[music] Speaker 1: Ah, shoot, I've dropped my chain.
I've dropped my chain. We've all been there, haven't we? Stuck at the side of the road,
off our mates go and we're left with a dropped chain, oily hands, and just a bit of a mess.
How do we get our chain back on nice and fast and swiftly and stop getting our hoods, bar
tape, and bikes all grubby too? In this video, I'm going to give you tips and tricks to give
you the ability to get your chain off nice and quickly and easily and swiftly, but also
how to prevent the dreaded dropped chain. [music]
No matter how many checks you do, there is going to be a time where your chain is going
to come off. How do we reapply our chain nice and easily and oil-free? Now first off, take
some latex gloves with you. Now you can put these in your saddlebag so whenever you have
a minor mechanical you can fix it without getting oily hands because there is nothing
worse. Oily hands turns into oily hoods, turns into oily bar tape, turns into an oily bike.
Yes, something you want to steer clear from. Getting a pair of these will just save your
hands and everything else that you touch. On to a dropped chain. Now there are a few
points where your chain can fall off. Now the first one I'm going to talk about is if
your chain comes off the small cog on the back of your cassette and it wedges between
the frame and that cog. Now the easiest thing to do is just to drop the rear wheel out,
reapply the chain and put that rear wheel back in. The last thing you want to do is
start pulling it because that will damage your frame and maybe your cassette.
The next point where your chain could come off, but it shouldn't if your rear derailleur
is set up properly, is if your chain comes off the big cog on the back of that cassette
and it wedges between your spokes and that top chainring on your cassette. Now if this
happens, which I hope it doesn't especially out on the road, you're going to need to take
off the whole cassette, take the chain out, and reapply that cassette. The last thing
you want to do is start pulling it because that way you'll damage your spokes. I hope
you've got your derailleur set up right and I hope this doesn't happen out on the road.
Now, what happens if your chain comes off the smaller chainring on the front and wedges
between the bottom bracket and that small chainring? What you want to do is to create
some slack in the chain so you can reapply it. To do so, push the rear derailleur cage
forward to create some slack, grab your hand or even a stick to reapply that chain before
letting go and turning the cranks. What you don't want to do is turn the cranks with the
chain wedged between the bottom bracket and that chainring because you'll just end up
ruining your frame and maybe even the chainring. Create that slack and then reapply the chain
and hopefully, you'll be good to go again. [music]
Once you've got your chain on there a few checks you want to make sure before you get
going again. First off, check that chain. If you've got any damaged links, then you
want to replace them, so any bent links or chipped links or rusty links. Change them
with a quick link and you can do that nice and easily. Or if your chain's been wedged
between that bottom bracket and your chainring and you want to check your frame isn't damaged
either, or any chainring teeth, so if you've got any bent teeth, then check that. When
you get home you can change those chainrings. Now a few different causes to your chain falling
off your chainrings on the front, and your cassette on the back. First one being your
chain is too long. How do we check the chain is the right length? What you can do is go
for small-small on your bike selecting the small gear on the front and the small cog
on the back. If you find you've got a good amount of tension in there then that's a good
sign your chain is the right size. If you've got some sag in there then that is a good
sign your chain is too long. You could also select the big cog on the front and the big
cog on the back, big-big. If you've got some sag in there then, yes, you've got a too-long
chain. If you've got some good tension, again, that means you might have the right size chain.
[music] The next one is hitting rough terrain or potholes.
Your chain is going to bounce around and it might just bounce off. You might be hitting
some Paris–Roubaix style cobbles and you're just going to get a lot of bounce in that
chain. How can you prevent this? You can invest in a clutch system derailleur. If you're spending
a lot of time riding rough terrain this might be a good investment. It takes up some of
the slack and it stops some of that bounce in the chain, so you won't get your chain
fully off as much. Something that the gravel bikes and the cyclocross bikes tend to be
popular with. Wear and tear on your components could be
the main source to your dropped chain. Making sure that you check the wear and tear on your
cassette, the chainrings and the chain is really important. You can get a tool that
is specifically designed to show you if your chain is stretched and that you need to change
it. If you're looking at changing the cassette or you think it's worn but you're not sure
if you changed your chain and it slips on the rear cassette, that is a telltale sign
that you need to change your whole cassette. If you're looking and wondering if you've
got wear and tear on those front chainrings, then the best thing to do is look at the teeth.
If the teeth have become like shark's teeth and hooked then that is a telltale sign that
you need to change those. This has happened to the majority of us cyclists,
we've dropped our chain because we've changed gear while putting power through the pedals.
The best thing to do here is when you're changing gear, think about it, don't change gear when
you're putting power through the pedals. This is what's known as shifting under load and
to make it cleaner, easier and better change, make sure you ease off the pedals like this.
Nice and clean and easy. There you have it, it's the end of the video. I hope it's helped
you get out of trouble and get that chain on back nice and swiftly, and get you back
riding with your mates. If you enjoyed it then give it a big thumbs
up. If you've got any tips or tricks that you can add then let us know in the comments
section below. I'll see you in the next video. Chain chain chain chain, your chain, like
chain, chain chain chain chain chain chain chain chain chain chain chain chain chain
chain chain you can change chain, chain, chain. You can change chain, chain your chain chain
chain chain chain chain chain chain chain the chain chain chain is a chain chain chain
chain chain chain chain chain chain chain. You can change those chainrings. There's a
lot of chaining going on in my mouth. [00:07:07] [END OF AUDIO]