Check ticking chains!!

gareth1234

Out on the bike today and I hear an annoying ticking noise whilst pedalling, stop, check, all seems ok.
Continue on with this occasional noise still annoying me, stop again, check again, still don't see anything.
4 miles down the road, in rush hour traffic ( well, everyone leaving Tescos at 4pm) BANG, rear wheel locks up, a rather large skid, thankfully the car behind me also slammed on his brakes and avoided hitting me.
result, one snapped chain, one snapped 105 rear mech and £2.50 train fare home.

Further inspection at home revealed a link had opened up on one side and that's what was causing the clicking.

Ribble are now £45 richer as of this evening.

jgsi

So even with Ribble, you have bought cheap again??
Not to sound too harsh, but as this is not Beginners, regular checking of chains should be second nature... any untoward noise shoul;d make you very wary... any chain branded Shimano should immediately be thrown in the bin..

paul_mck

JGSI wrote:

So even with Ribble, you have bought cheap again??
Not to sound too harsh, but as this is not Beginners, regular checking of chains should be second nature... any untoward noise shoul;d make you very wary... any chain branded Shimano should immediately be thrown in the bin..

what a load of rubbish

jordan_217

Did the link pin fail?

gareth1234

This was meant as a cautionary tale, I did check the bike out as stated, twice, just didn't see the offending link.
I don't consider Shimano 105 cheap and the chain was KMC, fitted as standard to Boardman bikes.
But hey, thanks for your negative comments ;-).

One of the links had popped off one of the pins on the inside.

jordan_217

gareth1234 wrote:

This was meant as a cautionary tale, I did check the bike out as stated, twice, just didn't see the offending link.
I don't consider Shimano 105 cheap and the chain was KMC, fitted as standard to Boardman bikes.
But hey, thanks for your negative comments ;-).

One of the links had popped off one of the pins on the inside.

That's crap luck. It's happened to me 3 times now, but with 105 and Ultegra chains. Link pins have just sheered off. Each time there was no prior notice or indication. Last one cost me new mech, spokes, hanger and chain. Ironically I now use KMC chains and even spec'd one especially on my new bike.

wishitwasallflat

Bad luck and thanks for the tale - by the way is one of your spokes (at around 10 o'clock) bent as well? I had an RD hanger snap and needed five new spokes.

gareth1234

It looks like 3 of them are a little off, LBS will sort that when it goes in at the end of the week.

zx6man

Happend to me also, same clicking appeared , chain went within 5 minutes and rear mech was done.

NewTTer

JGSI wrote:

So even with Ribble, you have bought cheap again??
Not to sound too harsh, but as this is not Beginners, regular checking of chains should be second nature... any untoward noise shoul;d make you very wary... any chain branded Shimano should immediately be thrown in the bin..

So presumably you bin all KMC chains as well? after all Shimano Chains are manufatured by KMC, and just badged Shimano!

paul_mck

how does the rear mech get taken out when the chain goes? chain get jammed in the jockey wheels or something?

gloomyandy

Interesting. One of my club mates just reported (on our club facebook page) finding a broken chain link on his chain after our club run. Got a few posts saying that Sram chains are crap etc. Turns out the chain was KMC . So it seems that Sram, Shimano and KMC chains are all iffy!

Shark Sandwich

JGSI wrote:

So even with Ribble, you have bought cheap again??
Not to sound too harsh, but as this is not Beginners, regular checking of chains should be second nature... any untoward noise shoul;d make you very wary... any chain branded Shimano should immediately be thrown in the bin..

It's exactly this sort of attitude which keeps me wary of this forum.

rob21

gareth1234 wrote:

Out on the bike today and I hear an annoying ticking noise whilst pedalling, stop, check, all seems ok.
Continue on with this occasional noise still annoying me, stop again, check again, still don't see anything.
4 miles down the road, in rush hour traffic ( well, everyone leaving Tescos at 4pm) BANG, rear wheel locks up, a rather large skid, thankfully the car behind me also slammed on his brakes and avoided hitting me.
result, one snapped chain, one snapped 105 rear mech and £2.50 train fare home.

Further inspection at home revealed a link had opened up on one side and that's what was causing the clicking.

Ribble are now £45 richer as of this evening.

Just bad luck mate..by the way ignore the stupid comments on this thread,it does however spoil this forum from Time to time.
It does make sense to check chain's for sigh's for wear regularly...

markos1963

Sounds like bad luck. You hear reports of all brands of chain failing, I think it's just the numbers involved. Thousands get made and used so the law of averages say there must be failures amongst them. You where lucky the mech didn't shear off and smash your chain stay.

I still prefer KMC to Shimano anyday, less likely to fail due to poor fitting of the link pin on Shimano

paul_mck

i use an sram powerlink on a duraace chain. never bothered with the shimano provided one.

mk1markfalkirk

Guys this happened to me twice on a 100k ride yesterday, even taking extra care to remove a link and join the chain. its a Shimano group set and I'm assuming its an Ultegra chain.

Luckily my all that happened was the chain fell out, no damage to any components.

Now this thread has given me the fear. can someone suggest a replacement thats better? bike has DA7800 group on with an Ultegra cassette, Thanks in advance

gloomyandy

How did you join the chain after the first failure? Not used Shimano chains for a long time, but I think you have to use some sort of special pin?

hipshot

JGSI wrote:

So even with Ribble, you have bought cheap again??
Not to sound too harsh, but as this is not Beginners, regular checking of chains should be second nature... any untoward noise shoul;d make you very wary... any chain branded Shimano should immediately be thrown in the bin..

What an idiot.

mk1markfalkirk

Just using a standard chain tool?

Careca

I like the Wippermann Connex chains. Been running one now a few years with no problems and so easy to take off and put back on.

Froomes Edgar

Thanks OP! Also recommend checking hissing tyres (likely to mean puncture) and BR posts (likely to contain NS,S tips)