Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

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keyboardmonkey
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Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by keyboardmonkey »

I see a range of six-speed compatible HG chains, but is there a chain recommended for Uniglide cassettes, I wonder. All other components on the bike are Shimano 600 6207, if that makes any difference.
Brucey
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Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by Brucey »

6s UG sprockets are 5.5mm pitch and used the same sprockets as 7s UG assemblies (5mm pitch) which means that if you use a 7s compatible chain with 6s UG you will have at least 0.5mm clearance more than you might otherwise. However this is arguably no bad thing because the 'twist tooth' design can make the sprockets slightly wider than they might be otherwise, and if the indexing is a tiny bit 'off' you can get funny noises as the chain catches the teeth of the neighbouring sprocket. I'm not sure that there is any longer any such thing as a dedicated 6s chain that is UG compatible and is worth having; the chains you buy will most likely be described as 6/7/8s compatible.

Given that UG stuff is getting less easy to find now, it is a good idea to try and preserve the original sprockets (*). One way of doing this is to use 'disposable' chains; e.g. KMC Z8S run quietly, shift well and are fairly cheap to buy. Just make sure they don't stay on the bike when they are much past 0.5% worn.

(*) Do you have a cassette or a freewheel? (You could have had either; some folk were not sold on the idea of cassette hubs at first so some bikes were supplied with screw-on freewheels as part of the groupset.) There are options for converting (more easily replaced) HG sprockets to fit onto UG freehub bodies. There are also various options for converting to 7s if you want.

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
keyboardmonkey
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Location: Yorkshire

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by keyboardmonkey »

Thanks, Brucey. I’ll order one or two of those chains.

I do have a cassette.

Would one of the 7 speed options be a straight swap of my 6 speed freehub for a 7 speed one? Is it that simple or would, eg, the wheel have to be redished?
Brucey
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Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by Brucey »

IIRC a 6s UG cassette could be fitted to two different UG freehub bodies; the narrower of these ('6s') would still accept a 7s cassette but the threaded top sprocket overhangs the end of the freehub body slightly, and you may need to put a washer in the RH end of the axle (depending on the frame clearance). The slightly wider one ('7s') will accept a 7s cassette without any changes. Obviously you would need to run friction shifters or get some 7s ones. 7s is still 'period correct' in that the final iteration of 6207 did come with 7s not 6s.

You can normally re-use all the 6s UG sprockets; IIRC the top sprocket either came with a 1mm spacer or without any spacer. The latter type can be used as is if you don't mind 1mm extra spacing, or ground down if not. The former sort can be used with a 0.5mm spacer in 7s. You will need 7s spacers between the sprockets and (of course) one extra sprocket. IIRC the exact spacer width between 7s UG sprockets is 3.05mm.

If you grind one spline on each HG sprocket you can use HG sprockets on a UG freehub body.

FWIW if you have a 6s top sprocket which normally uses a 1mm spacer and you have a 7s freehub body then you can usually build an 8s cassette using 9s spacing (i.e. a shortened 9s cassette) on that freehub body; the top sprocket is the correct width for 9s spacing if you use no spacer at all.

So with a 6s UG setup there are lots of options if you are prepared to do a bit of fiddling about.

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
keyboardmonkey
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Location: Yorkshire

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by keyboardmonkey »

Thanks ever so much, Brucey.

I’m happy to do a little fiddling about...

http://cycleseven.org/fitting-hyperglid ... de-freehub

... and I do currently have a spacer on the freehub body (not sure how thick, though).

On my tourer I have a Deore DX hub with a Uniglide compatible Hyperglide 8 from 9 arrangement, so I have some experience of fiddling about - but that doesn’t extend to redishing wheels, for example.

I hope to pick up a 7 speed freehub body and if it goes straight on I’ll report back with an update. Oh, but do I need a special tool or is it an Allen key job..?
Brucey
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Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by Brucey »

10mm allen key will fit.

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
keyboardmonkey
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Joined: 1 Dec 2009, 5:05pm
Location: Yorkshire

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by keyboardmonkey »

Brucey wrote:10mm allen key will fit.

cheers


Brilliant :D
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Some early six speed freehubs did not have hollow retaining bolts!
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
Brucey
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Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by Brucey »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
Some early six speed freehubs did not have hollow retaining bolts!

yes but 6207 isn't one of them...?

https://si.shimano.com/pdfs/ev/EV-FH-6207-6-0605A.pdf

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
keyboardmonkey
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Joined: 1 Dec 2009, 5:05pm
Location: Yorkshire

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by keyboardmonkey »

Well, it’s Uniglide Central here at Keyboardmonkey Towers. Thanks to a generous fellow forumite I now have two Shimano CN-UG51 chains and, having shuffled around these sprockets and spacers, a cassette that allows me to use the big chain ring without the benefit of a huge tailwind. The original cassette was 13-14-15-17-19-21 - I’ve had a top 24T more recently - and now have a more useable 14-16-18-21-24-28.

Uniglide bits and bobs
Uniglide bits and bobs


Shimano CN-UG51 chain
Shimano CN-UG51 chain

Thanks again, all :-)
Brucey
Posts: 44454
Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by Brucey »

excellent!

FWIW it seems to me that UG sprockets often don't run quite as quietly as HG ones, but since (apart from the top cog obviously) you can easily modify HG sprockets to fit the UG spline, it is really the threaded top cogs that are likely to limit the long-term viability of a UG-based setup. Provided you don't use the sprockets with worn chains, they should last a very long time.

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
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Location: English Riviera

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
That's noisier than a campag freewheel :mrgreen:
That's probably why me and Mick F ended up on our own tour of two on the wimps.....part of the time :) what with his capag and my uniglide not to mention my power noisy sapping tyres.
Yes HG can be very smooth and quite too, as long as its not 1 X 10 :P

On the blocks posted not sure they like big steps between gears also.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
keyboardmonkey
Posts: 1120
Joined: 1 Dec 2009, 5:05pm
Location: Yorkshire

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by keyboardmonkey »

Yes, there is a bit of chain chatter!

I made up the 'new' cassette - a stock cassette that had been on my tourer - by unscrewing the three bolts, setting aside the largest sprocket of the 14-32 cassette (bottom right in the my photo upthread) and replacing the 7sp spacers with 6sp ones (including the thin metal spacer nearest the 14T top sprocket). I did discard a surprisingly worn 24T sprocket with a NOS one. The (shorter) 7sp bolts screwed in to the 18T sprocket, so I've had to put the cassette back on without any retaining bolts.

On the workstand I can't always get to the 14T sprocket when the chain is on the 52 chain ring - although if I temporarily drop to the 42 chain ring the chain drops straight away on to the smallest sprocket. Hmm. Anyway, looking (if not sounding) good, ta :D
Flying-Robert
Posts: 12
Joined: 1 Aug 2020, 11:38am

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by Flying-Robert »

Here my Uniglide CogsImage

Gesendet von meinem CPH1911 mit Tapatalk
Brucey
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Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Chain for Shimano Uniglide cassette

Post by Brucey »

in response to a post which seems to have disappeared; I think you have a case of 'worn sprocket doesn't like new chain' which is a very common problem.

I also suspect that your rear derailleur isn't correctly aligned with the sprockets, but this is likely to be incidental to the other problem.

If the 13T sprocket is even slightly hooked then the chain will tend to 'skip' under load. Nothing to do with the chain dimensions per se, apart from the new chain isn't worn out; what happens is that under load the chain tends to ride up into the 'hooks' and it then won't engage with the sprocket cleanly where it feeds onto the sprocket.

If you consistently load the pedals and wheel the bike forwards slowly (holding it back on the rear brake) you will see the chain failing to engage as described.

It isn't as simple as 'removing the hooks' either; half the problem is the wear makes 'ramps' which the new chain rollers ride up and this can cause problems even if the hooks are not pronounced.

If you ride the bike in the other gears for a few hundred miles you may find that the chain starts to work better on the 13T sprocket. Eventually they will 'make friends' but this could take a long time. Just feel relieved that it isn't one of the other sprockets which you are more likely to use often.

FWIW if you change your chain when the old one is worn about 0.5% the new chain will usually run OK on the (old, slightly worn) sprockets.

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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