I am so confused! Chain sizing - width? pitch?

[Ken Marcet]

Okay yeah I know I am new to this whole chain thing but any way. My question
is: Am I reading things wrong or have there been different width chains in
the past? If so how do I determine what size I have? The bike I am working
on is an old american made Murray 10 speed, probably made in the early to
mid 80's. This bike was not used very much at all, I found it at a garage
sale for $10.00. The chain, chainrings, and freewheel cogs are in great
shape, but seeing as how I have been riding this bike almost daily around
town I know that sooner or later the chain will need to be replaced and I
have been reading some things online and I am very confused about chains. I
have read Sheldons chain page and this only made me more confused! Thanks
for the feedback.

Ken


--
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
Arthur C. Clarke
English physicist & science fiction author (1917 - )

 

[Sheldon Brown]

Ken Marcet wrote:

> Okay yeah I know I am new to this whole chain thing but any way. My question
> is: Am I reading things wrong or have there been different width chains in
> the past? If so how do I determine what size I have? The bike I am working
> on is an old american made Murray 10 speed, probably made in the early to
> mid 80's. This bike was not used very much at all, I found it at a garage
> sale for $10.00. The chain, chainrings, and freewheel cogs are in great
> shape, but seeing as how I have been riding this bike almost daily around
> town I know that sooner or later the chain will need to be replaced and I
> have been reading some things online and I am very confused about chains. I
> have read Sheldons chain page and this only made me more confused! Thanks
> for the feedback.
>
When using my site, the best place to start is generally at the Bicycle
Glossary. The "chain" entry is at
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ca-m.html#chain

Murrays are generally very poorly made, comparable to Huffys, and if
you're really using this for daily transportation, chains aren't all
you'll be wearing out...

Sheldon "Good Luck!" Brown
+--------------------------------------------------+
| What's not worth doing is not worth doing well. |
| --Don Hebb |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

 

[dvt]

"Ken Marcet" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Okay yeah I know I am new to this whole chain thing but any way. My
> question is: Am I reading things wrong or have there been different
> width chains in the past?

Yes.

> If so how do I determine what size I have? The bike I am working on is
> an old american made Murray 10 speed, probably made in the early to mid
> 80's.

3/32" chain for your bike. 1/8" is for some single speeds, narrower chains
(<3/32") are for bikes with >8 cogs in the rear.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu
Sun, 12 Dec 2004 14:40:38 -0400

=== Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 3.1 Unregistered

 

[Ken Marcet]

"Sheldon Brown" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Ken Marcet wrote:
>
> > Okay yeah I know I am new to this whole chain thing but any way. My
question
> > is: Am I reading things wrong or have there been different width chains
in
> > the past? If so how do I determine what size I have? The bike I am
working
> > on is an old american made Murray 10 speed, probably made in the early
to
> > mid 80's. This bike was not used very much at all, I found it at a
garage
> > sale for $10.00. The chain, chainrings, and freewheel cogs are in great
> > shape, but seeing as how I have been riding this bike almost daily
around
> > town I know that sooner or later the chain will need to be replaced and
I
> > have been reading some things online and I am very confused about
chains. I
> > have read Sheldons chain page and this only made me more confused!
Thanks
> > for the feedback.
> >
> When using my site, the best place to start is generally at the Bicycle
> Glossary. The "chain" entry is at
> http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ca-m.html#chain
>
> Murrays are generally very poorly made, comparable to Huffys, and if
> you're really using this for daily transportation, chains aren't all
> you'll be wearing out...
>
> Sheldon "Good Luck!" Brown

Thanks for the link to your page explaining the chain width deal. And yeah I
know Murrays are really chaeply made, but so far it has been okay. I am not
really riding it at high speeds and only ride it mabe 3 or 4 miles a day. I
thought it would be okay just as a beater bike for around town.

Ken

> +--------------------------------------------------+
> | What's not worth doing is not worth doing well. |
> | --Don Hebb |
> +--------------------------------------------------+
> Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
> Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
> http://harriscyclery.com
> Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
> http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com
>

 

[A Muzi]

Ken Marcet wrote:
-snip-Am I reading things wrong or have there been different
width chains in
> the past? If so how do I determine what size I have? The bike I am working
> on is an old american made Murray 10 speed, probably made in the early to
> mid 80's. This bike was not used very much at all, I found it at a garage
> sale for $10.00. The chain, chainrings, and freewheel cogs are in great
> shape, but seeing as how I have been riding this bike almost daily around
> town I know that sooner or later the chain will need to be replaced and I
> have been reading some things online and I am very confused about chains.
-snip-

Past? There are different chain widths in the future too!

You want fat.

Instead of looking inline you could start by measuring the
chain you have already.

Brands vary, but generally ten speed cassette chains are the
skinniest, 6.1/6.2mm at the widest point.
nine speeds 6.6/6.7
eight speeds around 7.1
sevens about 7.3
four, five, six speed chain runs 7.8 and up. The widest
chain I know is the classic Wippermann, fortunately very
available and cheap, at 8.2mm

Walking into most LBS with a mid-80s Murray now, you'll
usually get a SRAM PC48 chain. At 7.1mm, it will shift,
possibly a bit sloppily in your wider rear derailleur cage
but usually acceptably well. The problem with it is a
skinny chain's propensity to wedge between front chainrings
when it's a lot smaller than the original.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971