Trek420 you're right in the fact that the more gears weh have on the rear wheel, the narrower the chain becomes. Not knowing how many gears the old bike had, it's hard to answer the question 'What if?" However, if the bike were anywhere from a 5, 6 or 7 speed rear wheel the old 7/8 speed chains would have worked. And as someone else mentioned, there are plenty of salvage shops around as well.