Chain compatability

alan1

Hi,

Can anyone tell me If I can run a 10 speed chainset with an 8 speed chain? I have an old Giant Peleton 8400 that has 8 speed 105 groupset, have been looking at getting a compact
chainset and have seen a few Campagnolo Veloce Compact 10 speed Chainsets that are square taper and would fit my bike.

Cheers
Alan

term1te

I guess an 8 speed chain would run on a 10 speed chainset, but not on a 10 speed cassette. Although the special pickup pegs, or whatever they're called, on the compact may not mesh with the slightly wider 8 speed chain? The chances are though that if you've been using the groupset for a while, you may need a new chain to run smothly on the chain rings. Then you'd probably need a new cassette anyway. The chain tends to stretch with time, wearing the teeth on the cassette and chain rings, all going out of shape together. If you replace one of them, they may not fit well, characterised by the chain jumping on/off the teeth of the cassette.

alan1

Thanks for the reply Term1te,

I have just recently fitted a new 8 speed chain without any issue and have quite a few new 8 speed chains sitting around, actually also have a more or less new 8 speed cassette on my old wheels, so it is really just the 10 speed chainset working with an 8 speed chain that is the issue.

Alan

Term1te wrote:

I guess an 8 speed chain would run on a 10 speed chainset, but not on a 10 speed cassette. Although the special pickup pegs, or whatever they're called, on the compact may not mesh with the slightly wider 8 speed chain? The chances are though that if you've been using the groupset for a while, you may need a new chain to run smothly on the chain rings. Then you'd probably need a new cassette anyway. The chain tends to stretch with time, wearing the teeth on the cassette and chain rings, all going out of shape together. If you replace one of them, they may not fit well, characterised by the chain jumping on/off the teeth of the cassette.

Monty Dog

8 speed chain will be fine on a 10 speed chainset - it just might be a bit noisier and you may experience a bit more chainrub on the chainrings when running certain gear combos i.e. small chainring and small sprocket.

Also, Veloce chainset takes an ISO square taper BB which will be slightly different to the JIS taper BB fitted to your bike - there are small differences and for the sake of about £12 for the extremely reliable Campagnolo sealed BB, it's proably worth changing that too

AcademicX

Slightly OT but could you use a 9spd chain with an 8spd cassette ? Would the slightly narrower 9spd chain reduce any noise/chain rub ?

I'm in a similar position to Alan, I've fitted a new 8spd cassette & a nearly-new Veloce 10spd chain ring (53/39) to my winter bike. I'm just about to buy a couple of new chains to see me through the winter and was toying with going 9spd (better selection of chains).

Any opinions ?