x ring soft link rivet nightmare !

Beware these cheap tools on ebay. Almost cream crackered my new chain today using this(NOT THE SELLER I USED BUT SAME PRODUCT) :- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-O-RING-X-RING-SOFT-LINK-RIVET-LINK-CHAIN-ASSEMBLY-CONNECTING-TOOL-/190737687569?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item2c68da2411

As i was trying to push the link on with this tool it bent like a banana.Soft as cheese. This meant the link wanted to bend as well as I was turning the tool and pushed the links out the other side! I managed to ride slowly to the local garage. Thank god foe Northwich  Bike Centre for pulling out all the stops and with his £350 tool !
If i'd carried on i'd have knackered the chain - beware !

Worryingly it says '15 sold' on the link. Glad you got it sorted. The one I use looks like the one by Oxford for around 50 quid (although I think mine was by someone else). A lot of money I guess but it pays for itself if you use the bike a lot?

when i saw the price you paid i have to say i wondered what quality it would be. jeez I could make better myself,lol.

Yes I understand about the price but it only pushes the link on. Unlike the others which do the total job and peen it over. Also extraction of the old one to get it off the bike. At the end of the day you would think that if someone is going to make a basic tool and sell them, then it might as well be man enough to actually do the job ?

You can use this type of tool to press the side-plate on - as you mentioned it is not suitable for peening the rivet head.  Once you've got the side plate on you can use a centre-punch and with a large block of wood/metal behind the chain use the punch to splay the rivet head.

If you don't like that you could try a suitably sized G-clamp and press a ball bearing (also suitably sized) into the soft-rivet head and splay it that way.

Anyone who sells you the tool above and suggests that it can do the 'whole job' is lying or an idiot.