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TIL cheap chain tools can ruin a good chain
Picked up a $12 chain tool from a random bike shop last summer to save money. Broke it on the third chain I tried to press a pin back in, then realized it had bent a link on my new SRAM 11-speed chain. Ended up having to replace the whole chain, cost me $45 and a wasted afternoon. Anyone else had an inexpensive tool cause more trouble than it saved?
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theagibson4mo ago
$45 chain, and you used a $12 tool on it?" Yeah, that's exactly the kind of thing I'd do, honestly. I read somewhere that cheap chain tools are made with softer metal, so they bend and warp under pressure, which is exactly what happened to you. My buddy had a similar thing with a cheaper tool he got online, said it just couldn't hold up to the torque of pushing pins on higher end chains like SRAM or Shimano. It's crazy how much money we think we're saving only to blow it on a whole new chain and wasted time. I wish I'd known that before I wrecked my first 11-speed chain too, it's a hard lesson to learn.
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patricia5584mo ago
Oh wait what, you really just took a $45 chain to a shop with a $12 tool and let them use it on your bike? That's wild. I mean I've made some dumb moves in my time but handing over a nice Shimano chain to someone with junk tools seems like asking for trouble. Hope that chain survived better than mine did though...
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