World's Easiest Bicycle Chain Whip (totally Free for Me)

"The best things in life are free"

It was city cleanup and I happened to find a broken bike from which I salvaged the chain and a length of 1 inch

pipe which I cut to 2 feet long.

The pipe was from a portable basketball hoop that someone wrecked. The 1/2 inch holes were already drilled into it, so I just had to cut to size. You want to have the center of the hole 2.5 inches away from the end of the pipe. So I cut accordingly. The other hole I got lucky, it makes a great way to store it on workbench.

I found using a cutoff wheel actually worked better than a chainbreaker. I cut the chain to two lengths of 15 and 27 inches. The 15 seemed to work well for the first gear. Got a feeling the longer one would work better with the large gears on a cassette.

You want to have 3 or 4 of the chain rollers held there by your thumb.

The 3 or 4 links go onto the gear first, then wrap the chain around the gear. The actions of the two chain ends work against each other resulting in a tight grip of the gear. For best results, the pipe should not touch the gear, it must always ride on top of the 3-4 links.

Chains from throw-away bikes tend to be rusted nearly solid. Or they may be caked with so much dirt and grease that they need to be cleaned. The best solution is to take an empty 1/2 gallon plastic jug and drop the chain into it after you have cut it into a length. Then put a cup of diesel fuel or choice of degreaser or lube into the jug and cap it. You can let it soak awhile, then shake like crazy to loosen all of the dirt and grime. Chain will come out clean to wipe down with a rag.

When looking for a pipe, it should be steel, about 1 inch in diameter. A tossed away bike frame might actually have a usable tube on it. My tube was just shy of 2 feet after cutting. I think an 18 inch pipe would also work from a bike frame.