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How to severely bend a chainring

February 6th, 2007 by Tim Grahl

There are several ways to successfully bend a chainring, however I’ve found one that will probably work every time.

There is one particularly funky log crossing on a local singletrack. The trail is cut into a steep bank and the tree that feel across the path lays at an angle. Somebody cut a wedge into the log to make it crossable, but it’s still not an easy one.

I tried to get across this thing and I got hung up so I went to hop the bike over it but I didn’t get the back wheel high enough and I came straight back down onto the chainring. Here’s the aftermath…

bent chainring

bent chainring

And if you can’t see the above picture well… the green line is where the chainring should be and the red is where it is.

bent chainring

So if you’re doing log crossings and get hung up, just get off the bike, go back and try it again. Don’t try to hop up and down on your chainring cause there’s a could chance you’ll end up like I did.

7 Responses to “How to severely bend a chainring”

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  1. 1 Teamfubar  on Feb 6th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

    We (my wife and I) bent a chainring on our C’dale mountain tandem like that once. We were riding some singletrack at a fairly desent clip and rode over this little log/root section. Not thinking that the angle of the tandem wouldn’t clear this like it does on my regular bike, I didn’t adjust at all. We hit a root with a full head of steam and something had to give. I was ejected but my wife, like a good trooper, went down with the ship, having her weight and the weight of the tandem scrape her shin basically off on a slickrock type outcrop. The front timing ring of the tandem was folded over about like yours. I thought we’d have to push the tandem out and sell it since I knew she’d never get back on. To my suprise, she told me to fix that thing so we can ride out. Out comes my Cool Tool, I clamp the adjustable wrench on the ring and straighten it out. We finished the ride and rode that timing ring for quite a while before replacing it.

  2. 2 Dave in MI  on Feb 6th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

    Time to replace that large ring with a bash guard and go 2X9. Or 8. Or even 7 apparently given the discussion around here.

  3. 3 nathan  on Feb 6th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    bashring!

  4. 4 James  on Feb 6th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

    Ouch, that’s quite a bend. I have bent chainrings back into shape with an adjustable wrench before, but this one looks like it needs to go into the vice. Why don’t you post a new picture after you fix it? I am curious to se how it turns out.

  5. 5 Fritz  on Feb 6th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

    I bent a ring last year. My rear derailleur broke, so I rigged for singlespeed so I could get back home, with the chain on the granny gear ring. With no way to adjust chain tension, the chain was slack.

    I took it easy at first, but things were holding so I picked up the speed. The chain jumped up to a larger cog, which made the chain tension *WAY* too tight, completely warping my small chainring before stripping the stack bolts clean out. It completely ruined by small chainring and the driveside crank arm.

  6. 6 Michel  on Feb 10th, 2007 at 11:32 am

    From the pictures (US flag+Bontrager crank) your broken bike appears to be a Gary Fisher. If so, have you ever had a problem with your rear triangle linkage?

    I have a GF Sugar 4+ and the rear triangle linkage broke (a join just gave out). I returned the bike to my bike shop and they’ve changed the part *free of charge*. Cool service these guys offers.

    About your bike, I suppose you came back home with your bike on your back walking…

  7. 7 gwadzilla  on Feb 17th, 2007 at 7:44 pm

    can you say ROCK RING?

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