April 26, 2010

Picture quality kind off sucks (taken with a cell phone) but you get the idea.

I was riding one of my favorite local loops when my chain broke. I didn't think much of it until I tried to fix it and noticed I had actually broke about six links at the same time. The side plates of the link were ripped open around the connector pin. I have yet to find anyone who has seen the metal torn like this before. I attempted to ride the rest of the loop with my shortened chain knowing I should stay out of the 34 tooth cog in the rear. I made it about three miles before my thumb automatically shifted down before a climb and ripped my XO rear derailleur and hanger off. Neither survived and it was a long walk out.
The reason the picture is blurry is I gave the chain back to the shop. He had to send it to me on his phone. Hopefully SRAM will warantee it. It was a 991 crosstep with about ten rides on it. The rest of the chain was not out of spec. We'll see.