8-9 speed

[colinv]

I know this may sound silly, but I have gone and bought a 9 speed cassette and I forgot I'm running a 8 speed system, can I just put the 9 speed cassette in place of the 8 speed one?

[Simon]

No,only if you fit a compatable narrow 9 speed chain plus a 9 speed shifter,not just for the 9 speeds but also for the correct indexing.
Simon.

[jeffhop]

why not take both cassettes apart and use the new cogs with the old spacers as the 9 speed cogs will work with the 8 speed chain, i am assuming that its not a high end cassette that cant be split. i happen to have an 8 speed cassette in vgc sitting in a cupboard doing nothing as i run 9 speed (its 11-28) if your in the uk and want to do a deal let me know.

[jeffhop]

whats that smiley doing in the middle of my post??  the cassette ratio is 11 - 28

[colinv]

Cheers, I got in touch with SRAM and they said it would be ok, as long as I had the chain to match which I have, can't wait to get my 959 back up and running after the wife left it out in the rain , will post some new pics of it soon, but its looking good.

[Matno]

I got in touch with SRAM and they said it would be ok

I'm not sure what you asked SRAM, but you most definitely can NOT run 8 speed shifters with a 9 speed cassette. An 8 speed DERAILLEUR would work fine, but not the cassette. The spacing of the gears is different between 8 and 9 speed cassettes (the overall width is the same, so the 9 speed squeezes the gears closer together). Therefore, if you are really lucky, you might be able to adjust your shifter to cover 3 gears in the middle cleanly, while the others would jump, catch, and ghost shift all over the place. Not good.

Your shifter and your cassette MUST match!

[will]

Well... actually you can

Just don't get too worked up about which gear you're actually in. You can even tweak it to run pretty smoothly, but you'll be missing one or two ratios.

If you were stuck in Darfur, it wouldn't make a darn bit of difference as long as the bike would go, eh?

If you're looking for noiseless precision in front of all your mates, forget it!

Good luck

[Matno]

If you're looking for noiseless precision in front of all your mates, forget it!

Ah. That would be me. Can't stand anything but noiseless precision - in front of my mates or all alone!

[rapiddescent]

+ rear mechs (aka rear derailleur) will work with 8 or 9 speed

+ shifters should match 8 or 9 speeds otherwise the chain will never sit on the gear correctly

+ you can pull apart the new 9 speed and try and choose 8 suitable gears and put back together the the 8 speed spacers but you have to have a 'hole' in the gears somewhere.  Probably better to have it at the end at the 12T.

The 9 speed gears are a little thinner than the 8 speed.  I always use 8 speed because the parts are more durable.

callum
rd/s

[Simon]

I've uploaded an artical on 8-9 speed compatibility in the files section that may be of some interest to you.
Simon.

[Colin]

I've uploaded an artical on 8-9 speed compatibility in the files section that may be of some interest to you.
Simon.

Where? I can't find it............

Col.

[Simon]

Where? I can't find it............

Col.

Click on the files section from the top left box,
scroll down and there are 4 pages,P1 to P4 under the heading 8-9 speed compatibility,,
ignore the last page as this is nothing to do with this subject,no idea how that page got in under that heading,
anyway its there and hopefully of some interest to you,best print them of as the pages are re-sized
for that purpose.
Simon.