6 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT CHAINS

To help you get the most out this crucial drivetrain component, and celebrate just how impressive your loop of metal links really is, we've rounded up six things you might not know about the bike chain.

- Robert Annis

01. THE EARLIEST BIKES DIDN’T HAVE CHAINS (AND SOME STILL DON’T)

Most of us are vaguely familiar with the Victorian-era penny-farthing bikes. If you take a close look, you’ll notice that they didn’t have chains. To move forward, cyclists turned pedals attached directly to the front wheel, and they could only increase their speed by pedalling faster or getting a larger front wheel.

Some bikes still forego chains in favour of Gates Carbon belt drives (which look a bit like tank treads), or even more rarely, shaft-drive systems.

02. CHAINS ARE MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU MIGHT EXPECT

With up to 116 links in a standard bike chain, it has more moving parts than any other bike component.

Of course, you’ll need to remove some links; your chain should be long enough that it can be shifted onto the largest front chainring and the largest cog on your cassette without jamming, but not so long that it has too much slack in the smallest chainring and cog. The quickest and easiest way to figure out the proper length for your bike is to use your old chain as a guide. 

03. IT CAN BE USED AS A WEAPON 

In 1954, a Scottish man was sentenced to three years in prison for assaulting a Glasgow movie theatre manager with, you guessed it, a bicycle chain. Across the internet, you can find accounts of bike chains used as de facto whips or weapons.