Upgrading chainsets?

JustRidecp

Hi all, wondering if anyone can help me with this.

My dad would like to upgrade the chainset on his old Holdsworth tourer. He's got a 35-48 and was thinking about a 34-50. The bike currently has a 5 speed block. Would the current 8,9,10 speed chainsets be compatible with a 5 speed block and chain or would he have to look at changing the whole drivetrain/derailleurs/rear wheel?

Cheers

maddog 2

you should be okay

you may get chain rub on the rings in when running small-small due to the rings being closer together on 9/10spd c/sets but you could either avoid using these gears (as everyone should...) or space the rings out using washers (see LBS)

5/6/7/8 speed chains are the same

9 is narrower

10 is narrower still

The thing is, this is all senesitive to how worn the current setup is.
If you fit a new c/set on an old chain and block then you could run into slip/wear issues. Hence it would be sensible to fit a new chain too (see above).
But that may cause problems with the old 5spd block. And changing that might prove tricky - not many 5speed blocks about I suspect.

So think it through. It may be more sensible to upgrade to 8/9/10 spd with a new wheel, chain, cassette and c/set. If you shifters can handle it...............

acorn_user

Stronglight impact has slightly wider chainrings (8 speed). It's one of the nicer cheap chainsets, and would not look out of place like a Shimano or Campag UT one would.

JustRidecp

maddog 2 wrote:

The thing is, this is all senesitive to how worn the current setup is.
If you fit a new c/set on an old chain and block then you could run into slip/wear issues. Hence it would be sensible to fit a new chain too (see above).

Lol. Yes. As far as wear goes, tis all tip top. The bikes well over 35 years old and is completely mint. My dad and me do all our own maintanence and he built it himself so knows it like the back of his hand! - the chain, chainrings and freewheels have been replaced as they've needed be but the chainsets original - the rear and front mechs are the original suntours! I guess the chainrings are needing replacing and he was thinking about getting a newchainset rather than replace the rings. Also, the old boy's finding it a struggle to push the 10 speed up the Fife hills and was thinking about compact gearing.


Cheers for the info guys I'll let him know. I think he's trying to push his luck for a full groupset but my mum wont give him the pocket money for it!