Help regarding chain

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H12rpo

Regular
Location
Cardiff
I’m restoring a 10 speed bsa prima from the 70’s and need a new chain.........looking on the bay, there’s a bewildering amount of 5/6/7/10 etc chains .....what exactly do I need? And what’s the difference ?
Cheers
 
Location
Loch side.
You need a 10-speed chain.

Difference is in width and other stuff.

Any 10-speed chain will do.
 
Absolutely, definitely not a 10 speed chain. What you need is a 5/6 speed chain. Sometimes a 7/8 speed chain will do depending on the width of the teeth on the sprockets and chain ring(s) and /or the gaps between. The trouble is, because - these days - only cheap bikes have five/six/seven speed freewheels it's increasingly difficult to source a quality chain for these standards.
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
Buy the cheapest you can get. Something like this would be fine. Do count the links on your existing chain to make sure it's long enough - but it almost certainly will be. When you get it, you'll probably need to remove a few links to get it the same length as your existing chain.
 

davidphilips

Veteran
Location
Onabike
Actually, that might not work on a 5-speed block.


Very true, depends on type of 5 speed freewheel, my old hobbs (from the late 40s) has a much narrower spacing than my 5 speed Raleigh from the 80s?

The older type of 5 speed needed a 9 or 10 speed chain and the latter type could use a 6/7/8 speed chain, never tried a 10 speed chain on it?
 

rogerzilla

Legendary Member
They just used to be called 3/32" chains back then. I was running 5-speed as late as the 90s, using black Sedisport chains.
 
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