9 speed chain on 7 speed bike...

[veggieburger]

I tried doing a search, but I couldn't locate the answer. Heck, I may have even asked this before.

Will a 9 speed Shimano chain run okay on a 7 speed Shimano cassette?

GRAZI MILLE!

[pinkshogun]

i have a couple 9 speed chains on 8 speed cassette bikes and no problems indexing front or rear

[bikinchris]

If it was a narrow 7 speed, maybe.

[jischr]

I'm running a 9 spd chain on my 3X7 but I use friction shifters so infinite adjustment options.

[oliver1850]

I have one on a 1993 LX 7 bike and don't think it shifts as well (rear) as the original chain. On some Sachs 7 freewheel setups I've found a 9 speed chain to work just as well if not better, and run quieter.

[veggieburger]

Thanks all. I guess I'll just have to try it and see how it works!

[nate2351]

It's not quite wrong but also not quite right. Both chains are 3/32" pitch but the plates on the 9spd chain will be narrower. It depends on how narrow the teeth on the cassette, pulleys, and chain rings are for it to run quietly. But in the famous words of some dude on the internet, "It will work ok".

[palincss]

It is, after all, only 1 size down from the now currently accepted "correct" 8-speed size (7spd chains having become extinct some years ago). I guess if 8 ever goes extinct, 9 will be relabeled as "7-8-9".

[phutterman]

Well, I think nominally 8-speed (and 7 and lower) chain is all 3/32" (~7.2mm) wide - 9 speed is narrower (6.8mm), and 10 and 11 are slightly narrower still (though I think 11-speed is the same internal width, just narrower external).

It used to just be narrow (3/32") or wide (single speed, 1/8"), methinks. But 8-speed was the last before it had to get narrower with 9 and up.

If it runs ok, I don't see the problem, but I've had 9-speed chain bind on single speed sprockets intended for 3/32" ("8-speed") chain before, so YMMV.

Edit: Also, not to be too pedantic, but pitch refers to the distance between pins. It's all 1/2" pitch (except Shimano's experiment in 10mm pitch, of course).

[palincss]

It used to just be narrow (3/32") or wide (single speed, 1/8"), methinks. But 8-speed was the last before it had to get narrower with 9 and up.


No, back in the day there was "derailleur chain" for 5 and 6 and a different chain for 3-speeds. A new narrower 7 speed-specific chain was introduced when 7 came out, and an even narrower chain specific for 8 speed when that was introduced (although the 7 speed chain worked fine on 8: I bought a bunch of Dura Ace 7 speed chains on closeout and used them on my 8 speed tandem for years). After the 7 speed chain was discontinued, they started calling the 8 speed chain "7/8 speed."

[oldpotatoe]

I tried doing a search, but I couldn't locate the answer. Heck, I may have even asked this before.

Will a 9 speed Shimano chain run okay on a 7 speed Shimano cassette?

GRAZI MILLE!

Probably but a '8s' chain, being wider and if the system is indexed, will probably shift better. Indexing(shimano) relies on the next cog 'grabbing' the chain and placing it onto the cog selected. So, if the chain is too narrow, the ramps and doo-dads on the cog won't 'grab' the chain as efficiently as a wider chain. But try it. BTW-8s chains are cheap, easy to find. KMC ones work very well