Dura Ace 7900 Chain Compatability?

Home:Ballyhoura

Hi guys, I picked up a Dura Ace 7900 10 speed chain seeing as it was actually quite cheap (€34.35) and the 7801 chain was out of stock at the time (unbelievably cheap though at €27.67)

My whole bike is set up with last years Dura Ace 7800 and I was just wondering will this chain work or will I have to sell it on? I already did a google search and I didn't come up with one definitive answer yet, just a mixture of different views and opinions. Competitive Cyclist here say that Shimano said it isn't compatable, bike forums here doesn't say much just that all 10 speed chains are the same width and are all intercompatable but that the plates of this new chain were optimized for integration with the 7900 cassette, Slowtwitch here say yes (according to the Shimano compatability chart, despite me already finding out on CompetitiveCyclist that Shimano said no!), Realcyclist here say yes.

So what's the story, it has a 5.88 mm chain width, optimised for 10-speed Super Narrow HG drivetrains. Does this mean it will work or not? I know it won't be as good as using it with the 7900 drivetrain but all I want to know is do the uni-directional, uniquely designed perforated inner plates, even work at all with the old 7800 Dura Ace? I would open it and check it out but I would prefer to leave it in the packaging if I have to sell it on.

Any advice or opinions would be great, so thanks in advance! Cheers

Quigs Snr

Yep it works fine. Runs smooth as silk, I am running the 7900 chain on a full 7800 drivetrain now with no issues and I know of a couple of others doing similar. I hear the chain itself is a little soft from a longevity point of view though.

Shimano's own compatibility diagrams showed it to be compatible also (albeit hard to read those diagrams as I recall).

Home:Ballyhoura

Hi there! Thanks for that, very difficult to get a decent answer to that simple question online surprisingly...so now I'm free to replace my chain! I also got a very reassuring answer to this question just there on my WeightWeenies topic here. Posted in the two locations to see how quick I could get an answer as I need to replace the chain rapido and would have had to take a trip to the lbs tomorrow if it wasn't backwards compatible! Cheers

blorg

AFAIK basically any 10 speed chain will work on any 10 speed drivetrain. I could probably do with some spares, you reckon the 7900 is a good idea Quigs at that price? Have been running 7800 and Ultegra mainly before and they certainly last.

Single Malt

Use a sram speed link, as the DA one can get creaky. The old 10s joining pins do not work.