# Half link



## silva (25 Apr 2020)

Who here has experience with chains made entirely of it, or just a single link in order to have more gear choices without a pulley style tensioner or better (backward) initial (new chain) tensioner position?
I come from an 48/16 gear, now a 47/16, and considering a 46/16, but the initial tensioner position means that I have to remove a link during the early lifecycle of the chain and I don't like that work twice everytime. A halflink could be a solution, preferrably as quicklink. Since a couple months I run a type 420 motorcycle chain, and I found such quicklink halflinks exist.


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## DCLane (25 Apr 2020)

My son's Carlton Corsa fixie conversion uses a halflink chain. It's worked fine.


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## silva (25 Apr 2020)

From what I read there it's entirely half link.
Anything further info you can add? Lifetime of the chain compared to regular inner/outer links chain? How long / km used?

The halflink I found https://www.rollerchain4less.com/420-non-standard-offset-link#tab-5 for the 420 motorcycle chain has a cotter pin through a hole in the link pen, which is something that protrudes alot more than a spring clip. On the other hand, it looks like an easier and long term more reliable in/out, which would encourage me more to take off the chain.

It's possible that I lack that extra crank clearance for the cotter pin but it's worth the try.


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## rogerzilla (25 Apr 2020)

Some can straighten out under hard pedalling or if you run small sprockets, which give higher chain tension. Good quality BMX ones should be ok, but check the width (some BMX stuff is 3/16").


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## silva (25 Apr 2020)

rogerzilla said:


> Some can straighten out under hard pedalling or if you run small sprockets, which give higher chain tension. Good quality BMX ones should be ok, but check the width (some BMX stuff is 3/16").


You watch Disney too much.
Try Discovery for a change.

By the way, what do you think of my new chainguard:





?
(You'll have to orientate - I pushed the camera button in the middle of a loop in my backyard).


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## dave r (25 Apr 2020)

I've used a male/female half link in my fixed chains before now, I've used them to get the chain length where I want it, sometimes the chain is either too long or too short and the half link gets it in the middle, I'm running a back brake on my fixed. life is the same as the life of the chain.


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## silva (25 Apr 2020)

Industrials specify loads with half links as half those allowed on normal links. But in a human powered vehicle that's not the problem, my question is related to wear (and maybe fatigue) not power. Plates aren't straight, which must imply torsion effects which in turn may concentrate wear, giving away some of the wear benefit I gained from having a wider chain. 
In which case the choice is a pro versus con, less wear due to even teeth numbers (47>46/16) versus more wear on halflinks.
Drawback is also that entire halflink chains are multiple of price of common chain. A reasonable option thus is all normal links+quicklink+halflink.


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## rogerzilla (25 Apr 2020)

"You watch Disney too much.
Try Discovery for a change."

If the OP is such an expert on chains, one wonders why he asks questions on here. Mind you, given his other thread on chain slack, any useful advice will be ignored anyway


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## dave r (25 Apr 2020)

rogerzilla said:


> "You watch Disney too much.
> Try Discovery for a change."
> 
> If the OP is such an expert on chains, one wonders why he asks questions on here. Mind you, given his other thread on chain slack, any useful advice will be ignored anyway



Definitely, I remember the other thread.


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## DCLane (25 Apr 2020)

silva said:


> From what I read there it's entirely half link.
> Anything further info you can add? Lifetime of the chain compared to regular inner/outer links chain? How long / km used?



Not yet. Fairly easy to fit and we took a half off to make it more taut. It's not done many miles at all yet, probably about 100. It's a 'fun' summer bike for my son on holiday rather than for regular use.


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## geocycle (25 Apr 2020)

I had a chain made of half links on my hub gear bike. It was called slinky or similar. Found it a complete pain as the links kept popping off and after several roadside adventures with a chain tool I binned it. But having a single half link can be very useful in some situations.


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## silva (25 Apr 2020)

geocycle said:


> I had a chain made of half links on my hub gear bike. It was called slinky or similar. Found it a complete pain as the links kept popping off and after several roadside adventures with a chain tool I binned it. But having a single half link can be very useful in some situations.


I looked that up "slinky" as I remembered that name from somewhere.
And indeed, it's a brand Gusset half link chain named "Slink".
What precisely do you mean with "'popping off"? Link plates that detach "through" the rivets of the pens? That would make sense to me, it's what I described earlier, torsion effects due to the force transmitted under the angle of the bent link plates, which may cause uneven wear between inner and outer side of the plate.
A single half link would then suffer the same problem.
Reports about half links range alot, from plain crap/wear out way fast to people using them years without problems. Which could be an indication of bad brands, but even then some say Gusset slink crap while others recommend them. So quite contrasting. It may be due to different widths (3/32 versus 1/8) - different plate thicknesses, thicker more tolerant than thinner.
I think I'm gonna just buy a few and try, holding a spare as reserve in case. IF clearance suffices for the cotter pen. If not then the story already stops there.
It would deliver me a few more reasonable gear options in both directions than the single choice I have now.


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## silva (25 Apr 2020)

rogerzilla said:


> "You watch Disney too much.
> Try Discovery for a change."
> 
> If the OP is such an expert on chains, one wonders why he asks questions on here. Mind you, given his other thread on chain slack, any useful advice will be ignored anyway


This has nothing to do with expertise but with experience.
One may wonder why you give nonsense answers on here. Mind you, given your previous nonsense on my other thread question about mounting a tyre in the other direction than specified. Some1 quoted it "Bullshit and you know it".
So your criticism, lol, address the mirror, not me.


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## dave r (25 Apr 2020)

I once ran a male/female half link till it was unsafe, I used it for three years in three different chains over 5-6000 miles, in the end the amount of wear on the pins was that great that it became dangerous to use and I binned it.


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## silva (26 Apr 2020)

dave r said:


> I once ran a male/female half link till it was unsafe, I used it for three years in three different chains over 5-6000 miles, in the end the amount of wear on the pins was that great that it became dangerous to use and I binned it.


To give it a context: what brand/model chain was it? (pin length / plate thickness)?


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## dave r (26 Apr 2020)

silva said:


> To give it a context: what brand/model chain was it? (pin length / plate thickness)?



I haven't got a clue, it was a few years ago now.


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## silva (27 Apr 2020)

silva said:


> The halflink I found https://www.rollerchain4less.com/420-non-standard-offset-link#tab-5 for the 420 motorcycle chain has a cotter pin through a hole in the link pen, which is something that protrudes alot more than a spring clip.


I missed a footnote on that url.


> Offset link also known as half like for #420 roller chain
> _*Not suitable for bicycles, motorsport products or any on-road vehicles - For industrial applications only.*_


They don't say why.
Maybe that cotter pin is considered unsafe for road purpose.
Or there is some difference between the industrial links specs and the road chain specs.


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## colly (28 Apr 2020)

Talk of a 'half-link chain. 
Is this what we're on about?










I used this chain, which was left over from another project, when I made this bike up. The other project didn't have horizontal dropouts.


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