[peter2]

I had a local shop put a bigger rear sprocket (I went from 37 to 39 teeth) on my rear wheel, which had the side result of decreasing the length of my wheelbase.

I'm considering putting a longer chain on to restore the wheelbase and the noticable loss in stabilty.

My bike uses a 525.

 

[Mark1305]

I just put on a DiD VM520 and sprockets from Chris at CA Cycleworks. The VM series has gold sideplates and X-rings and looks really good.

If you are going to be riding and working on bikes for th eforeseeable future, go ahead and bite the bullet and order the Jumbo Chain Tool from Chris along with the chain. It will handle everything up to 530 chain. I can't say enough good about the quality of the tool. You don't even want to grind down the pins before breaking or cutting a chain (it uses the riveted head to center the removal pin). It will drive out an OEM link like it's butter.

I also have a lot of experience with bicycle chains, having worked in a bike shop in college. Same principles - just bigger links. When you press the side plate onto the master link, just press it on far enough to match the width of the adjacent links and then change to the rivet attachment and finish it off.

Mark J

 

[Retro]

Yep DID...