[Closed] How on earth do you snap a chain?

The only times I've snapped a chain it's either been at the joining pin with a Shimano chain (factory fitted)
or after it's been damaged through chainsuck when really muddy.
Since I swapped all mine over to KMC chains, I haven't' snapped one though. Yet.

u iz awsum ryder

My mate is a not infrequent chain snapper. He is a big lad 18st or so more rugby player than MTBr and uses pure power to g-r-i-n-d out short climbs. Following him is an experience you can see the frame flexing and almost hear his cartilages popping.

He's now using some sort of 'unbreakable' KMC chain we'll see how long it lasts...

Well done you! You're an inspiration to us all

*applauds*

Snapped a few chains on a 4X bike - powering out of the start gate puts an enormous strain on the bike!

your advice is sensible, my guess is most breakages are caused by bad shifting, bad joins or a duff chain.

I just had to change my chain for the first time on a 2004 Kona, links started breaking and it got too short to salvage.

New chain (and cassette) and on the first ride the chain snaps. Might have been my attempt at putting the chain together in the first place, it did seem to take an awful long time and those Shimano joining pins seem to be made of Dairylea.

I think the next chain will be a KMC because the shimano ones seems to have gotten a bit fragile

Even with my spaghetti legs I've snapped chains.

You can't call yourself a cyclist until you have.

i feel worthless and I only snapped a chain once, . and that was when I was young and inexperienced,
. . but i still feel worthless . . .
😯

A chains not properly worn out unless you've snapped it several times.

First ride out. Brand new everything! Snapped going up a hill in the "still got plenty of momentum" phase.

Replacement was 1 model higher in the range, which has done 1000's of km.

One of the things that prompted me to post is riding with a mate who doesn't change gear on a hill until it's too late than crashes and bangs the shift whilst swearing about how shit the gears are. He never cleans, checks, replaces any of the drivetrain and we often have to endure a period of fettling on a timestrapped evening ride because of it.
Perhaps more should be made of decent maintenance/shifting technique rather than the usual shopping channel discussions on here.

EDIT: It's always me who has to do the fettling!

I want to be rollindoughnut when I grow up.

When you get old like me, irritation and smugness will come to you naturally.

You do realise your LBS is presently burning your effigy?

Usually grass or mud fouling the rear mech cage. And power, ultimate power!!! Sorry, bit of Darth Sidious there.

I've snapped two chains in 25 years. One was old and probably worn, put that down to death by natural causes the other was less than 75 miles old still shiny new and was no doubt a manufacturing fault.

z1ppy - Member

A chains not properly worn out unless you've snapped it several times.

Lol - the truth is spoken..

At 16st and riding a singlespeed, it's not unknown for me to snap. I've tried different chains, more lubing, and reasonably frequent replacement but it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference. Probably break a couple of chains a year, so it's not [i]that[/i] bad.

I have never snapped one apart from that bad batch of Sram ones, of which I snapped about three.

Didn't do anything silly, JRA and then snap.

The first time, I heard an irreluglar clicking from my drivetrain for most of a 100km race. About 100m before the finish it snapped to my amazement.

Turns out the outer plate of one link had come away from its pin at one end and splayed out, causing the clicking as it passed the mech at certain points in the power stroke. I must've done 80km with only one side of that link. Amazed it lasted that long to be honest.

As for power - I tried to go up a steep bank in the wrong gear in another race. I used MAX power which I normally am too scared to deploy for fear of breaking me or the bike, and I mashed the internals of an XTR freehub, causing it to jam. I tried to fix it once I got home, but realised that I'd actually ovalised the centre bit of it that the bearings run on 😯

I've snapped SS chains before, coz I'm f****** 'core!

I suspect if you have never snapped a chain you're a mincer.

[/tongue in cheek]

Snapped a few but the cause is always pretty obvious - drivetrain in a bad state and a mashed shift or similar. Snapped my shifter pod off on a long ride recently and couldn't easily change gear - a few climbs in 44 x 30 did the chain in.
Agree that if the drivetrain is in good order you shouldn't be snapping chains.

I have snapped a chain once, turning a sharp corner onto a small rise, I lost all speed in a big gear and hit a rock that stopped the bike dead with me stamping on the pedals. Something had to give.

If you have never snaped a chain you must be really feeble even Mrs Bruce has snaped a couple of chain 😉

I snapped my chain 3 times on one ride on Sunday having never done it before. I'd like to think that it was my raw power but given it went everytime within one link of the powerlink, I think it might have been something to do with a dodgy link.

I have yet to snap a chain 🙁

Must try Harder!

Christ I've lost count of the number I've snapped! Broke one on the road bike a few weeks ago climbing Coombe Bottom.

Broke an XTR one within 200 yards once (snapped the side plate).

At least 10 instances I can think of!

I had a SRAM chain, many moons ago (may have even still been Sachs) which broke 5 times in one ride, having been fine for many months, very odd.

What kind of sick pervert is this ‘Coombe’?

What is all the talk of washing bikes? I only ride mine twice a year on perfectly dry dusty trails and then brush the dust off. Some people. sheesh 🙄

you clearly have the legs of a chicken, and the power of an asthmatic mouse.
I've snapped a few, but I am a powerhouse.

I will however take heed of your solid advice and hopefully live happily ever after.

OP Your non-chain snapping prowess makes me all fizzy down below... :shy:

I've only 'Snapped' a couple it's generally been on poor quality chains joined using a pressed in pin rather than a split link, where one plate separates and splays out...

Not sure its always due to poor maintenance/gear shifting technique, sometimes these things just happen, I mean consider the number of individual components in a chain and the stresses its regularly subjected to, it only takes one slightly duff part in ~400+ for the whole assembly to fail...

One of the things that prompted me to post is riding with a mate who doesn't change gear on a hill until it's too late than crashes and bangs the shift whilst swearing about how shit the gears are. He never cleans, checks, replaces any of the drivetrain and we often have to endure a period of fettling on a timestrapped evening ride because of it.
Perhaps more should be made of decent maintenance/shifting technique rather than the usual shopping channel discussions on here.

EDIT: It's always me who has to do the fettling!

Perhaps you should tell him, rather than boring us with this pish?.

I'll let you get back to your shopping...

Riding rules:

1. If you don't stack it during your ride you're not riding hard enough.
2. If you don't damage something on your bike during your ride you're not riding hard enough.

Excuse me while I add a few more replacement bike bits to my basket!

I generally agree with the stack it sentiment, but personally think that time spent fettling the bike before the ride can negate most mechanical problems occuring.
Don't you agree that there is so often a frustrated comment about a snapped chain ruining a ride? Why not try to prevent that happening?

If its awesome power that snaps these chains, how come I didn't see any broken chains in the Tour de France?

Did you not see the two guys down on the champs élysées on Sunday?

Never snapped a chain either
/Hangs head in shame/
I am clearly a mincer or maybe it's because I don't listen to the advice on chain length doled out on here.

rarely snap chains, but have found sram the worst, with shitmano a close second.
not entirely sure it isnt down to operator/installer error though if im honest.
EDIT: chains are the only thing i dont rate shimano for, ime all the rest of their stuff works and keeps working.

I nearly snapped one once but noticed in time as a link was falling apart during a ride and bought another chain.

I also snapped a SS sprocket once anyone managed that.

My chain snapped as I honked away from some traffic lights. I flew over the bars and landed in a heap. Luckily the big truck behind miss me.

I also snapped a crank arm once!?

If its awesome power that snaps these chains, how come I didn't see any broken chains in the Tour de France?

Millar missed out on a stage win in the 2008 Giro because of a snapped chain (in an escape of five, which suggests based on his stage win this time that he'd probably have got it)

Edit: And Andy Schleck lost a stage in the 2010 Tour to Contador because he snapped a chain. And not just because of Contador's highly nutritious steak.

I've snapped a couple of chains before. Probably doesn't help being 6'7" and (at the time at least) about 16 stone. I think big heavy ungainly gear-mashers like me are always going to be a bit prone to it.

On one of those occasions it splayed out the plate, which proceeded to rip a brand new XT rear mech in half. Which was a bit of a bugger.

If its awesome power that snaps these chains, how come I didn't see any broken chains in the Tour de France?

Cos they aren't 6 months old and worn to hell.

Currently my chain has three 'magic-links' in it from two snapping moments recently. Both of them were snapped side plates (as opposed to plates coming off the pins) SRAM PC991 fwiw.

I'm a mincer and I snap loads of chains. I am a bit heavy though which may mave something to do with it.

Cos they aren't 6 months old and worn to hell

It *does* happen though. The two examples I just gave are high profile enough to be noticed, but loads of mechanicals happen in big races, away from the glare of the cameras. We just don't see the bike changes and cursing on the telly unless it's Millar in a breakaway or Schleck briefly interrupted from his endless staring at Contador

I'm a 93kg bloke so not the lightest and I've never broken a chain. Occasional wash, bit of lube, change it when it's stretched.

Might be because I'm more of a spinner, might be because I'm lucky, maybe because I'm awesome.

Only ever snapped one chain and i'm pretty sure that was because I got angry with the powerlinky joining thing and bodged it a bit. I did manage to rip the 16t cog on my singlespeed in half whilst attempting to stomp up a hill though. That hurt a bit.

Dave

I went through a spate of chain-snappings earlier this year after getting my drivetrain replaced by my LBS and having a Wipperman Connex(?) chain installed. Snapped three or four times, whereas prior to that I'd never snapped a chain in I dunno how many years of riding a bike.

Had it swapped over for an SRAM chain and all seems to be OK again. Dunno if I was just unlucky or whether Wipperman chains are really that bad.

Should add that I have a light touch maintenance regime on the drivetrain apart from cleaning and lubing it because anything I ever twiddle or adjust on it seems to make things worse rather than better.

Utterly unfounded conclusions by the OP. If you have no experimental data, how can you make statements about what causes a chain to snap? Go away and do some control experiments.

Cos they aren't 6 months old and worn to hell.

Mine was about 3 days old and not worn to hell the last time I snapped one.

Snapping chains is fun sometimes we have a competetion £10 pounds in and first to snap takes the money. Or alternatively which is even more fun, the most snaps in a ride wins the golden goose.

Real men snap chains

I've snapped a few. Not sure how on the mtb other than maybe neglecting to maintain it. On the bmx it was due to landing on the sprocket without a bash guard on on a very badly done grind.

I've only ever snapped badly worn chains.
My brother however, has massive power and has snapped countless chains of all brands and ages.

My main riding mate is also an 18stone rugby player like the one mentioned earlier but he does snap chains on a regular basis mainly due to his maintenance schedule -- there isn't one. He too is a believer in the ' ride it until it breaks and then get my mate[ me] to fix it' theory. His chain broke twice on an event we did as a team but we managed to get to the finish. The next event his chain broke again.
'that's bad luck Mick , 2 chains break in 2 weeks', say I.
You know the answer, yes, it was the same chain now broken three times.
Amazingly we managed to finish even though the chain was so short he could hardly get any gears!
Whenever I am behind him which is often, he is incredibly stong, I am reminded of David Millar's description of Laurence Dilaglio,' A circus Bear on a Bike.'

And snapped again tonight... GRRR!!

Capt. Jon's out of the saddle chain snap is one the best crashes I've seen. He was stopped (almost) dead by a wooden fence post.

The ooof sound he made was sublime.

My chain snappngs:

1. Not joining a shimano chain with a new pin. I was 13. I learned.
2. Bent chainring tooth.
3. SRAM hollow-pin. The snappiest chain in existence.

I now just buy cheap, and buy often. Cassettes are expensive, but cheap chains are always nearly new.

I've snapped a good few, mostly due to poor maintenance and letting stiff links stay stiff or forcing them to loosen up.Usually it splays the plates off a pin. But I do often choose lightweight chains, grind tall gears and weigh 17 stone too. If I were a 15 year old racing snake who span a lot and maintained my bike all the time Im sure I'd not snap any either (I seem to remember those days, and no I didn't snap chains).

In contrast.. My not chain snappings:

Anything I've ever put on the singlespeed. Second-hand, cheap, half links, whatever... I do chuck them out when they're well beyond too.

Not a 15 year old racing snake either!

where do you live op?

paulosoxo - Member
Capt. Jon's out of the saddle chain snap is one the best crashes I've seen. He was stopped (almost) dead by a wooden fence post.

The ooof sound he made was sublime.

You'd have loved it when my chain slipped sending me over the bars... and putting me in hospital 😀