another QL and you can join some of the links you took off back on again.
cheers
With 8 speed I wouldn't worry about just reinserting the rivet that was pushed out to shorten it. Leastways not on a SRAM or KMC chain (they're the only ones I have experience with)
+1
done this many times. 8 speed don't have the funny rivets that 10speed + have
8s are not as funny as 10s but they are still funny, and a weakened joint results. In the factory the pins are plain when they push them through, and then they are swaged.
When you push the pin out and in again the benefit of the swaging is lost, by damaging the pin and/or the side plate of the chain. Often if you look carefully you can see pieces of swarf come off the chain as the pin is pushed out.
About one in twenty pins is so loose when it is reinstated that essentially it is only held by one side plate; the slightest sideways force frees a stiff link but the pin might just pop out of the side plate altogether if you do a clumsy shift or something.
About one in a hundred times a small piece of swarf jams the pin when you put the chain back together such that you get a stiff link that cannot be freed.
cheers