Question For The Chain Guru's

Hello all,

     I recently did my first chain with a rivet-style masterlink and after a few hundred miles, POW! I no longer have a chain on my bike and I'm left sitting. I used Sun Star sprockets front and rear with an RK 530XSO chain. I flared the pins to .4 mm give or take a thousandth, RK recommends anywhere between 0.152 to .5 MM. I inspected the newly flared rivets for cracks or stress marks and they looked fine. I also made sure the plate wasn't pressed on too far by comparing the masterlink's overall width with the other links. The chain was adjusted properly at just under 1 1/4 ". I have ordered another masterlink to give it another shot. Luckily the new chain (and me) survived the incident with hardly a scratch. I have scoured the web looking for answers to no avail. Did I miss something or was this an unavoidable occurrence? 

Pictures of the masterlink?

(moved to maintenance section)

Pictures of the masterlink?

(moved to maintenance section)

Of course I didn't take any pictures. DOH! That would be far too logical. It did look exactly like RK's FAQ picture. I spent a good while measuring and comparing the pics. On account of my anal retentiveness. 

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Sorry for posting in the wrong section. Typical noob stuff...

I meant pictures of the failed link. You do still have it? Or did it part company with the chain and bike?

1.250 is too little slack IMHO, but that shouldn't cause a new link to fail. If you staked it properly I bet it was defective.

 Never tried an RK chain because I've read too many poor reviews.

I meant pictures of the failed link. You do still have it? Or did it part company with the chain and bike?

It's gone forever. I had plenty of time to look for it while waiting on the pick up, but the tall grass must have ate it.

Bummer. It might have held a clue.

I've never had a rivet link fail. It must have been a freak thing, because it sounds like you did everything right. I can't see lightning striking twice.

Where did the chain break? are you sure it was the master link, did the side plate break in half?

The chain broke at the master link. It's completely gone, which leads me to believe the side plate came off and the link worked out. When the new link comes in I'm gonna re-install the chain with an extra set of eyes watching to make sure I don't miss something. I'm almost positive this was operator error, I just can't pin down what I did wrong.  

I always peen the stakes until the head is 5.5-5.9 mm in diameter -- never did one based on depth (0.5mm) -- as specified in the manual.

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