Flip chain: double life

from velonews.com

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.

Any credence to this crud?

Wayne

Wayne Pein wrote in :
Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life."

If that is true, you can probably increase chain life even more by regularly
flipping your chain over. People who clean their chain by removing it and
soaking it (and reinstalling it randomly one way or the other) have been
doing this for years.

"Wayne Pein" wrote in message
...
from velonews.com

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.

Any credence to this crud?

Flipping it doesn't change the pitch, and that's the only important thing.

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.


I don't understand this. We've long-ago determined that chains don't
stretch as in the metal elongating; rather, the internal parts of the chain
wear, producing slack that elongates the chain as a whole. What is it about
this wear that would be changed by flipping the chain?

At its simplest, a chain displays its wear when you lay it out on a table
and measure its length. Obviously, it doesn't matter which side you lay it
on, the length is the same. So if flipping a chain over improves chain
life, there's an implication that an elongated chain is not the only thing
affecting performance.

There's also a logical problem in Wayne's statement, since flipping a chain
over, half-way through its wear cycle, should at best allow it to go 1.5
times normal life (since in its flipped-over state, you can't do better than
it would starting from new, unless flipping it somehow rejuvenates it into
something better than new!).

--Mike--
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com


"Wayne Pein" wrote in message
...
from velonews.com

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.

Any credence to this crud?

Wayne

Wayne Pein wrote:
from velonews.com

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.

Wayne Stetina said that??!! Shimano engineers discovered this by accident?
Wow! I guess April 1st is closer than I thought!

Art Harris

What threw me in Wayne's statement, besides "double your chain life" is:
" In other words, your chain will now be turned inside out."???
-tom


"Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles" wrote
in message om...

I don't understand this. We've long-ago determined that chains don't
stretch as in the metal elongating; rather, the internal parts of the
chain
wear, producing slack that elongates the chain as a whole. What is it
about
this wear that would be changed by flipping the chain?

At its simplest, a chain displays its wear when you lay it out on a table
and measure its length. Obviously, it doesn't matter which side you lay
it
on, the length is the same. So if flipping a chain over improves chain
life, there's an implication that an elongated chain is not the only thing
affecting performance.

There's also a logical problem in Wayne's statement, since flipping a
chain
over, half-way through its wear cycle, should at best allow it to go 1.5
times normal life (since in its flipped-over state, you can't do better
than
it would starting from new, unless flipping it somehow rejuvenates it into
something better than new!).

--Mike--
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com


"Wayne Pein" wrote in message
...
from velonews.com

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.

Any credence to this crud?

Wayne

"Wayne Pein" wrote in message
...
from velonews.com

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.

Any credence to this crud?

Wayne

Good example why one should not believe all that is in print. My chain
rollers turn. My derailleur "laterally bends the chain the opposite
direction" already, since I shift through the gears in both directions.
Chains don't "stretch" anyway. They elongate due to wear on the rivets
mostly.

Turning the chain around and allowing the non-worn side of the rivets to
wear will double the service life.
(see below)










Gotcha! It won't really.

Cal

"Harris" wrote in message
...
Wayne Pein wrote:
from velonews.com

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.

Wayne Stetina said that??!! Shimano engineers discovered this by accident?
Wow! I guess April 1st is closer than I thought!

Art Harris

Party-pooper.

Cal

"Wayne Pein" wrote in message
...
from velonews.com

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.

Any credence to this crud?

Wayne

I was skeptical and about to post some worthless, joking crap like I always
do but then I began to think about it and it does make sense. See, the wear
really occurs as the chain bends over the top of the cassette cog and then
over the top of the chainring. THis is where all the stress is. If you
flip your chain over, these same two spots are using the reverse side of the
chain. They would share some of the worn area but for the most part fresh
chain is being used. Yes, I believe Wayne @ Shimano has a valid point,
Wayne.

Hmm, I guess this means that I've tossed several perfectly good chains.

Dave

"Wayne Pein" wrote in message
...
from velonews.com

Wayne Stetina, Shimano's R&D manager, says, "If you remove the chain
when it is only halfway worn out and flip it over," he says,
"you will double your chain life." In other words, your chain will now
be turned inside out. The other side of the rollers will now
contact the gears, and the derailleurs will now be laterally bending the
chain the opposite direction. Stetina says that Shimano
engineers discovered this phenomenon quite by accident.

Any credence to this crud?

Wayne

I was skeptical and about to post some worthless, joking crap like I always
do but then I began to think about it and it does make sense. See, the wear
really occurs as the chain bends over the top of the cassette cog and then
over the top of the chainring. THis is where all the stress is. If you
flip your chain over, these same two spots are using the reverse side of the
chain. They would share some of the worn area but for the most part fresh
chain is being used. Yes, I believe Wayne @ Shimano has a valid point,
Wayne.

Hmm, I guess this means that I've tossed several perfectly good chains.

Dave