Fort Worth Motorcycle Riders

So I've just done my first rivet chain replacement.

How do you know when you've mashed out the rivet enough?

If you go too far you end up with a kinked link, not enough, well, you don't want that master link coming off.

To get the master link together, it took quite a bit of force just to get the link on, the fit is extremely tight, this makes me thing very little rivet flair will get the job done, probably more risky to rivet too tight than be worried about not enough flair, yes, no?

Anyway, it's on, no stickyness, I've got the rivet flaired out a bit, now I'm scared to go any tighter, I don't want a stuck link.

nevermind figured it out, I was making it harder than it needed to be.

The instructions on my tool say you can't really see the flare, but as long as the plate won't come off you're good. I'm worried I mashed mine a little too much, but oh well.

You used the press to get the plate on the master link, right? I had to press mine on. It didn't take a ton of force, but it took some to get the rubber rings squished down.

Yea, used the tool

Calipers really make putting a chain on easy. If you measure the outside of one of the standard chains you will then know how much to press the master link. (leave a slight amount as it will press more when you rivet). On the rivet if you measure the outside diameter for the rivet, then measure as you press it out. The book that comes with the rivetting tool has specs in it for how much flare there needs to be. (if memmory serves me correctly it's only like 10-100ths. or something).

Well I left a gap on the tool so I could see the rivet press end and twisted it until the rivet seated flat on the tip, before I was trying to "guess" at how much it was flaired out by feel, and that's scary.

I'll be able to nail it 100% next time, but this one looks pretty good, and no sticky link so I'm happy with it.