Triumph for a mechanical duffer

wallace_and_gromit

OK. This is a very minor achievement on the grand scale of things, but I've just changed my first chain. I got fed up paying over £30 for a new chain to be fitted by the LBS, so bought a heavily discounted chain off Wiggle, borrowed my neighbour's chain tool, armed myself with the Shimano instructions and a Haynes manual, took a deep breath and dived in...

The patient was on the operating table for approximately half an hour and appears to have survived. All the gears work and on a short test ride, the chain didn't fall off or snap.

I doubt I'll be building my own bike any time soon, but as a self-confessed mechanical duffer, I feel quite smug and will invest my savings on Tesco's "3 for £5" offer on Fursty Ferret.

6wheels

Now you've started, you won't stop until you can do a full strip down and rebuild!!!

Hope you invested in a 'quick link' , makes removing the chain so much easier.

keef66

If you were following Shimano's advice did you join the new chain using one of their snap-off joining pins?

I too prefer to use a KMC missing link on my Shimano chains.

wallace_and_gromit

I did use the snap-off fitting pin that came with the chain. If done correctly, should this be OK or do I need to bite the bullet and do the job again with a quick/missing link?

Thanks.

keef66

NO, correctly installed they are as strong as the rest of the chain. Top job!

wallace_and_gromit

keef66 wrote:

NO, correctly installed they are as strong as the rest of the chain. Top job!

Phew! Let's hope I haven't farked up the installation.

Matthewfalle

Relax - it'll be fine. It's a bicycle, not the space.

Bicycle stuff is a piece of pisssss and anyone who tells you at different is lying. Somewhere warm with good light to do the job, proper tools, some patience, a bottle of Barolo nd some salami is all you need.

Good on ya for the chain. Brake cables next, the gear ones, and take it from there. All very simple yet rewarding jobs.