10 Speed chain with 8 speed cassette?

Yup, it works. I wanted to use a narrow-wide chainring with my 1x8 setup (because I'm a Luddite), but wolf tooth says their rings work best with 10 speed or narrower chains.



Only one ride so far, but I shifts great and no dropped chains. Just thought I'd share because I couldn't find anything on the subject.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
So 8 speed chain with 10 spd ring? ( your title says the opposite) The 8 spd. Chain is wider than 9/10/11 and the teeth are designed for the skinner Chains so you could potentially drop a chain because there is more wiggle room but spacing wise 8 spd will fit over any higher speed single ring.
 
Nope both the ring and chain are 10 speed (sram 1031? Chain) and the cassette is 8 speed (sram pg 850). I was worried the chain wouldn't fit over the cassette cogs but it's fine.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
It may work but sounds like a recipe for sloppy shifts. If you're looking for performance like my old Murray, why not.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
It may work but sounds like a recipe for sloppy shifts. If you're looking for performance like my old Murray, why not.

tooth spacing the same, just a narrower (more narrow?) chain ???

is that correct?

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picture of whole bike required, for retro wow factor.
 
Yeah, just a narrower chain. It actually shifts well, but I'm comparing it to my old cassette which was getting pretty worn out. I was worried it would be slow shifting from smaller to larger cogs but I don't notice it.

Here's an old picture, but it's still mostly the same:
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
This is a 10 speed chain, driving a 9 speed mountain derailleur, on a 10 speed cassette, with an 8 speed crank and a 9 speed road bike front derailleur (for doubles, not triples). With road shifters.

IMG_20171025_153823.jpg


Huh, thought I had another picture of the current bike. Nevermind, use your imagination. Point is, the differences between the physical dimensions of the different spacings is so small that you often need to go two or three generations apart before you even have the beginnings of problems. You wouldn't have issues with the chains until you, say, tried to use a 9+ speed chain on a 5-6 speed freewheel.

Many problems aren't really problems, so much as they are things to be aware of when you are assembling the bike. For instance, chains are 3/32" [nominal] internal right up until 11 speed, so you're fine on that front--only the outside slims down, but you're talking about fractions of a millimeter. Technically, you'd be hard pressed to use a 10 speed chain on a single speed 3/32 sprocket, but for derailleur purposes, and their narrower teeth, they'll fit even 7 speed HG-style sprockets.

Even so, you'll only run into issues trying to use a modern flush riveted chain (9 speed+) with early indexing systems. They'll work fine, if sluggishly, on friction systems.
 
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