Silver Powerlinks. What's The Point???

blister pus

If you can't can't get the ******* ***** open!!

You could die of malnutrition on a ride trying to get one of those things off. I've tried most of the methods mentioned in online threads and it's not moving. So before I get the chain tool out , what's your secret?

supersonic

Pliers!

Some seem to be more stubborn than others.

Isn't silver 8 speed? Or is that black?

blister pus

Silver 8 spd chain it is. Needless to say the Gold one you just squeeze together and push. No such luxury in the 8 spd chain world. I've had some wrestling matches before but this takes the cake.

supersonic

TBH I don't really use power links - I just join with a chain tool. I don't remove the chain to clean, and if the chain busts on the trail - you need the tool anyway!

blister pus

Irony is I've been using a KMC non powerlink chain since I got the bike and removing the pin with the chain tool and it's worked fine, but the chain finally gave out so thought I'd try a different brand. This is still all part of getting the wheel off checking for root cause of that chain slippage. Makes slow work slower with a silver powerlink - let me tell you. :P

nicklouse

the silver and gold work just the same.watched this?
http://bicycletutor.com/quick-release-chain-link/

blister pus

Ahh, but they dunt do this though do they. Thas what I'm talkin' about. :P

I changed pliers and got some decent pincer nosed ones and that did the job eventually. A lot of fannying about if you were on the fly though, unless you have some extraterrestrial knack for such things of course.

jedi_master

Park master link pliers make the removal very easy.

blister pus

Then that's an item I should be collecting along the way. Ta.

clanton

I find if the chain is clean they work very well, well gunked up they are quite hard to get undone.

blister pus

And therein lies the problem. I've started using Squirt which essentially gunks up the chain and then self cleans. But it does gunk up a chain to some tune.

andrewjoseph

If he new chain is slipping on the old cassette, it is likely that the cassette is worn and you may need a new one.

You do need to make sure the power links are clean, a little bit of grit is all it takes, or too much lube so you can squeeze and slid.

blister pus

New cassette, new chain, little relevant wear on the chain rings. However, the chain slippage is bizarre and i think it's a combination of things as I have actually got a couple of the things mentioned in that other thread (stiff links, cables need replacing, needed one extra 1/4 of a turn on the lockring). I was going to update that thread tomorrow when I've hammered a hill or two.

Squirt is very odd stuff indeed and there's no doubt it does everything in it's power to stick the two plates together. So I need one of them there tools above.

bomberesque

Jedi Master wrote:

Park master link pliers make the removal very easy.

^this. They cost more than ten powerlinks, but what price sanity?