain needs a clean
    Martin S. Newbury RC
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    Thanks. I appreciate it was a stupid question, but aside from cleaning it, i've paid zero attention to my chain since fitting it.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    If it's knackered and you're just going to bin it, just snip through it with a decent pair of bolt croppers. Brutal but effective; saves having to clean something you're about to throw away.
  • pinkbikini
    pinkbikini Posts: 876
    Look for the outer plates that have a longer gap in them where the pin connects. Agree that if you can't see them easily your chain must be filthy!
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    There's nowt wrong with it really (i've looked after it pretty well), save the 5000km i've put through it including some 25% gradients in a 39x25. Just fancy that regular changing will prolong the life of my nice drivetrain bits.

    Hence i'm keen to remove it properly rather than by destruction and why i'm keen not to split it like a regular chain cos I want to keep it in case of emergency, and I know I would lose the pin.

    How does the link differentiate itself? I feel the need to point out at this point that my chain IS clean, i'm just a dunce!
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • dodgy
    dodgy Posts: 2,890
    If you've put 5000km through that chain, I'd bet money that your cassette and rings are worn and that the new chain will simply skip across the old worn components.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    dodgy wrote:
    If you've put 5000km through that chain, I'd bet money that your cassette and rings are worn and that the new chain will simply skip across the old worn components.

    The 5000km has been spread across 3 cassettes and the chainrings look fine (good old Record!). Indeed, I thought the new chain would skip on my training wheels when I fitted it in December due to having 8000km of riding in the old cassette, but no! Still going strong!
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • dodgy
    dodgy Posts: 2,890
    That's weird. It shouldn't matter that the mileage has been spread across 3 cassettes. It will still be worn.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    I would think that the cassette wear would be pretty minimal if i've put (at a guess) 3000km through the one on my training wheels and 1500km each through the two I use on my racing wheels. The chain has been wiped down after every ride and cleaned and lubed once a week. I'm yet to wear out a chain ring. I've bent them but never worn one out.

    I can't think I'm that unusual, I only train about 10-14 hours a week so if cassettes and rings were wearing out after 5000km every road racer in the country would be changing his cassette two or three times a year and the same for his chainset.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    I expect to get at least a year's worth of wear out of a chain, so probably in excess of 10,000km and cassettes about 3 times that. OK, I have 6 bikes, so it gets spread more evenly, but if you're drivetrain is well maintained and you're not into heavy touring or offroad, then at 5000km is should be OK. The missing link is easy to spot at there are elongated holes in the sideplates, the same with as the pins.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    Monty Dog wrote:
    I expect to get at least a year's worth of wear out of a chain, so probably in excess of 10,000km and cassettes about 3 times that. OK, I have 6 bikes, so it gets spread more evenly, but if you're drivetrain is well maintained and you're not into heavy touring or offroad, then at 5000km is should be OK. The missing link is easy to spot at there are elongated holes in the sideplates, the same with as the pins.

    I'm with you on chains. I expect a year or so. Then again I don't do monster miles, but I get in my fair share. As for cassettes, 3 times a s long sounds right to me. I do use steel ones
    as opposed to really expensive alloy. Keep things well lubed and they will last quite some time and make little, if any, noise.
  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    Answering your original question (although if I hadn't seen you posting on allsorts of other topics I'd believe this is a wind-up...),

    A set of normal chain links looks like this, yes ? 12756.jpg

    The missing link on the other hand looks like this 25439-2.Jpg

    So should be simple enough to find - it's the 'different one' with the extra hole/slot in it ! :lol:
    - in fact, if you're really lucky and depending exactly which KMC 10sp chain it is, the rest of the chain might be silver and the missing link might be gold ! :lol:

    Remember how you fitted it together ?
    - you fitted the pin on each side though the bigger hole part-way up the opposite plate and then pulled it tight so they popped across to the smaller holes ?

    So to separate it, you squeeze the two sides together and push both ends of the link so that the pins slide into that larger hole part-way up the plate and then you can pull it apart
  • Stuck on a Giant
    Stuck on a Giant Posts: 256
    You could always just force any rivet out, and then replace the link with a new quick-link - I'm not sure if you're supposed to re-use the quicklinks on 10 speed chains anyway.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    You best be able to reuse them. After I threaded the new chain on, I joined it a tad too long and had to undo it to shorten the chain a touch further.

    It was reassuringly difficult to undo the missing link, I can report.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    You can reuse the KMC ones.

    You can reuse them on 8sp or 9sp SRAM chains, but the 10sp SRAM one is one-use only.

Categories