breaking a chain is a simple process but
there are several different ways to do
it depending on whether or not you have
a very specific link in your chain here
are the three different most common
types of chain and the different ways to
break them
so if our chain looks like this with no
quick links and those split links in it
then we will need a specialist tool in
order to break it
specialist tool is a chain tool and it
is basically this pin here that will
push rivets out of the center of our
chain links so in order to use it really
set our chain into the chain tool any
link will do make sure it's seated nice
and firmly and then we're going to start
twisting and applying this pin we want
to make sure that the pin is applied to
the center of the rivet and at the back
of the chain is supported so we are not
bending the links or anything at this
with a firm grip you can start twisting
and it might take a bit force to get it
started you'll see that the pin is
pushing the rivet through the back of
the chain we're not going to push it all
the way clear we're just going to push
it most of the way through so that it
clears the central part of the link and
I'll show you what I mean in just a
second that's probably about far enough
you will feel a bit of resistance as it
gets towards the end of the chain
backing off the pin take the chain tool
out and our chain should with a bit of
wiggling come apart this is the center
bit of our chain I was talking about and
we just have to push the rivet clear
enough of that so it's still stuck in
this plate to reattach we simply push
the pin back through using the chain
tool in reverse manner
it's also worth being aware that if you
do break your chain in this way with
some multi speed chains as in ten speed
change and 11 speed change you will need
to buy a new pin every time in order to
reattach the chain as they work with
much tighter tolerances so if you have a
quick link which looks like this
no no it's a quick link because it has
these holes next to the pins on opposing
sides these are very very easy to open
all we have to do is compress like this
the link and it will pop open now this
is possible by hand but they can be
quite stiff so I suggest trying to get
your hands on some
these these are special quick link
pliers as you can see they are very thin
and they rounded off and they're
designed to fit inside the chain and
press directly our quick link here so
what I'm going to do is insert these
into the chain either side of the quick
link like that and then it's simply a
case of pressing together and you see
that our pins have slid to occupy these
previous holes we're removing the pliers
our train has literally slid apart and
then you have either side of the quick
link which you can remove from the chain
let's take a look at a split link like
this which consists of our backing plate
here our other plate and then this
locking face plate on the front really
easy to take this apart the only tool
you will need is a set of needle nose
pliers like this and what we need to do
is place one of the jaws on the pin like
so and then the other jaw rest on this
locking face plate we just need to give
a bit of squeeze here to slide what
we're doing with sliding this face plate
off this way and as you can see it's
released it so we just need to a bit
more and then we can slide it off and
remove it from the link and place that
to the side now and now we need is our
hands as we no longer have this locking
plate we can simply use our fingers to
slide off this face plate won't need a
bit of a wiggle and place that to the
side and then as you can see our chain
simply slides off this backing link with
the pins installed that's how to break
the chain with a split link