Updated: 12/04/2021
Why would you need a bike chain toolset? The chain is one of the critical components that a drivetrain has. It is primarily responsible for propelling the bike all the way through. Its significance can't be overlooked because you don't even realise it's there when it's working correctly.
Taking Care Of Your Chain
However, if it stops working anytime, it will probably be the only thing you think about it. Therefore, it is crucial to get a bike chain repair tool to take good care of your chain because without a bike chain, you cant move your bike an inch forward.
Limited Life Of Cycle Chains
Bike chains undergo a significant amount of stress when you propel your bike by transferring force from your legs to a drivetrain. They have limited life and wear out with time; therefore, their time-to-time technical bicycle tool kit maintenance and replacement are inevitable.
Besides affecting a bike's efficiency, an old, worn-out, and damaged chain can also pose a continuous potential threat to personal safety.
When it comes to the maintenance of a bike chain, several specialised bike chain tools are available in the market, making the maintenance process easy to execute.
: Engtic Bicycle Chain Breaker Repair Tool Kit
Checking the working condition of a bike chain is a crucial part of a bike maintenance process. In such a case, specialised bike chain tools of different brands meant for other purposes are available.
Push Out On The Chain Pin
If you want to replace your damaged chain, the bike chain link removal tool will assist you. Hold your bike chain in place while you turn the lever and break the chain circle by pushing out the chain pin.
Chain tools work the other ways, and you have to push a pin into its housing when you are putting a new chain in place of a damaged part.
Bike Tool Kit Set Chain Cutters
Sometimes a situation arises where a bike chain seizes in its place. You can't remove the chain by following the above procedure. In such scenarios, specialised bike tool kit set chain cutters are available in the marketplace.
Consider Diverse Chain Sizes
The tools allow you to simply cut the damaged and unwanted sections of a chain, which otherwise are impossible to remove and replace.
Bike chains come in various sizes depending on the types of bikes they are used in. Therefore, different bike chain tools are meant for different chain sizes like fat wheel bikes that are available in the market.
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Therefore, it is imperative for you to exactly know the utility of the tool you will purchase. This article will allow you to look in detail at various chain link remover tools that are commercially available and their utility for different bike chains.
Why It's Important To Replace A Chain?
The chain is a crucial part of a bike drivetrain that propels the bike. Therefore, any defect or abnormality in a bike chain can significantly affect the overall performance.
It takes a lot of effort to propel your bike, and you would not be able to easily change the gears if there is any defect in your bike's chain.
How Often Do You Ride?
A chain is a perishable item, and it will definitely wear out after a specific duration. Once it wears out, both its performance and reliability are compromised. How early or late a chain wears out depends on riding and the kilometres you used that chain.
Bike Maintenance Kit For Wear
In the case of chains, deterioration refers to stretch. Stretch means that the rollers that hold the whole chain in place as a single unit are worn out with time. They cause the chain to grow in length as it passes through the cassette again and again.
: Bellatoi Bike Chain Tools Splitter With Link Plier
Only growth of one percent in chains length is sufficient to affect its performance, and as such, these chains are called worn chains.
A worn chain further affects the performance of a drivetrain by causing a chain slip. Bike chain slip is a condition in which a worn chain does not settle appropriately into cassette and chainrings' teeth.
Inspecting Your Bike Chain
This deterioration ultimately leads to a decrease in drivetrain performance. Therefore, to keep your bikes performance up to the mark, inspect your bike chain regularly and undergo the maintenance procedure as soon as you detect any defect.
How To Choose The Right Chain
Even though you keep your bike chain clean and lubricated, it will still start to wear and stretch after a specific period. Wearing the bike chain will further affect your bike's performance, and your drivetrain will also begin to deteriorate.
Replace Your Old Chain With New
Once all this happens, shifting of gear will not remain smooth like previous, and your bike's sprockets and chainrings will eventually wear.
Therefore, it is essential to replace the old chain with a new chain once it starts to wear. If this is not done in time, you will probably have a lot of expenditures shortly.
You should check your bike chain regularly and get a chain delinker as it takes only a few minutes to perceive whether it's a time for a new chain or not.
An important question that arises in most people's minds is choosing the suitable chain for their bike. The answer is simple, just replace like with like.
Number Of Sprockets On Cassette
Apparently, bike chains may appear similar; however, they differ from each other in terms of their widths. Different bikes come with different drivetrains and have different numbers of sprockets on their cassette.
Therefore, you need to choose a chain that suits your own bike's drivetrain and quickly get settled on the cassette.
: CGBOOM Bicycle Cassette Removal Chain Tool Set
Replacing The 11-Speed Chain
For example, dirt bikes come with different types of chains. When it comes to changing the chain of a particular BMX dirt bike, all you have to do is to replace like with like, that is, replacing the 11-speed chain with 11-speed and the 9-speed chain with 9-speed.
Bicycle Chain Tool New Fitting
Fitting a new chain is also not a difficult task to execute. Most of the time, you have to shorten the chain before installing it to the drivetrain.
All you have to do is count the number of links on the old chain and make the new chain match the old one using a chain shortening tool such as the B-Twin bike chain tool.
Sometimes, chains are designed to fit in a certain way, like a mens mountain bike Shimano 11-speed chain. Therefore, you need to keep such chains' branding face outwards when you install them.
Quick Release Chain Links
Most chain manufacturers are manufacturing chains with a unique quick-release chain-link nowadays. These quick links not only maintain the bikes chain integrity but also easy to deal with. Compared to traditional chains, an outer chain-link gets replaced by an immediate connection in modern chains.
: Oumers Plier Bike Chain Splitter Tools
Pedal In The Backward Direction
These quick release links enable the users to disconnect and reconnect the chain without any chain fitting tool. First, you make sure that your bike's chain is a traditional chain or a quick-release link chain.
For this purpose, start pedalling in a backward direction while observing every passing by chain link. Quick-release link is easy to recognise as they have a different shape compared to other chain links.
Remove, Tight Or Loosen?
Once you locate the quick-release link, you can easily install, remove, tight or 'loosen your bike chain' by yourself. If you do not have any experience, you can either follow the manual guide or watch tutorial videos for visual help.
Before buying any chain tool, you have to make sure about your bike's type of chain. If you cannot locate a quick-release link in your bike's chain, your bike has a traditional or standard chain. These typical chains require suitable chain tools for their removal and installation.
Disconnect And Reconnect
Primarily, bike chain tools consist of a tool pin, and a tool handle to hold and rotate it. Each chain tool contains two slots on its body, an outer slot and an inner slot. The external slot is used for disconnecting and reconnecting the chain. In contrast, the internal space is used for loosening chain links.
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Chain Breaker Tool Disconnecting
To disconnect the chain, start rotating the chain tool's handle in the anti-clockwise direction until the pin is drawn in the backward order. As the pin pulled back, enough space is created, and you can place any chain link in the outer slot of the chain tool.
Rotate The Tool Handle
After placing it in the outer slot, start rotating the tool handle in the clockwise direction. Due to clockwise rotation, the tool pin begins to move inside and contact the chain pin's end. The tool pin starts to come out from the other side after passing through chain links on further tightening.
Now here comes the tricky part! After tightening with a tool, you now pushed the chain pin halfway through one of the two outermost chainplates. One slight movement of your hand will move the chain pin out of the chain links.
Once the chain pin gets pushed out of the chain links, you cannot put it back despite all your efforts. In this situation, either your chain will get shorted, or you have to purchase a new one. To avoid this happening, you have to fully concentrate while pushing the chain pin with a chain tool.
: QKURT Bicycle Chain Tool Kit Link Breaker
Tighten Via Clockwise Motion
At the start of tightening by clockwise rotation, the tool handle will rotate smoothly while pushing the pin through. When the chain pin is halfway through the outermost chainplates, the tool handle's rotation will become slightly tricky.
Easily Disconnect Cycle Chain
As soon as you feel this tightness, stop rotating your hand and pull the chain tool back. At this moment, you will see that chain is hardly connected, and one can easily disconnect the chain. In this way, you get a perfect spot for disconnecting the chain.
Never forget to check the chain's side plates while it's routing, as many chains are routed in a specific direction. Similarly, different logos and letters that are printed on new chains should be in the outward direction.
Chain Routing Methodology
Both master link chain and connecting rivet chain routing methods are almost the same. The slight difference is that the routing of connecting rivet chains only begins from outer chainplates. In comparison, master link chains have a pair of inner chainplates on either side of the chain.
: MELARQT Universal Chain Link Repair Remover
Rear Derailleur Of The Bike
The routing of master chains can be started from either end of the chain via a master link. The chain's routing process starts with the passing of the chain through the rear derailleur of the bike first. While routing, be cautious that tabs of derailleur route the chain on exact places of the tab.
Push the chain in covering the chain's frame and starts to pass it through the front derailleur. After a chain passes through both derailleurs, connect both ends of the chain via outer plates or master links.
Do you remember the chain pin halfway passed through one of the outer plates while disconnecting the chain? You can observe a tiny part of this pin from the inner side of the extreme plates. Now, we are going to use this same pin for reconnecting the chain.
Get The Pins Into Position
Before this, arrange the links back together so that all pins get into position with the chain's internal links. Now, again rotate the tool handle in the anti-clockwise direction.
Place the chain links in the outer slot of the chain equipment. But this time, the direction of the projecting pin will be directed inside towards the chain tool.
After rearranging, start rotating the tool handle in the clockwise direction. Due to clockwise movement, the tool pin will push the chain pin back to its original position. After tightening, ensure that an equal length of chain pin is protruding from either side of the chain.
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Reconnecting The Master Link Chain
These types of chains are connected and reconnected via a master link in the chain. There are two methods for connecting the master link in master link chains.
In the first method, locate the master link and find directional arrows that direct travel direction. Now use a master link plier like MLP-1.2 to reconnect the master link of the chain.
Force On Pedals And Rear Brake
The second method for reconnecting the master link chain consists of series of actions. First, locate the master link of the chain and then place it on the chain's run in the upward direction.
Then apply force on the pedals and rear tyre brakes simultaneously. Check the master link to confirm that either master link is completely reconnected or not.
Connecting Rivet Chains
This type of chain got connected via specially manufactured connecting rivets. These connecting rivets have specially created flaring for adjustment of a long, pointed pilot.
When these chains are installed, this long, pointed pilot gets adjusted in this flaring. Connecting rivets of different sizes are available in the market and are specific for other models of chains.
: PRO-BIKE TOOL Chain Link Breaker Remover
Loosen Up The Chain Link
Sometimes, while reconnecting, the chain links get compressed too much, resulting in the stiff movement of the chain while biking. The inner slot of the chain tool is utilised for losing the rigid chain links. For this purpose, rotate the tool handle in the 'anti-clockwise direction' to the extent that enough space is created.
Bicycle Tool Kit For Chain Pins
Now place the stiff chain link into the chain tool's inner slot and start tightening the tool pin. When the tool pin comes in contact with the chain pin, rotate the handle further for a quarter of a rotation.
With the bike chain tool, check the chain links to ensure that links get lost. If the chain still feels tight during biking, repeat the process and lose the chain for another quarter of a rotation.