Thanks for the offer Toby! I spoke to my friend who races and he said just to use the hammer method like rickyx said. I will carefully give that a go. Instead of grinding out the rivets on the old chain I figured I would just cut through it with a 1mm slitting disc on the grinder. I was going to do it last night but it was still raining, more rain later today and rain saturday. I am sure the summers get wetter each year.
Update, Sunday, the rain finally stopped. Got my 32mm socket on the front sprocket nut, girlfriend on the bike holding front and rear brakes, rag jammed in the rear sprocket. Nothing happening with the breaker bar, time for the 6ft extension pole. Still nothing other than the bike sliding on the tyres or me lifting it up. Tried the rear stand method with a tube through the back wheel, again simply lifting the bike up. The trouble is, everything flexes to a degree, chain,cush drives etc. Time for an impact wrench borrowed from a friend, 5 seconds and its off, phew. Enough messing about, the chain is going in the bin so I simply sliced it off with a 1mm disc, no problem. Took some time giving everything a good clean. New sprocket on, girlfriends gone to work so I am sat on the bike with my size 12 on the rear brake whilst I nip the nut up to 186nm, managed easy enough and realised the bloody thing was a hell of a lot tighter to remove. Feed the chain on, adjust the rear wheel to allow me to slip the link on. The link has the 525 marking on one side and blank the other so i assumed they are sided and attempted to fit them this way with the 525 facing out, no chance. They appear to be slightly tapered and the only way to get it on was blank face out. Now, the bit I struggled with for a couple of hours, peening the pins, bloody hell fire. I tried all sorts, lined the link up with the tyre and put several different items behind ranging from my block lock to a hammer side on. I can't visually see any difference and am not at all confident of riding the thing like it is. I know you guys say it does not need much and I did take that on board but I am not confident with it. Tobytyke, is the offer of a borrow still on with the whale tool please? Postage by myself both ways of course. :smiley:
Agree about the link...I could not fit the link with 525 mark showing either. Have you got a bike shop nearby? Perhaps you could slowly ride there and get them to peen it?
I do have a local bike shop ricky, last time i used him 5 years ago he fitted my rear tyre the wrong way round, I don't go anymore. Itching to try it with the 14 tooth sprocket now! Hopefully it will ride better at 30mph, i imagine it will pull 2nd gear ok.
I am also going to have to get a chain adjuster instead of gently tapping it with a 1/4" drive extension. Any suggestions? The quarter circle or half circle version? I adjusted the chain with the bike on the side stand and slid the end of my tape measure, mid way between sprockets, under the chain guard and against the swing arm. If I understood the instructions clearly, from there the centre pins on the chain should be between 33mm - 35mm when the chain is pulled down. This sound correct?
I copied the idea of using a wooden block, cut to the correct size; its a bit easier than looking at the small increments on a rule or tape. I found the 14T front is a big improvement for around town running. I have a 525 +1 rear sprocket if you you are interested; hardly used. Did you record your rear ride height to start with?
Thanks swissT, I am going to see how it rides with just the 14t on first. No I did not record any ride height, should I have done? Just basically swapping the chain.
Your ride height will be different with the smaller sprocket & new chain because of the eccentric adjuster.
I have only gone down a tooth on the front swiss T. The eccentric adjuster is back in virtually the same position now after fitting the new chain. I hear what you are saying though.
I wouldn't worry too much about it TW; I only mentioned it because I also didn't think to measure mine. In fact when i did try to adjust the ride height, the linkage had seized & snapped; I had to get a new one. I found a ride height which I like the "feel" of in the end but now use it as a reference each time I adjust the chain. Just measure from the bottom of the number plate to the ground before & after adjusting the chain, then turn the height adjuster accordingly to compensate.
Thanks to Tobytyke, all done now. Chain rivets looking sweet. I have not had chance to test ride owing to the weather and having a new house roof fitted. Hopefully get out at weekend and see how it feels with a 14T sprocket, then again the girlfriend is off this weekend so i will probably have my wings clipped.
Managed to get out for the first time in a while wednesday night. The 14 tooth front sprocket certainly makes the bike much easier to ride in traffic.
