pre Hyperglide, which chain?

[simonineaston]

Readers may have noticed another topic, titled SunTour freewheel, sprockets and compatibility. I've been v. lucky in that I now have a nos Winner Pro body, loaded with unused sprockets, as well as having been able to restore the original Regina freewheel back to usability by replacing the one, badly worn, #3 sprocket.
So this has lead to another burning Q.. Back in the day, before the advent of carefully-profiled teeth courtesy Shimano's well-staffed R&D dept. and their matching chains, what chain/s were regarded as the best performers to use, with old-school freewheels? And are they still made?

[tatanab]

In such circumstances I use bog standard SRAM 8 speed chains which run happily on 5 speed and up to 8. Tuesday I was out on a 1956 machine equipped with one of those chains and gear changes were just fine with not a hint of Japanese equipment in sight.

[simonineaston]

Cool! I've got a name in mind, but to be perfectly honest, now at my age, a lot of memoeries jumble up in to one...
The name I have in mind is Sedisport.

[tatanab]

Yes, Sedisport was the name several decades ago, and they were the usual brand for us to ride especially with what were then called compact freewheels e.g. 6 in the space of 5. I think they may have become part of the SRAM brand. see http://www.bikepro.com/products/chains/sachs-sedis.html

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Sedis sport, Sedis, It's what I use because I'm a purist

But they cost the Earth and you might not even be to buy one anymore.

I have a reasonable stock of course because I'm stupid.

When you're riding it there's a lot of mechanical clunking and whiring
But I like it like that.

Ad said if use a later say eight speed chain or 6-8 speed chain then the gear changing can be quite acceptable.

I'm even considering that type of set up myself.

Uniglide of course, And someone will correct me but the five-speed might have been called something else?

Five-speed freewheels regina etc, It was a good day when I went over to Shimano free wheels.
I do have a SunTour free wheel, which is a bit like a Rolls-Royce, unfortunately it's still a free wheel And not a cassette!
Last Time I used one I managed 1000 miles on the turbo before the axle broke.
That was a solid axle, I'm about the same mileage on a Shimano copy hollow axle again on a free wheel.

[simonineaston]

there's a lot of mechanical clunking and whiring

That was what I was trying to avoid. Academic anyway, as I see that although the company is still in business, they appear to have abandoned the bicycle market. I might just go with a KMC.

[rjb]

Sedis were one of the first to market bushless chains. I purchased one on the local cycle shop advice to replace a bushed Reynolds one which kept developing stiff links when trying to change over a 6 speed Regina block. No idea what the chainline was but the sedis chain coped with it.
Sedis were gobbled up by Sachs then SRAM along with several other small European manufacturers so they could assemble a groupset to rival the likes of Shimano and suntour.

[gregoryoftours]

Sometimes I've found it necessary to use a wider chain than an 8 speed on an old freewheel bike. The shifting at the back will probably be fine but an 8 speed chain can cause problems with the wider spaced chainrings of older chainsets.

I've had a couple where an 8 speed chain was just a little too narrow. When shifting down at the front, the chain would sit against the inner face of the big ring while skating on the teeth of the small ring. Adjusting the front mech to knock the chain further inboard resulted in the chain dropping off entirely. Using a cheap wider 6 speed chain cured the issue.

Ah, I've just seen that there is a current thread discussing this issue over on the bike and bits forum.

[rogerzilla]

A Sedisport is essentially the same as a SRAM "up to 8 speed" chain, although I think the original was 5-7 speed only. Used to buy them cut from bulk length for £4 in the 90s

[simonineaston]

Excellent tips, folks! I settled on an igh, back around 1995, so chains have never really been an issue, but now I have a battered and bruised old Moulton with a freewheel, dating from the mid eighties, chain choice has suddenly become an issue!

[foxyrider]

When i wanted a new chain for my Eroica bike running 6sp Sun Tour New Winner i went through all manner of chains to find one that didn't clank, 7sp (supposed to do 5 & 6 too), 8sp, 9sp and eventually 10sp. I tried Sedis/Sram, Shimano but eventually settled on a KMC X10 which actually runs smoother than my old Regina Oro ever did! Sometimes its worth looking outside of the box.

[simonineaston]

Thanks fr
I've seen nos Regina chains, going for more than I want to pay, so it's a relief to hear that a KMC 10x is a good fit.