the_zara•1mo agoProlific Poster

PSA: That $20 chain whip from Amazon nearly wrecked my new cassette

I tried saving some cash last week and bought a no-name chain whip off Amazon for 20 bucks. First time using it, the pin snapped clean off and I gouged a brand new $60 Ultegra cassette. Had to borrow a shop's Park Tool chain whip to finish the job. Anyone have a cheap tool fail on them like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendy6741mo ago

My buddy Mike learned this the hard way too. He bought a cheap cassette lockring tool from some random brand off Amazon and it stripped the splines on his first try. He had to literally hammer a slightly bigger hex bit into it just to get the cassette off his wheel. The plastic handle on the tool just twisted right off in his hand. He spent more time and money fixing the mess than if he'd just borrowed a proper tool from the start. Now he swears by buying quality tools secondhand instead of brand new garbage.

seth_green8529d ago

Is it just me, or does that plastic handle story hit a little too close to home for anyone who's tried to save a buck on tools? I mean, I've definitely been there, fighting with a stripped lockring and wondering if it's worth the hassle of riding to the shop. The worst part is you think you're being smart, but then you end up doing sketchy stuff like hammering hex bits in and hoping nothing snaps. Buying decent used tools makes way more sense, even if it takes a bit more patience to find them.