I cant see spending 150 bucks to buy a tool to rivet my new chain back together so i was wondering if anyone has one i could borrow for about 20 minutes. I live in michigan so if anyones close that would be great. thanks josh

y not just use a master link?  they are less than ten bucks, and are just as strong as a rivet link

Just use a ball peen hammer and a dolly (or another hammer...sledge works).  Gaul the brads.  It's not as pretty as having used the $150 tool (that you can buy on eBay for $25) but it's every bit as effective.

i personally woundnt use a master link on my mountain bike let alone my street bike and im sure a hammer an dolly  will not do much good for the life of the xo-rings in the chain.

When I worked at the Suzuki dealership Our mechanic said that chain riviters are BS... We have pro riders like Travis Pastrana and they all have masterlinks  If he can do a double backflip w/ a masterlink I think the GS can take 90mph w/ one.

haha yeah master links are obviously crap...that's why they used them for 75 years without any issue before someone came up with the rivet link idea to make people spend more money.

And just exactly how is a hammer and dolly going to damage the o-rings any more than the super spiffy badass rivet tool?  Neither has anything to do with the rings.  All you're doing with either is swelling the end of the shaft so that the keeper doesn't come off.

You can get a 20$ riveter here http://www.mikesxs.net/products-7.html?category_id=7.1

I bought one 2 years ago and never used it, my chain died 2000 miles from home and i never got a chance to test it =(

You make it west of detroit very often?  I have the motion pro riveting tool and a micrometer so you can get the plate spacing perfect too.

mackenzie is right.  The hammer and bigger hammer trick works and lots of people do it that way, but it only works for riveting.  pressing the sideplate on sets the spacing for the orings.    Then you can use a micrometer if you want (they are super cheap at the auto parts store) to compare to the other links to see if it's on all the way.  Then hammer away!  The hammer just mushrooms the link pin.  It doesn't affect the spacing unless you go crazy. 

on a personal note all of my mx bikes were clip, all of my streetbikes are rivet.