Dadgummit! I'm the weakest link!

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I ordered two SRAM PC-69 chains and should've order three. I'm about 8 links short. I guess I
should've counted them. Rats!

They should've made this bike an inch or so shorter. Yeah, that's it. It's RANS's fault.

I could have told you if you had asked. I figured with the Rholoff and no rear derailleur and a 38T
Chainring that two chains might have worked and you knew what you were doing. Two chains are never
enough for any other 'bent.

--
Cletus D. Lee Bacchetta Giro Lightning Voyager clee.orgclee.orgOpen ↗
- Bellaire, TX USA -

Freewheeling <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I ordered two SRAM PC-69 chains and should've order three. I'm about 8 links short. I guess I
should've counted them. Rats!

They should've made this bike an inch or so shorter. Yeah, that's it. It's RANS's fault.

--Scott --Scott [email hidden]

At least you've invented a new colloquialism: "He's 8 links short of a recumbent chain" or something
like that.

happy trails, rorschandt

Ror:

Well, for the time being I've just used a piece of PC-59 chain that I had clipped from my old chain
when I got the Rholoff. It's not new, but not as worn as my old chain. The old chain had stretched
enough that I needed an extra cog to keep it reasonably taught, so that's an overall stretch of at
least half an inch, and perhaps more like 3/4ths (since the chain was a little loose). It's funny, I
had just had it checked at a bike shop two weeks before I noticed it was sloppy and my measurements
just prior to installing the new chain indicated a stretch of about 3/32nds per foot. I probably
need to get something measures stretch more accurately. The stretch came on pretty suddenly too. I
had been using this chain for a *long* time.

--Scott

rorschandt said:

Freewheeling <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I ordered two SRAM PC-69 chains and should've order three. I'm about 8 links short. I guess I
should've counted them. Rats!

They should've made this bike an inch or so shorter. Yeah, that's it. It's RANS's fault.

--Scott --Scott [email hidden]

At least you've invented a new colloquialism: "He's 8 links short of a recumbent chain" or
something like that.

happy trails, rorschandt

Freewheeling said:

I ordered two SRAM PC-69 chains and should've order three. I'm about 8 links short. I guess I
should've counted them. Rats!

They should've made this bike an inch or so shorter....

Wouldn't the frame need to be 2 inches shorter to account for the shortage of 8 links?

Tom Sherman - Various HPV's Quad Cities USA (Illinois side)

Freewheeling <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

I probably need to get something

Quoted message said:

measures stretch more accurately. The stretch came on pretty suddenly too. I had been using this
chain for a *long* time.

I took a bike repair class a couple years ago. The instructor said there is a go/no-go gage for
change length. He thought it was an unnecessary tool. (One of very few tools of which he did not own
several copies.) He just used a foot measure, saying an unstretched chain would come out even at a
foot. I am interested how others do
it. How much off should a chain be off the foot to replace it?

Gary McCarty, Greenspeed GTO, Salt Lake City

Gary Mc said:

Freewheeling said:

I probably need to get something measures stretch more accurately. The stretch came on pretty
suddenly too. I had been using this chain for a *long* time.

I took a bike repair class a couple years ago. The instructor said there is a go/no-go gage for
change length. He thought it was an unnecessary tool. (One of very few tools of which he did not
own several copies.) He just used a foot measure, saying an unstretched chain would come out even
at a foot. I am interested how others do
it. How much off should a chain be off the foot to replace it?

As usual, Sheldon Brown's site has lots of pertinent wisdom:

sheldonbrown.comchains.htmlOpen ↗

I use to use a steel ruler, but recently purchased a Park CC-2 Chain Checker. To me, it's well worth
the cost of $23.

parktool.comCC 2.shtmlOpen ↗

The tool is quick and easy to use, giving a measure of stretch from 0 to 1 percent, where 1%
corresponds to about 1/8 inch of stretch in 12 inches:

12 inch x 1.01 = 12.12 inch = 12 inch + ~1/8 inch

Given how quickly chains seem to wear towards the end of their life, and the cost of long recumbent
chains, I find the tool nice to have since I check wear much more often now.

Rick Moll