revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I'm going to put a new chain on my CB1000R as the chain on it has some tight spots, I'm thinking of using a drill to remove the heads of the rivets, is this a sensible idea?
I have got an angle grinder, but it's a bit of an animal to control and I don't want it anywhere near my CB, I've got a Dremel type tool somewhere as well, or I could file the heads off, which will take a while but is safer than Arnie the Angle Grinder.

Angle grinder, man up princes.

KungFooBob wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 8:14 pm Angle grinder, man up princes.

Is that why Andrew is no longer a prince?

I just can't speel real gud.

I used to use a chain tool which pushed the pins out.

You could always just use a file

Rockburner wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 8:51 pm You could always just use a file

A4 or Foolscap?

KungFooBob wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 8:53 pm

Rockburner wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 8:51 pm You could always just use a file

A4 or Foolscap?

Fool's Cap is about right.

If you dont want to use a cutting disk use a grinding one on the rivet heads

Since I was in my early teens my old man told me he'd leave me his chain breaking tool, 30 odd years later they read his will and he'd left everything to my mum... except for this.
I'd still use the angle grinder tho'

KungFooBob wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 9:11 pm Since I was in my early teens my old man told me he'd leave me his chain breaking tool, 30 odd years later they read his will and he'd left everything to my mum... except for this.

PXL_20260421_200628089.jpg

I'd still use the angle grinder tho'

My dad's still going, but I borrowed his one of those and then emigrated with it so it's mine now

You're supposed to grind the rivets flat before pressing the link off or you can break the pin.

KungFooBob wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 9:11 pm Since I was in my early teens my old man told me he'd leave me his chain breaking tool, 30 odd years later they read his will and he'd left everything to my mum... except for this.

PXL_20260421_200628089.jpg

I'd still use the angle grinder tho'

I've got one of those, it might push the pins out of a bicycle chain, it wouldn't do anything to a 525 chain, I tried a heavy duty chain splitting tool in the past, I just bent the tool, you definitely have to remove the heads before trying to push the pins out.

Used a file to remove the rivet heads, took about 5 minutes, they're not very hard steel.
New chain on and rivet link rivetted, the pins on my new DID chain are a little thicker than the ones on my old RK chain, found this out when I tried to use the DID rivet link in the old chain to pull the new chain round the sprockets, so I used the old RK link instead.

So now I have a lovely new goldy looking chain on my bike

I hope you put the new link on with two hammers.

Whale tools FTW.

I used the chain rivetting kit I bought off Amazon, looks okay to me, but I'll get one of the mechanics at the motorcycle shop literally round the corner from me to check it.