Woopsie-dasies.
Everyone knows it’s a great idea to change out pieces of equipment the day before a group ride, especially an honorary Ronde van Vlaanderen Cogal involving steep, cobblestone climbs. There is obviously also no need to test-ride the equipment after making said change.
I remark at this point that it is rather unexpected to find an 11 speed chain inside a box labeled as being 10 speed. I also note that an 11 speed chain is not obviously narrower than its 10 speed counterpart. Once installed, it even seems to operate normally, happily jumping from one cog to the next, up and down the cassette, as you click away at it on the work stand. It gives the strong impression of being a happy chain.
This is a ruse. It is not a happy chain. In fact, it is a borderline malicious chain; it lulls the rider into a false sense of security, right until the moment that enough pressure is applied to the pedals, at which point the chain will rudely skip. The amount of pressure required to make the chain skip is dependent upon in which gear you are riding; some skip easily, some (seemingly) not at all. The ones that seemed like they didn’t skip at all were the two lowest gears. Comforting, knowing the steep cobbled climbs that were to be gobbled up towards the end of the ride, where they would be most instrumental.
As it turns out, the amount of pressure required to skip the chain is the amount applied at roughly 20% and the rider has risen out of the saddle in search of extra power. This came as quite a surprise to me, the rider, and also to those riding behind me, who used words like “ejected” and “like you hit an invisible car” to describe what they saw.
So, I can make with certainty the following observation: a 10 speed chain and 11 speed chain might not have any outward trappings of distinction between them but they are indeed very different. This difference manifests itself by one functioning as expected and the other having the capacity to eject a rider when combined with a 10 speed drivetrain. It all seems very obvious, but that doesn’t make it less true.*
There are many other examples of this I’m sure; I remember having quite a job of properly connecting my Cinelli stem to my Scott Drop-In handlebars because the diameters did not quite match. That one also resulted in some high speed handling anomalies.
There are two morals to this story. First, it matters whether your equipment is interoperable. Second, if you make a change to your gear before a big ride, for the love of Merckx, take it on a test drive.
*As it turns out, it does in fact make it less true; this should function flawlessly but it was a worn(ish) cassette that held the secret to the bikes newly discovered ejection function.
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@TheVid
Ha! No, its Gustav Laarsen but I like your version better!
Ok, the data is in, folks. Swapped out the cassette and left the 11s chain. Quick spin and an admittedly ginger but committed acceleration up a short 20% grade proves @Oli's point, it works perfectly fine although I do find the chain a bit noisy, but that could also be the new cassette.
And then I brought the bike back in and chucked a new chain on as well, just because I don't want to wonder about any of it.
I get my drive train pretty damn clean, but there is nothing like a new chain/cassette for the clean bike look.
@Duntov
We already used that one.
http://www.velominati.com/the-hardmen/on-rule-81-crash-test-dummies/
Frank - as the kids are saying these days, "forward along photographic evidence, lest we lose faith in your tales." (Pics or it didn't happen)
I'm generally pretty easy on chains. I have 4000+ miles on the one I'm riding right now (Ultegra chain) and it's not even stretched. But I did break a chain once. In this case, probably trying to ride it for too long. Winter ride. At least 20 miles from home. After powering up a hill ... loud snap followed by cranks spinning out of control. I was actually lucky the chain didn't get tangled up and cause me to crash. I stuffed my bike in a snow bank, called the wife, and waited to be rescued. One of my riding companions then proceeded to lecture me about needing to replace my chain.
@frank
And you conveyed it in a rather Woodhouse-ian fashion, too. Frank, you should take that with some satisfaction. It should help ease the pain if you are now contemplating some reconstructive dental work.
I think that, often, the literary flair of this community goes unrecognized. Of course, often, there is no literary flair in this community. And that's not a bad thing. But when there is...
It is just that in this instance, I had the impression that Bertie Wooster is a Velominatus. Thank you, Frank, for giving me something funny to take into a likely-to-be-very-unfunny day.
I stay away from chains that don't have a connector link. Splitting and rejoining a chain back in the 6/7 speed days was ok because you had a bit og meat to the chain. These new skinnymalinky 10/11 speed chains are too fragile for that crap. Case in point, split and rejoined a Shimano chain a few years back. 5 kms into the ride the damn think broke. I was sitting down at the time and avoided any adverse effects, but the chain put a couple of lovely gouges in the paint work. I just feel more secure with connectors. You can't have a good ride when you're worried about the reliability of your machine.
@wiscot
How about a connector on a Shimano chain?
@JohnB
Reminds me, I have that chain checker too, so should be checking it as well.
Q: on my old 30+ year old steel bike, I never changed the small cog wheels in the derailleur. Still seem not worn to me. Any advice how to check these? I know that if the teeth become too sharp (cuz these are quite blunt) you should change.
@Eli Curt
I've used KMC connectors on Campag chains with no problems. As they should be to the same spec they should work for Shimano? Pointing out the obvious but you do need the correct speed link as a 11Sp will not fit a 10/9Sp chain and while a 10Sp might fit an 11Sp I'd imagine the slack might cause it to fail.
I always carry a spare link, and valve core in one of this little Topeak patch cases. I did have a link break the summer before last so having a spare prevented calling for the bailout ride back home.
I now carry a pair of nitrile gloves too as replacing the link can be (was) a bit messy.
(I use the Lezyne patches though as the Topeak ones didn't see to stick very well when I have used them)