Call me Chainsnapper
Saturday morning was a beautiful morning for a long ride to work. A little cool at 19°F (-7°C), but it was clear, and still and sunny and almost no traffic.
Starting from the stoplight near the Central Branch of the library, across from the Dinosaur BBQ, just 1.3 miles from home, I snapped the chain.
Having done this before on my first bike, I always carry spare quick-links and my multi-tool has a chain tool on it. I have two sets of spares and two toolkits, one each for my trunk bag and my seat bag. Saves switching stuff.
Except yesterday.
I tore that bag apart and couldn’t find my spare quick-links. They were there last time I inventoried it, but they were gone. Who knows where.
So, using the bike like a scooter, I scooted my way home. Along the way I learned that it’s incredibly difficult to clip in to the pedals when there’s no resistance from the drivetrain. And, you can make a steady 8–10 MPH scooting along like that.
At home I inspected the chain and was astonished to find, that I couldn’t find a quick-link already in it. So it must have been the old quick-link that let go. I’ve never heard of one coming apart before. Satisfied there wasn’t a problem with the rest of the chain, I installed the chain and a new quick-link, lubed the chain and took the short route to work.
After restocking my trunk bag with another set of spare quick-links. (Yellow Bike and the Portland take two different sizes.)
