Installing KMC "MissingLink"

In article ,
(Arthur Shapiro) wrote:

I replaced my chain yesterday, and as usual put another KMC X10SL on the
Habanero.

Having a pair of Park chain pliers in the tool box, the often-lamented
removal
of the old MissingLink was the proverbial piece of cake.

But I had one wretched time getting the new MissingLink installed. I guess
I
don't need to do this often enough to really remember, but I have no
recollection of ever having significant installation grief in the past.
Yesterday it fought me for a good half hour. I simply could not get it to
connect by myself. I ended up gently squeezing the two ends of the
MissingLink with two pairs of needle-nose pliers, and having another person
yank on the two ends ot the chain - a true four-handed operation. It even
fought that for a few seconds and then pulled into place.

I guess we're dealing with tolerances of thousandths of inches here, but it
doesn't hurt to ask: am I losing it in my old age, or are these contraptions
just sometimes recalcitrant once in a while? Has anyone discovered a
technique for getting them on without heroics?

Art

A year or two ago I had this problem with a SRAM link. The local
company that sold it gave me a replacement that worked well (presumably
from a different batch, as it was packaged separately whereas the old
one was packed loose with the new chain I had bought). I concluded that
the bad link was because of a manufacturing error. I use 2 chains per
year on various bikes, and this was the first time there had been a
problem.

Ned

On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:05:57 +0000 (UTC), David Scheidt
wrote:

Arthur Shapiro wrote:
:In article , David Scheidt wrote:

:Put it on. Turn crank. Tension of chain pulls it tight.
:
:Uh, if this one were that easy, I wouldn't have needed to post anything.

I've never had a hard time putting a new missing link on. Used dirty
ones, yes. New, never. I uppose it's possible that one of hte pieces
was bent, there was a burr on it, or something wasn't the right size.
I thought you ere having problems getting it snap into place.

I recently converted one bike to 10 speed and I thought that the 10
speed links were somewhat more difficult to install then the
previously used 9 speed.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Thanks, everyone. I think I just got a somewhat tough one with this one
chain. The protruding pins must have just been a hair short or on the low
side of tolerance, as every time I went to pull the chain lengthwise to "snap"
the link, it would just come apart because the pins hadn't correctly seated in
the opposite plates.

I've used this particular KMC product for a number of years; it's a nice
chain and the gold color is visually interesting, of course.

Art