Or if you have good dental insurance, you can save money on the chain............buy a new chain.

I've done it many times and not had a failure.

I would inspect every pin and see if it's stiff and look for chain tool marks.

If you can't find it you could just carry a chain tool and pin with you while you ride then replace it if it fails.

You will probably never see a failure though.

jaretj

I have done that a bunch of times with no issue.

Ditto on the advice to check for a stiff link - should be easy to find with no tension on the chain.

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/kj

http://kjmcawesome.tumblr.com/

I have seen a pin re-used and HAVE seen it fail. I would use the special joiner pin, or better yet, a quick-link.

Right....and just because its never happened to you, its ok to for you to tell someone to do it. Shimano says don't do it; I've actually seen this failure happen on a ride......he hurt himself and caused a crash with the people around him......; and all to save $40................this is just stupid. The failures always happen under load, and that's a bad thing!

Point taken. I got lucky and now use the Whipperman quick-connect link so I don't have to worry about the special pins. It's $15 and well worth it compared to breaking a chain.

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/kj

http://kjmcawesome.tumblr.com/

I agree with you. FWIW: Wiggle has 10 speed Ultegra chains for about $20.

Most of the people who think they are so strong that they are breaking Shimano chains are just dealing with improperly installed pins. Just get a quick link and be done with it. It also allows you to take the chain off to clean it.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

how about the Sheldon Brown chain cleaning instructional that calls for pushing ALL the pins out then reassembling the chain again? It's possible it's a joke ;)

I would say you are fine. There is nothing inherently wrong with reusing a pin as long as it is properly installed. Chain breakers are made with this purpose in mind (to push the pin out yet leave it in the outer link to be pushed back in). The special joiner pin can also be improperly installed and I never liked the break off piece.

But as others have said, the quick links are awesome for chain cleaning.

Nothing inherently wrong????? You clearly don't understand how the pins and chain are designed.

I will never buy or use another chain pin:



http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00K7X8J7G

Hmm, buy a 3 dollar replacement pin, or see if it fails and suffer the consequence.

Harsh sarcasm more directed at the people in the forum calling this "ok."

I've done this, and the chain failed, wrapped the derailleur around the spokes. Luckily it was on my commuter bike, and not in a race where I could hurt other people. You can use the stupid tax I paid and just get a new pin - if you can find the one you did that to. Otherwise just get a new chain.

New chain > New derailleur + New chain + likely wipe out to ensue.

Ok then, please educate me on the failure mode of a reused chain pin.

No...........go do a search and learn something, before you recommend on a subject you are not knowledgeable on.

Respectfully replying:

I'm knowledgeable on it, done it so many times on bike chains I've lost count.

Bike chains, machine drive chains. I've probably forgotten more chains than most people have seen.

None of the chains I've reconnected had failed because of a reused pin.

Sure Shimano says not to do it, if he can't find the pin that means he did a good job of putting it back in. I'd let it go.

I'm going to give this one last try. I am sure that you would be ok on machine chains, and old 7 or 8 speed chains where the side plates are thick and not easily distorted. But modern 10 and 11 speed chains have very thin side plates. The original pins used to join chains are peened on the ends. When you push one of these out, then push it back in, you are leaving a slightly enlarged hole on one plate, and you lose the peening effect. So that side plate (which is thin and easy to distort) can quite easily pull open under load. Sure, you can play Russian roulette with this, and assuming you don't happen to apply load at the bad spot, or you just happen to not distort the plate enough to move it off the end of the pin, or any number of other things that can move the plate, then you might dodge a failure. But you definitely will have a weaker spot at this location no matter what. The new joining pins are a harder material, and a slightly larger diameter to compensate for the larger hole in the plate and when done correctly do not result in a weak spot or an unanchored side plate. The consequences of failure are injury to you, injury to the people you are riding with, and damage to the rear derailleur and your bike frame....all to save some small amount of money. Once again, that's just stupid.

Ok, I concede, you are correct with respect to Shimano chains. Standard roller chains can reuse pins but Shimano has added special peening to their pins that are damaged upon chain break.

Since I learned something new today, I'll share what I found:

More info here.

Thanks for doing that. Good info.

Thanks for all the replies. The bad news is I did three bikes this way. Fortunately I was able to find the stiff link on two of them and replace the pin with the joiner pin. I will be ordering a new chain for the other bike and doing it correctly. My LBS gets retail for chains ($45) and $10 to install. They are $26 online so even with my screwup I am ahead of the game and now I know how to do it correctly.

I know a lot of mechanics who just press them in without issues, you do have to inspect it. I have broken a couple by being sloppy, they usually fail in the first hour or so and give some warning. It's not a huge deal, people break chains in races and everyone gets home alive. You can look down and see the link separating as you pedal and sometimes make it home if you pussyfoot. Having a chain tool and quicklink in your saddlebag will make you bulletproof.

Excellent. Looks like we have a new winner of the Slowtwich Darwin awards.

For sure, broken chains in races are generally fatal and even on a training ride they usually end in decapitation and often a secondary explosion. Best to just sit home on your trainer watching Scaredy Squirrel videos and applying SPF 200 for the trek to the mailbox.

Have you ever broken a chain in a sprint? Quite hard to notice your chain coming apart until your nuts are smashed into the stem and you're going over the bars. Pretty irresponsible to recommend someone not join a chain properly, especially when it is as easy as doing it the wrong way.

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"Oh man, it's going to take days to kill all these people!" - Jens Voigt