Repairing chain with master link

[Ambrose]

I've just broken a GX Eagle chain because I am a dickhead. Common wisdom seems to hold with changing the whole chain once it breaks, but it's only done 400km. Would it be okay just to replace it with another master link, or is this unacceptably degenerate behaviour?

 

[Kingfisher]

Are you planning on crossing the Atacama desert unsupported? Replace the chain

Are you just going to thrash your bike in the local bike park? Meh, add as many masterlinks as you want. It might eat up your casette a bit. But how much could a casette cost? Oh..wait..GX eagle...

 

[steve_sordy]

You won't have "snapped" the chain, you will have peeled it apart. Therefore it is likely that several links are damaged, not just the one that finally failed.

I would replace at least two links either side of the break, so maybe as many as five in total - if you have them!

When I buy a new chain, I always keep the excess links after I have shortened the chain to make it fit.

 

[Ambrose]

I actually managed to break the chain when I crashed. On closer inspection, the inner cage and jockey wheels needed replacing as well - so I bought a new chain anyway. Was the cassette or derailleur damaged too? Doesn't look like it, but I'll find out tomorrow, I guess.

But thanks, Steve. That's interesting about replacing a couple of links each side of the break.

 

[steve_sordy]

It's only interesting if you actually have the spares!

Unless the jockey wheels look like ninja throwing stars, they will be pretty much OK. The mech itself may have been bent, or if you are lucky the mech arm. Symptoms of mech or mech arm damage are shifting problems where the usual fixes dont' work. Typical faults are the chain shifting under load from one gear to another.

 

[Ambrose]

I managed to rip the thread right out of the inner cage metal bracket, and lose a jockey wheel in the scrub. I've ordered a replacement inner cage and jockey wheels for about a third the cost of a whole new mech, so I'm going to try replacing that first. And if it turns out the mech is cactus too, well, I'll have spare parts. The inner cage bracket almost looks like it's designed to bend and tear apart so it won't damage the cassette if they get tangled up.