Whats the easiest way to break a bike chain?

Without going to the bike shop or using the tool to remove the links.

Hey Boricua,

Go borrow a chain tool and remove one link. Then go purchase a quick link, SRAM power link (whatever you want to call it) to reattach your chain. Now, next time you have to remove your chain all you have to do is push the links together at the Quick link and the chain comes apart. No tools.

Kimber

i've split a chain using a nail & a hammer - just need to drive a pin out. set up the chain on the ground, but somehow raised a bit with space below it - then hammer away! btw a chain tool is like $8, might be a lot easier that way.

although you should note than on most chains you can't just slam the pin back in... it might break when you're riding if you do.

There really is no easiest or best way without a chain tool.

If you are really determined to not use a chain tool, you can beat away with a hammer and punch. It will be best to support the link with a piece of wood or metal that has a hole drilled in it to accomodate the pin. Remember to only drive the pin far enough out to flex the chain and pull it apart. If you drive the pin all the way out of the link, you'll never get it back in.

Keep in mind, without a chain tool, the most probable outcome is you will ruin the chain. By the time you buy a new chain and a chain tool, you'll realize it would have been a lot better and less expensive to just buy a tool!

Hope this helps.

sfr1224 answer is absolutely correct and complete.

First, look to see if your chain has a masterlink. If it doesn't, well, you really need to buy a chain tool. They aren't that expensive. Anyone who rides any kind of distance should carry a chain tool. Yeah, you could probably get it apart with a hammer and some sort of punch, but this will most likely ruin the pin, roller, or link plate. Assuming you can get it apart, you'll have loads of fun trying to get it back together correctly. Riding with a chain that has been broken/re-assembled in this fashion is unsafe. You'll try to drop the hammer, and next thing you know you'll have a mouthfull of broken teeth. Don't be cheap. Go buy a chain tool and a masterlink.

It used to be ME stealing M R's answers before he could answer them -- now its sfr1224 doing it.

He is correct and complete!

Angle grinder.

Cross-gearing and shifting under power will do the trick- as well as sending your nuts, with your body weight behind them, into your stem!

You use a tool. If you don't have the right tool, you do not do the work. Plain and simple. Anything else you do to remove it, and you're heading straight for an I Told You So.

if you want to replace it cut it off with bolt cutters. Or see if the chain has a powerlink.