Yesterday at an awesome club ride there were about 300 or so (my guess) folks out for 20,35, 45 and 80+ mile loops.
Three times in the day there were folks who were on the side of the road with their chain off of their Shimano drive systems (but I hear this can happen to Campagnolo too). In each case the person had shifted on dropped the chain to the inside of the chain rings. In each case the person had no idea how to get the chain back onto the chain ring.
So, if you didnt know - more often than not you can shift into a bigger chain ring (yes your chain is off), or if your chain fell to the outside you can shift to a smaller chain ring and your chain will catch and return to the proper position on your chain ring. There is no real way to practice this but once you know what to do and how to react you can often get your chain back on with out ever missing a beat. This really is just a basic skill of riding that folks need to learn to make their rides easier.
Oddly - all three bikes that were roadside were Tri bikes…
I’ll fess up and say that I did not know that with a dropped chain you could get it back on by shifting. That being said I have yet to drop a chain on either of my bikes.
Thanks for the tip. That way if/when I drop a chain I won’t look like a tool.
I dropped my chain to the outside last weekend 200M into my 40kTT. I shifted to the small chain ring, kept pedaling, and then shifted back to the large. It works, be prepared to use it. I doubt I really lost any time.
Works like a champ on most of my bikes. On the Softride, though, the chain almost always gets sucked between the small ring and the chainstay and gets jammed like a mother. Good thing for the Wippeman link when that happens.
Yep, I’ve had to do this quite a number of times and almost always shifting and pedaling will put it back on. I remember as a kid I don’t believe it was as easy. None of our bikes had click tech in the gears so you had to go by feel or appearance and going below the small ring happened often. Also, though, it was frequently impossible to put it back on by shifting up so you had to use a stick or your fingers to yank it out from its stuck position between the crank and lower gear, as it would jam up. Fun times!
LOL! Funny - I was just going over this drill with my 11 year old daughter! She rides her Redline cross bike to school every day and dropped her chain shifting over some road construction/bumps (yes, I have a dog fang for the inside). I showed her many different scenarios that can occur (off to the BB, crank, chain suck, etc.). Now she can do it while riding. Can’t believe many don’t know how to do this.
Good post Chip. But in all fairness to those who can’t do it (or don’t know what you are writing about), I didn’t know how to do it until I saw someone do it.
The only time I’ve dropped chains was climbing up hills and down-shifting under the heavy load. In those situations, grinding up a hill at 10mph and suddenly losing power, if I didn’t stop and step off I would have started rolling backwards! Of course this is mostly preventable with shifting smartly. And most cases, in general, are preventable with well maintained and aligned gear…
Whatever the case is, it’s a pretty sad sign if a rider truly doesn’t know how to re-set a chain. I mean, if they don’t realize they can shift and pedal to put it back, how are they planning to fix it while stopped? Grabbing the filthy thing and trying to place it on the teeth?