Any question answered...

Chainring's not very old either though the old chain was very worn. Will inspect though.

ok so its nigh on impossible to find the triple crank 6.5mm spacer .....
can i just run 2x3mm spacers? or does it have to be 1 piece? will i die?

I see. Thanks!

There again Islington has always been full of villains, so my experience may not translate to the inner city;-)

Drivetrain components wear to the level of the most worn bit. Your knackered old chain has fucked your chainring. All of your components are worn to different levels.

Stop being such a fucking cheapskate. Should be the answer to most of your questions.

I'm not being a cheapskate in this case, I replaced the other parts precisely because I they were worn. I only got a few months of low-mileage use out of them which is why I was a bit surprised at the condition of the chain.

Pic for reference, chainring does look a bit worse for wear but surprised if it's dead...

I have a feeling my derailleur has a bit of play in it, need to take a proper look at it when I'm done with thesis

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His gears are slipping. Nothing to do with the chainring.

Aye, I ruled out the chainring because it's NW, if it slipped it wouldn't mesh with chain again or so I thought

What speed chain?

Have you put a chain checker on it?

I'd go with

1. Worn chain or cassette (They'll mesh together eventually)
   
2. badly trimmed mech
   
3. Bent/twisted mech hanger
   
4. You've bought the wrong chain for the cogs
   

Sure it isn't the freehub? If everything else is reasonably new/matching it could be the pawls sticking/failing to engage completely. I had that sensation of slipping with an old freewheel and also on a clapped out BSO rear wheel.

No but worn chainring may accelerate wear on chain...

I thought the chain was 7/8/9 speed but having a look on Google that may not exist so wondering if it's only 9 speed. Even then should still be within tolerance? New a week ago so definitely not worn. If I've bought the wrong one I'll cry.

Could also be freehub, the rear wheel is a complete POS. No time to look at that for now but good candidate

It's still rideable for now as long as I don't hammer on the pedals, if it breaks I'll just have to ride a different bike for a couple of weeks

6/7/8 speed chains are different to 9 speed.

Yeah, I realise this now. Idiot me

Don’t carry on riding it.

Skipping under load can be really dangerous. You might be trying to accelerate out of a dangerous situation when you suddenly hit the deck.

Cost of chain vs potential injuries.

Bollocks, that means I either have to fix one of my other bikes or leave a nice one locked outside the office. Thanks though.

Edit: nice by my standards that is

9-speed chain uses thinner plates and shorter rivets to cope with the reduced inter-sprocket dimension but the internal width is nearly identical.

8-speed = 1.8 mm sprocket thickness
9-speed = 1.78 mm sprocket thickness

I would have thought 9-speed chain on an 8-speed cassette would be fine, certainly isn't going to be the cause of your skipping. Look how the chain is fitting on the sprocket, see if there's some lateral play of the chain on the sprocket - if there is then the chain fits the sprocket fine. Shifting may be shitting though, but friction shifting FTW.

That being said, @dancing james comment about riding with slipping gears is wise. I have done it and would not do it again if I had a choice.

Thanks, very helpful. Will dump the bike in the storage thingy for now and not ride it and look at the chain, derailleur and freehub some time soon.

Details courtesy of Sheldon Brown. The cribsheets on his site are invaluable for bodging!

I’ve done this. Deeply unpleasant. Went pretty much over the bars on an empty road, cracked my helmet and oakleys in two

cracked my helmet and oakleys in two

First time I've seen Oakleys used as a euphemism for testicles

8-speed = 1.8 mm sprocket thickness
9-speed = 1.78 mm sprocket thickness

That might be what somebody measured on one example of a cassette, but the important dimension is the chain roller width. Everything up to 8-speed is 3/32" (2.4mm), from 9-speed up it's 11/128" (2.2mm). The difference after that is plate thickness. In most cases, sprockets (and to a lesser extent chainrings) have always been made with teeth much thinner than the roller width, to the extent that 9/10/11-speed chain will usually run on 5/6/7/8-speed sprockets.

TL;DR: You're right, but for the wrong reason 🙂

^^ that's oaklets