If you are anything like us, then you love going on a long bike ride to escape everyday life.
Riding a bike is a great way to leave reality behind, have some peace and quiet and keep fit. Going for a bike ride may also help you reach your exercise goals, whilst also getting you from place to place.
The last thing you want as a cyclist is to be stranded at the side of the road because your bike has an issue, such as a punctured tire or a broken chain.
Breaking or bending a chain on your bike is very common and will happen a lot to you if you are an experienced bike rider. Chains can break easily from obstructions getting caught in the chain, or from pedaling full force ahead and shifting your front derailleur simultaneously.
A broken bike chain can leave your bike absolutely useless, and you may be stuck unable to get home. Therefore it is vital that you know exactly how to repair and fix a broken chain, to get your hobby back up and running...or shall we say cycling.
Bike chains are made up of links and chains held together by pins and pegs. You can easily fix a broken chain with either a chain tool or a hammer and pliers. All you have to do is simply push out the pins and remove or reattach the broken links.
Luckily for you, we have the answer. We have created an easy to follow guide for fixing a broken chain.
How to fix a broken bike chain
If you are a regular biker then you will benefit greatly from a broken chain tool such as this one. You will need this tool to fix your broken bicycle chain, and a spare quick-link.
We recommend this tool to help fix your chain;
And these missing links to replace any broken ones.
Unfortunately, fixing a broken chain is an extremely messy task, and you are probably best off not doing it in your newest clothes. We could recommend that you change your clothes if you can.
The first thing you need to do is stop riding your bike. As soon as you notice that your chain may be broken, you should stop cycling so that you do not damage it further.
Check the damage
You will probably benefit from flipping your bike over to get a better look at the chain. Try to check for the broken ends and see which one or if both are damaged.
Next, you should try to gauge where and what the issue is. If your chain has simply snapped in half, then it is relatively quite easy to fix and you will only need to add a few more new links to it, or replace the damaged link.
If your bicycle chain has not yet fallen off your bike, then you should remove it. Once the chain is removed, then simply change your gears so that both your front and back derailleur aligns with the smallest chainrings at both the front and rear sprocket.
You should then examine the severity of the bike chain’s damage. In most cases, one of your pins will have lost its grip onto the outer part of the chain, and will have slid out of place. This can simply be popped straight back on.
In other cases, if you have had an accident and the bike seems to be damaged, you may need to replace the plate of your chain. If the sprockets and chainrings seem misaligned or broken, then you will have to reattach and connect the links.
You must examine the broken ends of your bike chain. You may have to remove two links of the chain because the connections alternate. If you just remove one part, then the other two will not be able to reattach.
Place your broken bike chain into your chain tool at the segment that needs disconnecting.
Next, you must turn the screw with your chain tool to begin pushing the pin out of your bike chain. Remember not to push the pin all of the way out or you will never get it back in! Just remove it slightly so that the chain comes loose and falls apart.
Following this, you will need to push the chain back onto your bike sprockets and hold its position in place. This is a very tricky process, and hard to keep the chain in place to reattach it.
It is easiest to wrap the chain over the smallest sprocket of your rear bike gears first, and then underneath the sprocket. You can then pass the chain over the top jockey wheel. Once you have successfully reattached the chain you can connect the broken links together with a quick link.
Before securing your quick link, you should pull each end of the chain taut away from each other at the distance of the size of the link. Attach the quick link by aligning it to the two ends that do not meet, and push the pedal or pull down on the chain to ensure it has connected. Then, you can use your chain tool to press the pin back in and secure your chain in place.
Our advice
Fixing a broken bike chain can be really tricky, and depending on the extent of the damage or how broken it may be, it can be much easier to just simply buy a new chain for your bicycle.
If you are really stuck and unable to fix the chain yourself, or simply do not have the tools handy, you can always call a friend for assistance or breakdown recovery!