People who use Connex chains know that they last longer than other bicycle chains. In this video, Tom Petrie explains how chains are assembled, where they wear, and why Connex bicycle chains last longer. Click here to visit Cantitoe Road's Connex page. See below for the transcript to the video.
Video Transcript to “Connex Chains Last Longer – Here’s Why”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwEBPV5e69U
Hi, I'm Tom Petrie. Welcome to Cantitoe TV.
Today we're gonna talk about Connex chains by Wippermann. As you may know, Connex chains last longer than any other bicycle chains on the market and they are also stronger than any other bicycle chain.
The question is, why do Connex chains last so long? Today, I'm going to explain that.
As chains wear, they get longer. People commonly refer to this as the chain "stretching”. A chain doesn't really stretch. What ends up happening is the bearing parts within a chain wear, and as a result, the chain gets longer.
This is how it works. A bicycle chain is made up of two inner links, two rollers, and then two pins and two outer links that hold the whole assembly together. So, you have these one two three four five six seven eight parts making up this much of the chain.
The critical interface on a bicycle chain is between the pin and the inside of the collar of the inter plate, this part right here. The inner plate rotates on that pin. That's where all the action is, that's where all the wear happens. This is the most important part.
A bicycle chain is assembled with rollers that fit on the outside of the collars of the inner link, like this, and then the other side of the inner link sandwiches the rollers like that so that becomes an inner link.
This is...the rollers can move freely on the collars there and what ends up happening is that this assembly is then captured by an outer link, and another outer link and then a pin that rivets the assembly together so you end up with a structure like that.
Next, the inner link is held together by an outer link (and here's the other side to that link)and then this whole assembly is riveted together with a pin. The result is that you've got a fixed outer link and the inner link rotates on this pin, right there.
So, the outer link is fixed with a riveted pin and the inner link rotates on that pin.
As you can imagine, all the wear that's happening on this chain is happening between this pin right there and the inside collar of the inner link as it moves like this. Because, remember the outside of the pin is riveted to the outer link. So the wear is happening like that.
The secret to the long wear that you get from a Connex chain lies in the pin and the inner link. The collar on the inner link is very regular and very smooth. The pins are boron-hardened steel and they're polished to within one one-thousandth of a millimeter. The result is that you have a very smooth very hard pin rotating within a very smooth and regular collar. If there are any high points, immediately the high points bear and you get wear.
So, we start with smooth and very hard surfaces so we automatically end up with a longer wearing chain. The best Connex chains have the inner links made of stainless steel so that increases the longevity of the chain even more.
Another thing to notice about Connex chains is that the pins are riveted to the outer plates. When you're installing a new chain and you shorten it, you can drive the pins out with a chain tool, but you should never re-install the pins. Once you push a pin back in you have a very weakened chain and you should never do that.
What you should do is always connect a Connex chain with our famous Connex link. That's this piece here. It goes together like that and comes apart the same way. You can do this hundreds of times, thousands of times, you can clean your chain everyday if you like. There's no limit the number of times you can do this it's fast, it's convenient, and it's quick.
Always make sure that this edge here is the edge that goes against your cogs and against your chain rings. If you install it backwards and you have this edge running against the cogs and chain rings, it'll work but it may skip in your smallest cog or at least make ticking noise because this area here lifts over the cog.
Another thing to note about Wippermann chains is this relatively straight section of the chain plate. It's straight and it's done for a reason. One, it makes chain stronger, and you can see there's a chamfer here. The idea is with a straight section of chain the chain plate can catch a cog and because it's chamfered, it engages the cog more quickly.
Thanks for watching! I hope you learned why Connex chains wear longer than the other chains.
If you have any other questions of hope you’ll check out our web site Click: http://www.cantitoeroad.com/chains
1 Comments
Patrick Couser
Thanks for posting this great resource of bike chain wear. I think in the test info that I saw, a piece of Connex chain was used in each case to check for consistency in the test. What would be interesting would be information of the variation in wear of these "control" bits of chain to get some idea of the statistical variability in the tests so as to verify that the differences in chain wear for the different brands are statistically significant. Many thanks :-)