General Category > Freewheeling

The magic ring trick

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CommuteTooFar:
We have all seen the magicians magic ring trick where the practioner bangs two seemingly solid rings together and on the third knock, clang the rings are linked together.

On Wednesday night I was riding up the biggest hill on my commute.  I decide I will use the granny ring.  I twist the grip and the crank locks solid.  I pedal backward half a turn and pedal forward again, crunch.  I notice the chain is now on the bottom bracket.  I stop, put the shifter on to big ring.  Lift the wheel off the ground and turn the crank with my other hand. Chain jumps onto a chain ring and every thing seems OK. It was dark.

Thursday morning, still dark, I head off to work again. I am hearing a clicking noise when I am pedalling, not unlike some expensive freehubs.  I think bugger Shimano hubs are silient I am about to be without traction.  When I get to work, it is light now, I take a proper look at the chain path.  I was looking for a broken jockey wheel or something foreign stuck in the mech somewhere.  Nope, everything was fine except the chain was outside the guard on the derailleur behind the bottom jockey wheel. My bike had done the magic ring trick. :-\

Lunchtime after transfering all the oil and muck on the chain to my hands I open the power link and rethread the chain properly. 

rogerzilla:
Because matter can switch between particles and waves, it's possible that the chain passed through the derailleur cage without interference.

A nuclear physicist will be along in a moment to calculate the odds of this  ;)

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