6 speed chains

[Headgardener]

This question is on behalf of my brother. Can you still get 6 speed chains as the chain on his wifes bike has snapped and he wishes to replace it? I have looked on CRC and they do not have any 6 speed chains. I am surprised that a bike which is barely a year old still has such an old gear ratio, I think it a 7 speed and paul has miss counted. Any help on this matter would be greatly recieved. Many thanks. HG.
P.S It is a BSO so that might explain it.

 

[andrew_s]

Use a 7-speed chain.

5/6/7 chains are all pretty much the same, as sprockets hadn't got so close together that the chain design needed to be mucked about with. You won't find them described as 6-speed chains because 6-speed is relatively rare. If 6-speed BSOs are being sold, presumably very few of them ever get a chain replacement.

 

[mickle]

A seven speed chain is exactly the same width as an eight. Any derailer bike with less than nine indexed gears will use this standard. Pre-indexed 5 and 6 chains were wider but they disappeared. You could chuck a nine speed chain on and expect it to function perfectly well if you happened to have an old one knocking about.

 

[style over speed]

I went with the sheldon brown recommendation for a six speed chain, seems to work fine, think I got it from chain reaction or SJS... replacing the freewheel at the same time is probably good advice:

SRAM PC-870 (Formerly "PC-58") CH1030 $21.95

Our favorite chain for most applications. Works with all derailer systems except 9-/10-speed, including Shimano HG and IG. Includes a "Power Link" re-usable master link.
This is our main recommendation for bikes with 5-, 6-, 7- or 8-speed rear clusters.

(This chain was formerly known as PC-58, but SRAM has re-done their model numbering system, replacing all of the two digit model numbers withe 3 digit ones.)

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/chains.html