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My chain broke and in a moment of silliness (I was cold wet and slightly annoyed) I threw the broken one away before thinking about measuring the new one.

Is there a guide to getting the chain length/tension correct ?

It's an 8 speed road bike (Shimano Sora back, double ring front)

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1 Answer

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Put the chain around the big-big gears without threading it through the derailleur. Have the chain overlap by one link. Now with that length thread it through the derailleur.

http://sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html#chain

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How did I miss that - I checked the great prophet sheldon's site. My Zinn book talked about the one extra link - but implied that a link was half of the link-pair that the sheldon picture shows. – mgb Dec 14 '10 at 16:50
Most people consider that 2 links, including Shimano. – zenbike♦ Aug 7 '11 at 14:38

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