#clever trick

Unfortunately, this leads to several components wearing out – for example the crankset and the chainwheels. But even the newest, most top-of-the-line chainwheel with the correct dimensions, might not fit perfectly.

It is possible that the teeth of the replacement chainwheel are not as curved as the original ones were, especially if the chainwheels are from different manufacturers. In this case, when the chain is running on the chainwheel next to the replaced one, the chain will touch the climbing pins of the new one. This causes noise, friction, and waste of energy. It also means you will wear out chainwheels on other than the teeth. In the worst-case scenario, there is not only more friction but when changing gears abruptly, the chain might get tangled up in the gear shifter. And this, of course is a no-go.

Four steps

Here is our workaround in four steps:

1. Test your new chainwheel to see if it fits well. If only the climbing pins are causing friction, measure their size and get rivets with the correct diameter to replace them.

2. Press the climbing pins out or cut them with a side cutter. This is easy to do and much faster than reducing the thickness of the original pins by sanding.

3. Once you have taken the pins out, you can replace them easily with some stainless steel blind rivets of the correct size. Put them through the hole, strain and expand them as much as you can. If this is the first time you are reading about blind rivets, check our more detailed instructions below!

4. Make sure the blind rivet is fastened tight. Than the only thing remaining to do is the joy of putting back together your crank set – and enjoying a ride.

Blind Rivets and How to Use Them

Rivets are quite useful for pinning together two things extremely tight. The so-called blind rivets come in handy when you have only access to one side of the things you want to pin together with the rivet. You will need special nippers for this, but it is really worth the extra tool.

This is step by step how to use blind rivets:

Nippers and blind rivets.

A: Insert the pin (usually this is the thinner end, but this depends on the size you are using) of the rivet into the opening of the collet, as shown bellow.

B: Put the blind rivet through the holes of the things you want to pin together; or through the hole of the chainwheel where you want to replace a climbing pin. In the image above, we pinned together some washers to make the process clearely visible.

Steps A and B can be switched if that is easier for you.

C: Press the arms of the collet together. This will strain and expand the rivet in the hole.

The first image shows the rivet and the washers. Second one: washers on the rivet. The third image shows the to be connected washers on the rivet, whose pin is inserted completely in the collet. On the last image you can see the deformation of the rivet after the arms of the collet are brought together.

D: The pin of the blind rivet has a predetermined breaking point. At this point the straining and expanding of the rivet will cause the pin to go loose. It will simply fall out of the nippers, as shown below.

The Result

Of course, the rivet inside a chainwheel looks different, than the one with the washers, as shown above. In the upper image, you can see the side of the rivet.

In the image below, you can see chainwheels with climbing pins (left) and blind rivets (right). When used in a hole, only small parts of the surface of the rivet are visible. You can see the top and the end, since the rest expands inside the hole.

Ask us!