10spd chain on 9spd drivetrain

10 sp is thinner, shifting will be worse

The main difference between a 9 speed chain and a 10 speed chain is that the 10 speed chain is thinner in width, because of the 10 speed cassette, which in turn means the chain is lighter. e.g. a 10 speed Connex 10s1 chain weighs 260g for 110 links, where as a 9 speed 9s1 chain weighs 274g for 110 links, miniscule but a difference nonetheless.

There is nothing that will happen differently in terms of wear to his cassette or chainrings, some people argue and say that 10 speed chains shift better on 9 speed systems than a 9 speed chain does. I don't think this is true, I run a 10 speed chain on my downhill bike and XC bike, mainly because I have a box of 10 speed chains for my roadbikes. It's all good though.

wiscodh said:

10 sp is thinner, shifting will be worse

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That is such a bull****

Trekrules said:

That is such a bull****

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thank you for the very insightful post.

do you disagree with the thinner aspect or the worse shifting, in my opinion after trying it?

The fact that were was less room for the chain to sit on the wider nine speed teeth made for a lagger set up for me.

wiscodh said:

thank you for the very insightful post.

do you disagree with the thinner aspect or the worse shifting, in my opinion after trying it?

The fact that were was less room for the chain to sit on the wider nine speed teeth made for a lagger set up for me.

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Been riding 10sp chains from kmc for the past two years and none gave me any problems with the shifting preformence on a 9sp cassette with a 9sp drivetrain,the matter of fact is that a 10sp chain is not much thinner than your 9sp chain so the diffirence is soo litle to be noticed compaired to a 9sp chain.

I run large 9sp cassettes on my XC & Trail bikes and the chain keeps shifting super smooth to each cog i shift to,i shift gears better & faster with a 10sp chain than with a 9sp chain from my experience.

So i been running these setups with a 10sp chain, 3x9sp,2x9sp for XC/AM & 1x9sp & 1x5sp for DH and all worked fantastic.I don't see any problems why a 10sp chain can't work with a 9sp cassette since the diffirence between both chains is soo litle these days.

You can run a 10sp chain on 9sp set up, its not recommended but yes it will work. Our KMC x10sl-Ti chains are +/- 241g at 112 links and the KMC x9sl-Ti is +/- 265g at 116 links. I have yet to try a 10sp chain on the 9sp drivetrain but I think Ill be putting on the new KMC x10SL-DLC chain on the bike. Super strong, has a carbon like coating to the plates, extremely stretch proof and comes in full black or red/black.

wiscodh said:

10 sp is thinner, shifting will be better

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10 speed Shimano chain+9 speed Shimano cassette+SRAM XO shifter= best shifting money can buy.

I have been running 10 speed chains on 9 spd mtn stuff for at least 5 years. On the 1X9 trail bike the reduced width seems to lessen grinding and skipping when in the big cogs or when covered in mud.

Hello,

I was looking for some info to learn if I should keep my current setup or not. Here's my two cents

I had for two years a 10sp chain and rear cassette with a 9sp front crankset. Recently the middle chainring of the crankset wore out, the chain too.

Although at the beginning it was okay, when you wear out the crankset the chain starts to slip from the chainring when it is not aligned with the rear sprocket and you have to assist with the derailer, which causes some wear.

Another point is that if there's mud or sand involved, the drivetrain goes all gritty involving quite a bit of friction!

I used a 10sp rear sprocket to have an easier speed to climb with a trailer, but a better approach would be to add one or two bigger sprockets there are good kits out there. Probably what I'll do once the cassette wears out, because it will provide "motivation" to use the third chainring

Bike : Koga-Miyata Grand tourer, used for 120 km / 51 weeks with a trailer full of children. One less car

yuroshek said:

extremely stretch proof

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"stretch" is not really the best descriptiion of what's really happening as your chain wears.
What is actually happening is that the pivot bushings and pins wear. This wear causes the chain’s pitch to grow in length over time, as the inner diameter of these bushings increase and the pins groove out.

anyone else find KMCs 3X and 2X durability claims a little far fetched? "Misleading" might be a better word.

Gary said:

"stretch" is not really the best descriptiion of what's really happening as your chain wears.
What is actually happening is that the pivot bushings and pins wear. This wear causes the chain’s pitch to grow in length over time, as the inner diameter of these bushings increase and the pins groove out.

anyone else find KMCs 3X and 2X durability claims a little far fetched? "Misleading" might be a better word.

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Don't take it personal Gary. It's honestly fine not to have our chains dialed to the Nth degree.

Possibly even liberating.

Gary said:

"stretch" is not really the best descriptiion of what's really happening as your chain wears.
What is actually happening is that the pivot bushings and pins wear. This wear causes the chain’s pitch to grow in length over time, as the inner diameter of these bushings increase and the pins groove out.

anyone else find KMCs 3X and 2X durability claims a little far fetched? "Misleading" might be a better word.

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Great job. You just replied to person that hasnt been on in 4 years, on a bot necro bumbed thread. but solid explanation.

The standard dimensions of the 10s are slightly narrower than 9s. In the 'real world' manufacturing dimensions have a range of variability. So it seems likely that chains will vary slightly from one batch to another and one manufacturer and another. I've read several posts about the use of a 10s chain on a 9s sprocket and find about 1 out of 20 people say there is a problem while the majority say it runs as well or better. Since the 10s is made to tighter/narrower outside dimensions the average 10s chain may work better IMO. A fraction of 9s chains might exceed the specified width and thus have more problems.

It boils down to it being likely that due to some variability between chain and sprocket tolerances that there appears to be a small chance that a 10s chain will not shift well on a 9s sprocket. However, there may be a small fraction of 9s chains that will not work well on a 9s sprocket.