RonSonic wrote:
On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 08:46:29 GMT, Martin wrote:


The other day the mechanic at my local bike shop rejoined my Shimano 10
speed Ultegra chain reusing two rivets. Looking at the link under a
jeweler's magnifying glass I can clearly see that the peening on the
rivets is missing and I can see the countersinking in the plates around
the rivets.


I guess I'm slow - why would he need to use two rivets to rejoin a chain? If he
opened the chain for service, that's one rivet - OTOH if he's repairing a broken
chain that's also one rivet.

The special pin that was originally used to join the chain had partially
come out leaving the chain joined by one plate of the link. This plate
was bent so the mechanic replaced one link and reused original rivets at
both ends. The first symptom I noticed was the chain coming off the
small ring (at low speed and moderate effort) on a hill. The mechanic
said he sees that kind of failure quite often in the special pins (which
are installed by the bike manufacturer, not by him).

Martin

Ron


The mechanic is very experienced, very well respected and services many
bikes in a busy shop. It looks like the rivets have been inserted to the
correct depth. Nevertheless the contact area between rivets and plate is
substantially less than it should be and the peeening that would prevent
the rivet moving is absent.

I am interested in readers' opinions and experience regarding the safety
and durability of this repair job. Do many people reuse rivets? Any
experiences of reused rivets working well? or failing?

Many thanks

Martin


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