Collected our bikes today!

Baron Greenback

Hi everyone,

First day with our bikes today, so I thought I'd share a little story!

I picked up my Cube Attention today, plus a Cube kid 200 for my eldest son, who is 6.

My aim is to get fitter, lose a whole load of weight, and spend some quality outdoor time with my eldest. It's been many many years since I've rode a bike.

On collection, I struggled a lot to get the bike in my car. Took the seat post and front wheel out, and eventually it all went in. I covered my bike in a towel, then laid my sons bike on top. I wasn't that comfortable with stacking them, however the journey home is only 3 miles, all 30mph roads.

At home, I reassembled mine, and setup the saddle and brake levers for my son. He had a little ride around in the street to get used to it. (He only started riding a pedal bike 2 weeks ago).

We have a little common just down the road, which is bordered by a gravel track. It's about 0.8km around, with a slight incline towards the one corner.

It was all going well, until after a couple of laps around, my chain snapped! This was at 3pm, so I popped down to my lbs to have a chat about it. They want to see the bike, so they can start a warranty claim. However, for now they gave me a power link (if that's what it's called), so I could get back up and running. The guy said that as one link failed, there us a chance that others nay be defective too.

Extracting the damaged chain link was not easy at all. I tried using my crank brothers multi tool, but struggled a lot! In the end, I mounted it in my workbench, which gave me some extra leverage. I managed to push the pin out, and then after a lot of fiddling, got the link in place.

Took the bike for a little spin, and it seemed to be working ok. I'll be taking it back to the store on Thursday for a check up.

Could the chain link breaking be linked to no being overweight? I hadn't considered thus would cause an issue with the chain. I was expecting maybe rim, or front shock issues, but not much else.

I feel a little stiff, even though I've only spent half an hour on the bike. My shoulders and sit bones are the most painful, however before today, my weekly excercise included walking up and down the oche in the pub (I run a darts team). So it's no wonder that I'd start to feel it a little!

Next step is to sort a bike rack out. I drive a 2011 Toyota Prius at the moment, which is a but of a pain to sort out a rack. It's all plastic and weak at the rear. I'll be considering a towbar or roof mount I think, however I'm only keeping the car until November, as I'm up for renewal (it's a company car).

We have the FoD nearby, so I'm keen to get over there. I think my lad will love a bigger trail to get stuck into!

If you are still reading this, thanks! I'll call it a day here.

Cheers for being there for me to share this with!

Greenback

Baron Greenback

And some photo's...





And my youngest, on his Strider balance bike!

lincolndave

No the chain should not snap due to your weight

Baron Greenback

I forgot to mention, looking at the broken chain link, one of the pins is shiny, and the other is black. Both felt like they were lubricated ok. Is that normal? Or could it be defective?

Thanks!

cooldad

Is it a Shimano chain with a stupid joining pin?

If so fit a KMC master link and it should be fine.

And if/when it does wear out or snap replace with a KMC.

The Rookie

Did the chain snap or become disassembled, it's not common but not at all unknown for the joining pin (assembled by the bike manufacturer and not Shimano obviously) to come out, I'd take it out and use a powerlink anyway so job done.

rockmonkeysc

I'd suggest getting another multi tool. Crank Bros kit is known for being nice to look at but rubbish to use, just like all their bike parts.
If it's a Shimano 9 speed chain it's worth replacing it with SRAM or KMC. Shimano 8 or 10 speed are fine but 9 speed are particularly weak.

Baron Greenback

oxoman wrote:

That's the way start them young and keep them motivated. Your chain shouldn't have broke, however if you stood on your pedal in a hard gear it might not do it any good. By hard gear I mean big ring at the front and little at the back, I have seen chains go when riders have used this combination along with using all their strength and weight. Good luck with getter fitter and keeping up with the youngsters. I frequently put my bike in the back of my car with the front wheel off, if youngest is with me I throw a very thick picnic blanket over the bike then put his on top for short journeys, normally if it's a long journey I use a towbar mounted rack. FOD is an ideal area to visit loads of easier trails to visit as well.

Thanks oxoman. My two boys love their bikes. I will definitely try and be out on them as much as possible.

I do remember standing on the pedals in a high gear. I hit a steep incline up a grass hill, and thought I'd manage it, I didn't change down early enough. Maybe that did it.

I've got to pop the bike down to the lbs later this week, so I'll try it in the car again. Maybe it will be easier this time around!
Lyles, can't wait for a ride around the FoD.

Baron Greenback

The Rookie wrote:

Did the chain snap or become disassembled, it's not common but not at all unknown for the joining pin (assembled by the bike manufacturer and not Shimano obviously) to come out, I'd take it out and use a powerlink anyway so job done.

It didn't snap as such, it looks like one of the pins came out on one side, photo below of the links. Could it be that the pin wasn't inserted properly during assembly, or is this a common mode of failure?

It's a shimano's chain. Don't think it had a power link in it, but it does now (the shop gave me one, to replace the broken link.

Baron Greenback

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I'd suggest getting another multi tool. Crank Bros kit is known for being nice to look at but rubbish to use, just like all their bike parts.
If it's a Shimano 9 speed chain it's worth replacing it with SRAM or KMC. Shimano 8 or 10 speed are fine but 9 speed are particularly weak.

The chain is a shimano 10 speed.

That's a shame about the multi tool, as the sole reason I bought it was because its high review ratings! I won't mind getting rid though, as I've got to be honest, I don't like it. It's so awkward to use. Can you recommend an alternative for me? I need to buy a set of decent Allen drivers first, for in the workshop (my garage), but after that I'll get a new multi.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

cooldad

Get one of these - as good as any big one.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/park ... lsrc=aw.ds

And a tiny one of these.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/tope ... p-prod7340

Add a puncture kit, decent set of tyre levers and you cn do almost anything on any bike.

Baron Greenback

cooldad wrote:

Get one of these - as good as any big one.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/park ... lsrc=aw.ds

And a tiny one of these.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/tope ... p-prod7340

Add a puncture kit, decent set of tyre levers and you cn do almost anything on any bike.

Thank you!

I've got some patches, and some tyre levers. I'll buy a spare inner tube next time im at the shop too.

On the crank brothers chain removal tool, it seems to have some other features, with numbers on them. There's a 1, 2 and 3 iirc. Any idea what these are for?

cooldad

Probably the grade of cheese it's made from.

Or maybe that's just their wheels and dropper posts.

JBA

Baron Greenback wrote:

On the crank brothers chain removal tool, it seems to have some other features, with numbers on them. There's a 1, 2 and 3 iirc. Any idea what these are for?

They are spoke keys for tightening / loosening spoke nipples.

The chain tool on the Crank Bros multi tool is a pain in the arse to use but the rest of the tool bits are fine. Just buy a dedicated chain tool.

Baron Greenback

JBA wrote:

Baron Greenback wrote:

On the crank brothers chain removal tool, it seems to have some other features, with numbers on them. There's a 1, 2 and 3 iirc. Any idea what these are for?

They are spoke keys for tightening / loosening spoke nipples.

The chain tool on the Crank Bros multi tool is a pain in the ars* to use but the rest of the tool bits are fine. Just buy a dedicated chain tool.

Ah i see! Thanks for your help.