beng1

For safety's sake, I thought I would put a single-speed specific front chainwheel on my Schwinn "LeToaster", I thought if it fit the chain better than using the chainwheel off my old 12-speed Motobecane, there would less a chance of having any issues.

The proprietor of a local bike-shop in town who had been there for many decades, said he had never seen anyone have an issue running a single-speed 1/8" chain on old ten/twelve-speed chainwheels, but I decided to do my own research. I ordered a 50-tooth "Mojo" brand front chainwheel from an Ebay seller who was marketing it as being for 1/8" single-speed applications. I measured the width of the sprocket with a micrometer, and also the width of the old 52-tooth 12-speed chainwheel, and also those on a 95' Haro bmx that was all stock, and the front chainwheel off a GT bmx. I was surprised when they all miced about the same, they were all ten or more thousands narrower than 1/8". The only difference I was able to find between the teeth of the multi-speed and single-speed chainwheels is the single-speed item had teeth which were about ten-thousands taller than the multi-speed item. I was disappointed as I was hoping for a wider chainwheel that would seat the wider chain more firmly. I figured the longer teeth would help a bit with stability though, so I swapped it onto the bike.

I also put a micrometer on the rear sprockets I had on hand to fit the Bendix coaster hub on the bike, and they all came in about the same width as the front chainwheel except for a 16T item which was almost a ful 1/8" wide.

Looking at the measurments of the various items, I could see why the old bike-shop owner said he had never seen anyone have a problem using multi-speed front chainwheels on single-speed bicycles. In the future I will not worry about using just about any front chainwheel I can find on any single-speed bike, and that will end up saving me spending any further time or money on projects that is not necessary.

Riding the bike around town for an hour and a half I did not feel any difference in the functioning of the bike at all, perfect..............

base2 

Single speed chains & the ol' 5 speed are essentially the same. There may be some difference I'm not aware of. But I've never known whatever difference there may be to affect anything.

1/8th inch aka 2/16ths aka 4/32

6,7,8 speed is 3/32

On single speeds you can run a 4/32 chain on just about anything you want except a White Industries Dos Eno.

A 3/32 chain will likely be too skinny to mesh properly with a 4/32 freewheel cog.

At 11/128ths It gets complicated for 9 speeds on up & it mostly pertains to outer chain width having enough room for the chain to fit between cogs than on any individual cog. Except for SRAM 12 speed also having different size rollers to lock consumers into proprietary gobbeldy-guk.

tomato coupe

3/16 is bigger than 2/16

beng1

You may have just set some sort of record by having almost zero facts correct in this post. Amazing.

The chain for ten-speed bikes is narrower than single-speed 1/8" chain by 1/32nd of an inch. You put up a size for 6-8 speeds that is wider than that for single speeds and the old ten-speed racers, and immediately made the same mistake again saying that a wider 3/16" chain is going to be too narrow for 1/8" freewheel cogs. You may have got some of the info on late-model 8-12 speed bikes correct, but I don't own any of those and never will, and this is a thread about a single speed bike anyway so it has zero relevance. But thank-you for stopping in............

mstateglfr 

I read the OP's comments and am still unsure why this was shared. The bike certainly is...creative.

base2 

3/32 not 3/16
Oops.

Sorry, it's been a long night.
Edited to correct my stupid brain blatherings.

Koyote

The bike is a big pile of wtf.

Moe Zhoost

Thanks, mate. I reckon it will save time for the rest of us here as well.

beng1

I apologize for my brain blatherings too. I wish I had not been that hard on you, live and learn. Best of luck in the future, maybe some good sleep will do the trick.

beng1

I am hoping you will save all the time you can that you otherwise might use in any thread I start, don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out........