Hot take: I stopped using a chain whip for cassette swaps after a shop in Bend showed me a trick

For years I used a chain whip and a lockring tool, fighting with the chain to hold it still. Then, a mechanic at The Hub in Bend, Oregon, showed me how to just use the old chain still on the bike, looped around the biggest cog, to lock the cassette. It's way faster and you don't need a third hand. Has anyone else ditched the whip for a simpler method?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_ramirez516d ago

That trick with the old chain is a game changer. My buddy Mark, who's always tinkering, tried it last week. He was swapping a cassette on his old Trek and just looped the chain around the big ring like you said. He texted me right after, amazed he didn't have to dig his chain whip out of the toolbox. Said it felt so much more stable than fighting with the whip slipping off.

wren_jackson15d ago

Wait, he did that on an old Trek? I tried that once on my vintage frame and the chainring teeth were so worn it just skipped right off. Had to go find the whip anyway.