The Wipperman link removes by hand and is reusable.  Only downside is that it's directional; insert it wrong and you'll hear a noise with each cycle of the chain. Maybe I'll put my old Wipperman link on my new SRAM chain...

ok. I just pulled out my BRAND NEW SRAM PC-971 chain and . . . 

With regard to the paraffin wax lube, I seem to remember reading that one needs to be careful about how and where they heat up the wax.  Apparently the heating process can release some kind of flammable gasses, which can explode in a confined space.  I don't remember the details, but I seem to recall that it's safer if you use a crock pot or tin in boiling water.  But I might have that reversed.  JP, do you have any thoughts on this?

^ insert Daffy Duck kaboom gif...

Bloody hell, the connecting links are $4, just throw down for the sake of your family planning.

And yes Paraffin is an outside job, not a stove-top job.

And I agree with Brendan that the "not reusable" designation is probably driven by litigation concerns.  I've known plenty of people that reuse the 10 speed SRAM links.  But I also agree with John - why risk a broken chain on some finicky 10 speed narrowness when a new link is only $4?  You can get them even cheaper if you buy a sheet.  And the KMC links 10 speed links are supposedly expressly reusable.

Paraffin is an alkane, which is a hydrocarbon. These molecules are made of carbon and hydrogen of varying lengths. Lets start with 1 carbon with 4 H's surrounding it (CH₄). This is methane, which you will know as natural gas. Next is CH3-CH3, which is ethane, CH3-CH2-CH3 is propane, CH3-CH2-CH2-CH3 is butane. These are all combustible (potentially explosive) gasses. Then comes pentane (5 carbons) which is liquid. Hexane (which is a nice solvent), heptane, octane (the gold standard for gasoline), nonane, decane . . . Extend this to 20-30 carbons and you get parrafin, which is solid. If you melt it and then continue to heat it until you get vapor formed, then it has the same explosive potential as methane and ethane. So keep the heat low and work in a well ventilated area and don't use your electronic cigarette. 

We have enough injured club members from crashes, let's prevent anymore due to careless parrafin cooking please!

Gwynna Smith said:

One of the many, many advantages to being best friends with a biochemist - I clean my chain in her lab! We usually do several chains at once and go through the whole process with cleaning off the main nastiness and then dropping in wax. It's really fun to use all the lab equipment (agitators, heating plates, etc) to clean chains. Then, I use White Lightning wax lube (Clean RIde, the blue bottle) in between major cleanings.

And hey, she's a Kissena now!

What could possibly go wrong?

Bad news: front shifter broke.  Good news: L&C this weekend has no hills!  Looks like I'l be rocking the Brand New SRAM 1x10 Road System 1.0 until I make it to Ride for a warranty.

Bad news: that L&C race on the calendar isn't real.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

1 spot left for Dave Jordan. Hurry Brendan. White Plains is a great crit too. Neither require any small ring action.

English

English

Will someone explain to me something basic about centering the chain ring on a fixed gear bike. I have read the procedure (loosen the chain ring bolts, rotate the cranks until you hit a snag, tap on the chain with a rubber mallet) but I don't understand what is happening. It seems to me that once you tighten the chain ring bolts back up again, you will just push the chain ring up against the spider and you will be back where you started. Maybe there is something fundamental that I don't appreciate about track cranks. Will this procedure also work with road cranks with 2 chain rings?

Not good.

Phil what am I looking at?  Are those Sram carbon cranks?  Are they all busted up ?  If so, get some Rival aluminum cranks = a tick heavier but way stiffer.  I've had both cranks.  The cranks are not expensive either...I spent the money I saved on a Chris King bb.....life has been good ever since....oh and I also got the stages Rival power meter to go along with said cranks.  Good luck with whatever is happening in that picture

I have a set of the older Rival cranks that Ryan gave me...they are 170's   If you need them I can bring them on Sat. morning to Prospect

Chris - that's my left crank that came lose on my way from fbf. I'm not sure what happened and I have no experience on this. Do I hammer it in (ouch)? Or screw it in? Or a bb issue? Those are SRAM carbon cranks.

It probably just needs to be adjusted and tightened.  The crank itself is a pretty solid hunk of metal; I doubt it's broken.

I'd guess from the picture the bolt affixing the crank to the spindle is loose. You need a 8mm hex to tighten, though I'd take it off, clean it up, put some new grease on the splines and then reattach. It is supposed to be 40-50nm of torque, aka good and tight or about as hard as you can with a normal length wrench.

@Phil. I see your crank, the bb spindle is pathologically exposed and the wavy washer in the location that one would expect it (between the crank and the frame). I also see what I assume is a BB30 bearing mounted in the frame.

Although I am allergic to SRAM, I would suppose that there is a bolt that inserts through the crank and screws into the spindle, thus holding the crank on. Has that bolt come loose, or perhaps fallen out? Assuming the crank isn't damaged, then all you have to do is mount it on the spindle and toque the bolt (50 Nm I think is the spec for my Cannondale cranks, which means pretty much as hard as you can with a moderately large allen wrench).

Make sure the spindle isn't loose or tight or grinding or seem to have some other pathology.

Yes that is a one bolt fix. Take your chain off the chain rings.   The fixing bolt came loose.  Untighten the non drive side bolt all the way.  Pull off the non drive crank arm.  Now go to the drive side and pull it slightly out of the bb shell....Then push the cranks back into the frame...there is a lip that the cranks sit on...be sure the cranks are securely in the frame...you can tap it with a rubber mallet or your shoe.  Then put the non drive side crank back on while holding the drive side securely in the frame....slowly tighten the bolt back on...you need a ton of torque for that bolt.  I have a torque wrench....but if you are using a hand held wrench go as tight as you can.  Then grav both the ends of both cranks and push/pull them towards the frame to ensure the cranks are seated properly.  You can also grease the spline threads on the non drive side and where the cranks are attached to the drive side with a good grease.  You need a heavy grease for this...stuff that you would use to pack a hub.  Good luck

And. . . as long as you're taking the crank arm off to clean and refit, might as well push it out the other end and clean up the drive side, wipe down, clean, regrease, bolt everything back up.  This is about a 4 corona job.

It must've been a bad installation job then for it to come loose like that. I noticed a creaking noise on the way to floyd, didn't think any of it. During the race it was fine. On the way home, my left foot was wobbly, i thought it was the pedal. I stopped then noticed it's the crank. Wobbly, loose and exposed like that.

Again...that bolt needs a shit ton of torque....I bought a Park torque wrench just for the job...since I was getting the stages meter I wanted to be sure I was torquing correctly.  I can bring said wrench to Prospect on Sat and confirm torque-age