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A retired guy at my shop in Dayton asked why I still use a chain tool by feel, and it made me rethink my whole setup
He watched me break a 9 speed chain by hand and asked why I don't just use the pin depth gauge on the tool. I told him I've done it by feel since I started at the shop in 2011 and never had a comeback. He said a guy in Columbus had 3 chains fail on the same bike because he was pressing the pin 0.5mm too far, and that number stuck with me. Now I'm second guessing every chain I've done this season. Anyone else been doing it by feel for a decade and had it bite them?
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christophermorgan8d ago
Been doing it by feel since around the same time and yeah, it can bite you. The thing is, feel works great until it doesn't, and you never know which chain is the one where your hand was a little off that day. I started using the depth gauge on stubborn or cheap chains just to take the guesswork out. It's not about skill, it's about the fact that 0.5mm is way smaller than what your fingers can actually tell apart. A pin that's pressed a hair too far can still look fine and hold fine for a while, then let go under load. Keep the feel if you want but back it up with the gauge, it costs you two seconds.
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