Itching to swap the old chain on my singlespeed road bike, it's a 1/8th BMX street chain and looks like it's built to withstand being ground (grinded?) on...
Also I may have allowed it to become criminally coated in rust and road salt over the winter, that's never going to buff out 😳
I can reverse the chainring and buy a new chain, but am reluctant to fork out £50 to replace the teeth on my 4000km old WI freewheel, so I'm hoping someone will tell me singlespeed drivetrains are less fussy about mixing and matching vintage of components?
those freewheels have pretty tall teeth. it'll likely make some noise with the new chain for a bit, but otherwise you'll be fine. i use pc971 BTW. used to use big chunky chain but you save some weight with the finer one, they're cheap ( just over a tenner ), and you can change them more quickly to reduce wear on your pricey freewheel. also quick-link is handy.
OK will give it a shot, or at least will clean off all the gunk first to make sure the teeth aren't catastrophically worn (I put a lower gear on the bike and have been trying to ride 'knee friendly' so the chain should have had as easy a life as is possible in the circumstances).
Seemed to remember a 3/32" KMC chain with the deeper side plates, but they all seem to be super heavy duty. Difference between that and the SRAM is at least 100g, none too shabby for a tenner 8)
might complain a bit but as above my WI freewheels on SS duties are pretty good.
One is quite hooked / finned though, just make sure the chain is in good - flexible and lubed - nick.
It'll be fine. Unless it's not, then it won't be.
The brilliance of SS is that when one bit wears out there's generally no need to change the other bits. My one Surly front ring must have close to 5,000 miles on it, it's barely worn.
Think I'll got for the lightest singlespeed specific 3/32" chain I can afford, have always had half an eye on the horrible chainline on my bike and apparently multi-speed chains + poor chainline can be a problem (makes sense).
KMC Z610H seems to get good reviews and isn't far off the weight of a 9 speed SRAM.
KMC Z610HX gets my vote.
Multi speed chains are [i]designed[/i] to work with bad chainline (rear cassettes are pretty wide.....)
I've broken singlespeed joining links with bad chainline (circlip type).
We've done exactly as you describe with WI sprockets and apart from a bit of noise it does usually settle down (it hasn't got a lot of choice with bolted in wheel). This assumes you aren't running a tensioner which I guess might allow it to jump off if wear is extreme.
I did exactly this last month. Rides sweet as a nut with no settling in noise. Used the same chain as Del said too. I gave the Eno a good flush out and degunked the pawls, got the swarming bees back.
Multi speed chains are designed to work with bad chainline
D'oh! Good point... I guess I was thinking the opposite, that they were designed to move sideways as easily as possible so were more likely to jump with enough provocation.
Ah well, the point of the post was could I mix n'match and I'm reassured enough to try, actually ended up ordering a KMC Z1 EPT Narrow 3/32, singlespeed specific, apparently rustproof, not much heavier than equivalent 9spd (apparently 300g approx) and I've had good results with KMC in the past.
Had a look at the teeth on the freewheel, no burring or visible hooking so I think I'm in the clear (had bad results with a 10spd 105 drivetrain which looked perfect, hence the original question).
Cheers!