Bicycle chain question
 

Hello all,
I've got a 70's road bike with a 10 speed system; 2 chainrings and a 5 speed cassette. I need to pick up a new chain but am confused. When a modern chain is advertised as 10 speed or 6/7/8 speed chain, is it referring to the amount of sprockets on the cassette, or the total number of gears? I'm only asking because 10 speed chains appear to go for about twice as much as 5/6 speed chains.

Thanks

A "10 speed chain" is a chain designed for 10 rear sprockets and, accordingly, is narrower, which means it needs to be stronger, which means it will be more expensive. Quite how much more expensive it should be and how much it is can be debated elsewhere. :)

HTH

Fantastic, thanks Matt, you've saved me some money there.

No worries. :)

Buy a chain labeled 6/7/8-speed or just 8-speed. It will be narrower than your current chain but wide enough to work well with your crank and chainrings. The even narrower 9 and 10-speed chains could slip into the gap between the two chainrings. Cranks intended for use with 9 and 10-speed chains have the chainrings closer together to prevent this.