Motorcycle Chain Link Riveting Tools

Just thought I better write a quick guide due to a bad experience with a chain tool I bought.

The case of the more you pay the better the tool does apply here. If you buy cheap you may never get it to work. I nearly lost my eyesight in the process. I purchased a chain riveter that came in a grey plastic box. The tool and accessories were black and the riveter looks like a 'G' clamp. There were four pins of varying diameters to push the old link pin out (after grinding off the head). It also had a tommy bar handle and a screw in handle for the clamp itself. There were some rectangular plates and some round formers and a spring.

Firstly the removal of the old link. I appear to have been lucky because I ground the top of the pin and then used the tool and with a bit of effort it worked. I have since read of people breaking the pin (part of the tool) on the first attempt to use it. Anyway, I removed the chain and put the new chain in place and assembled the link (using a link with a soft rivet for this type of tool). I had to guess what ends to use with the chain tool as it came with no instructions. I believe I used the right ends and clamped the side plate on the link and all that was left was to rivet the link by squashing the end of the chain pin with the chain tool until the end flared out to hold the link together. I must add that I was doing this on a 530 'O' ring chain that was being fitted to my GSXR 1000. The chain tool is suppose to do up to 630 chains! What happened was that when I tried tightening the chain tool to rivet the pin, firstly I tried reasonable pressure but the pin was hardly touched. Then a bit more and the tommy bar bent so I used a spanner on the hex end instead. I tried more pressure and the pin formed a bit. Then more pressure and the cast end piece of the tool shattered and pieces hit the sides of the garage and my face. I tired again with a different end piece and the same thing happened (I wore safety goggles after the first time). I tried once more using an end piece I made myself and this time the main threaded part of the tool broke. I am lucky to still have my eyesight so my main point here is make sure you wear safety goggles even if you think there is no chance of anything happening. Secondly, don't waste your money buying a tool like this if you have a 530 or bigger chain to do. I tried to get a refund but the seller never got back to me. I eventually bought a motrax heavy duty tool which was about 90 which did the job ok.

After my experience with the first tool I did a bit of research on the web and found a lot of people had had bad experiences with same type of chain tool I had tried (around 30 to 45 on ebay).

Thankyou for reading this guide and I hope I save a few people their hard earned cash and their eyesight.