heidibsmith

I'm a little confused: in forums people are saying a 10speed chainring will work find with a 8 speed chain...When I look up replacements for my SG-X 39t/53t chainrings, all online stores are saying they are only compatible with 10 speed chains... Can somebody please let me know which chainring replacements would work for my bike?

I replaced the cassette, hub and chain in July 2014: Now I have a HG 50 / 7 speed - 13/23 cassette with a CN HG 70 6/7/8 speed chain.
The crankset is still original: FC A 500 / SG-X 10S 39t/53t / B-Type (I got rid of the front Derailleur and use only the 39t for now. In the future I would like to put a front derailleur back - therefore I would like to replace both chainrings.)

The chain started to slip for the last two weeks...I assume it's because of the old / worn out chainrings (It's so hard to tell if they are worn out by looking at them...this is also the reason why I don't want to buy anything used..)

Thanks for any answer in advance!

icepick_trotsky 

When they say only 10 speed, they probably mean that they're not compatible with 11 speed. The industry forgot 6/7/8 speed exists. It should work just fine with an 8 speed chain.

heidibsmith

Thanks! This really helps!

dddd

Remember that, with Shimano, it is the small chainring only which determines the spacing between the small and large rings.

This has to do strictly (and only) with the offset from the seating surface on the small ring's mounting tabs to the tips of the small ring's teeth.

The 8s chain works on a 10s crankset, but the chain will be closer to the big ring so will rub and/or snag on the big ring when the smaller cogs are used while still in the small ring, causing more chain angling.

Also, the wider chain will more easily fall to the inside (i.e. fall off to the inside) of a 10sp ring's teeth than an 8s or 9s ring's teeth.

Some of the lower-level groups held onto a lower gear count for several years, so a 9s chainring should not be hard to source and I would expect it to work very well.

Lastly, 9s chain works perfectly (actually better) on all modern/Asian cassettes with 6, 7, 8 or 9 speeds, so you don't need to use 8s chain with your 9 or 10sp inner chainring.