[Locoman]

Another stupid question.

I noticed my chain would hop as I rotated the crank, turns out there was a stiff link. Now I clean and lube the chain and measure it for wear almost after every ride (OCD). So how did a link siffen? The chain wasn't that old, it was pretty clean, nothing unusual happened on the ride...

Now I could barely move the link with a hammer and pair of pliers. So how could this happen? First time in 3-4 years.

 

[mward]

A hammer and pair of pliers is not the right tool for working on a chain. Grab the link on each side and bend the chain back and forth (perpendicular to the way it normally bends) and it'll loose right up. Sometimes shifting under load will cause a link to stiffen up as it forces the side plates in and creates a binding on the inner link face.

 

[Locoman]

Yeah, I did the bend back and forth thing first. It was so jammed up, it didn't help -it was really binded..almost bonded.

The hammer and pliers came second after I realized the chain was toast. I just wanted to see how much force it took to move the thing.

I just couldn't figure out how it got that way..

 

[jonwebah]

i had a stiff link on the chain on my old bike... it ended up being some kidn of defect in the roller/pin and so it would free up whenever you tried to free it by hand or with a chain tool, but under the tension of riding it would stiffen back up again. it was a real b!tch. ended up getting a new chain because it wasn't worth toiling with anymore.

 

[tomacropod]

sometimes chains can get a small burr of metal (either from the chain itself or from a chainring/cog) stuck in between the plates. This has been the reason for a few stiff links of mine over the years. It makes them very stiff and bending side to side doesn't help, you can generally work the burr out if you pivot the links around around enough.

- Joel