Mountain Biking Guide

Once your trail bike chain becomes damaged, you must right away replace it with a new one. It is possible to correct a damaged chain employing a chain tool.

For this very reason, most mountain bikers travel with a chain tool. Your chain has 3 basic parts - the metal side plates, the rollers between the side plates, and the bolts, or pins which go thru the rollers and help to hold the plates together. These pins permit the rollers to openly turn as the chain moves round the cogs. If your chain happens to break, you will have to take away the damaged link and replace it with a spare link. To try this, simply reattach the 2 ends of the damaged chain and ride on a shorter chain till you can get it replaced. To get rid of a damaged link of chain, place it in the chain tool. Now, turn the tool counter clockwise till the rivet pin of the chain tool touches the chain bolt. Continue to turn the tool till the pin pushes out of the roller. Be awfully careful, as you would like to stop turning when the pin is right at the edge of the roller, before it moves thru the outer side plate. Now, turn the tool in the other direction, and back it out of the roller. Set the tool to the side, then work the chain very carefully from side to side and take the inner side plates and roller. Now could be the time to re-route the chain thru the bike. You may wish to have a chain maintaining tool or some to help hold the chain in the right spot as you route and repair it.

Now the damaged link has been removed and you have re-routed the chain, you are prepared to insert a new link or connect the links that were beside the damaged one. The process here is the same - align the 2 ends so the link with the inner side plates will fit within the link with the pin and outer side plates. Now, use the chain tool to bump the pin inward till it's positioned uniformly between the side plates. The simplest way to find out how to do this or feel cushty doing it is to have somebody show you, then really practice with a chain and a chain tool. You could have no difficulty at all making a non-permanent fix in a trail bike chain once you have seen it done by a pro and practiced it yourself a couple of times.