Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

9 speed chain on 8-speed cassette OK?

64K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  TheeSuperUberV 
#1 ·
Putting together a bike for a niece. Frame and fork are new, but the drivetrain is from spare parts.

Working with older road bikes, I know that 8-speed chains work fine with 6- and 7-speed cassettes/freewheels. I also know that an 8-speed chain won't work with a 9-speed cassette.

But will a 9-speed Shimano chain work very well with an 8-speed Shimano cassette and shifters? Or will it work, but just not well?
 
#2 ·
the 9 speed chain is going to be too narrow for the 8 speed cassette unfortunately. Good news is an 8 speed chain can be picked up pretty cheap (way cheaper then a 9 speed cassette and shifter....)

No MSG said:
Putting together a bike for a niece. Frame and fork are new, but the drivetrain is from spare parts.

Working with older road bikes, I know that 8-speed chains work fine with 6- and 7-speed cassettes/freewheels. I also know that an 8-speed chain won't work with a 9-speed cassette.

But will a 9-speed Shimano chain work very well with an 8-speed Shimano cassette and shifters? Or will it work, but just not well?
 
#3 ·
You sure?

006_007 said:
the 9 speed chain is going to be too narrow for the 8 speed cassette unfortunately. Good news is an 8 speed chain can be picked up pretty cheap (way cheaper then a 9 speed cassette and shifter....)
I realize the 8-speed chain is more narrow than the 9. But it's not so narrow that it gets caught between the cogs. On older wide-spaced 6- and 7-speed cassettes, the narrow 8-speed chains work just fine.

Just wondering if anyone's tried it or if it's pretty well established that it won't work well.
 
#5 ·
Yes it will work....

"the 9 speed chain is going to be too narrow for the 8 speed cassette unfortunately." Where do people get this nonsense!

not quite as well as an 8speed chain, but it will work. The narrower 9speed chain won't pick up the shift ramps as quickly as a proper 8speed chain would. So the shifting will be a bit slower. But they work fine.

Good Dirt
 
#9 ·
Hey, I'm not a tech, but i have an 8-speed setup and had troubles. Bikeshop installed a 9-speed chain and everything is fine now, even better than when the bike was new. I heared that from a few machanics so far. I'll take their word for it and my experience.
 
#11 ·
Troubles included:

- When shifting from 3->2 or from 5-6-7 the chain kept dragging on the cassette for several seconds before it will shift. Sometimes it wouldn't shift at all so I had to half shift to make it go into the next gear.

The LBS replaced the cassette, the chain and I replaced the derailleur later on and still had the problem. A mechanic on the trail recommended to drop a 9 speed chain on. I asked around and my LBS mech said that it may help. I bought a SRAM 9 speed chain (the cheap one) and dropped it on there. No problems since.

Other problems included with my old chain included broken links (but just on one side), broken chain, ratcheting through the teeth front and back on full load (torque). And all that stuff happened within the first 400 miles I had the bike. So the LBS also got me a new front middle ring just to make sure everything is fresh.

I haven't had any problems since. I bent my RD last weekend so now I have a ghostshift going from 6-7-8, but it may be my Hanger so I'm not going to mess with the adjustment screws yet.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top