Shimano compatability questions

"tony R" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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Hello all, Santa left me a pair of new wheels for my tourer this year. The bike has a

7

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speed set-up. The new rear hub is an Ultegra 8/9 speed. I had planned to

fit

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spacers and a 7 speed cassette (thankyou those who helped on this subject some weeks ago) and
carry on as before. However, now the wheels are here

I'm

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wondering how complicated/expensive it'd be to go to 8 speed. I see Edinburgh Bike Co-op has Dura-
Ace 9 speed downtube shifters for £25. Am I right to assume they 'd be OK with an 8 speed
cassette?

Nope, spacing is different

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The old rear mech is a 1991 XT which could probably do with being replaced anyway. Would these
shifters work with a new XT rear mech?

Yes

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Obviously I'd need an 8 speed chain to go with the cassette but is there anything else I'd need
to think

about?

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Do I need to worry about the chainrings and front mech at all?

Well, you could just go to 9 speed instead - the front mech will be fine, you may have to check
chainrings for being too fat but ours all worked, and since you've got downtube levers, no need to
worry about shifting compatability.

Or cheaper would be to find some 8sp levers, then you can keep the rest of the kit (the old rear
mech should work fine - but a new one would work too).

cheers, clive

tony R said:

Hello all, Santa left me a pair of new wheels for my tourer this year. The bike has a 7 speed set-
up. The new rear hub is an Ultegra 8/9 speed. I had planned to fit spacers and a 7 speed cassette
(thankyou those who helped on this subject some weeks ago) and carry on as before. However, now
the wheels are here I'm wondering how complicated/expensive it'd be to go to 8 speed.

I see Edinburgh Bike Co-op has Dura-Ace 9 speed downtube shifters for £25. Am I right to assume
they 'd be OK with an 8 speed cassette?

I agree with Clive. Best to either go the whole hog to 9-speed, or get 8-speed shifters. Or of
course, stick with plan A: 7-speed.

~PB

tony R said:

Hello all, Santa left me a pair of new wheels for my tourer this year. The bike has a 7 speed set-
up. The new rear hub is an Ultegra 8/9 speed. I had planned to fit spacers and a 7 speed cassette
(thankyou those who helped on this subject some weeks ago) and carry on as before. However, now
the wheels are here I'm wondering how complicated/expensive it'd be to go to 8 speed. I see
Edinburgh Bike Co-op has Dura-Ace 9 speed downtube shifters for £25. Am I right to assume they 'd
be OK with an 8 speed cassette? The old rear mech is a 1991 XT which could probably do with being
replaced anyway. Would these shifters work with a new XT rear mech? Obviously I'd need an 8 speed
chain to go with the cassette but is there anything else I'd need to think about? Do I need to
worry about the chainrings and front mech at all? thanks in advance, tony R.

You'd need 8 speed levers to match an 8 speed cassette as the spacing differ from 8 to 9. If you can
fit 8 sprockets you will most likely fit 9. If not you could take 8 sprockets from a 9 speed
cassette and use 8 clicks from the 9 speed levers (+ a nine speed chain). Sheldon Brown has all this
on his site. I will soon try to use DA 9 Speed DT shifters with 8 from 9 cassette and a Deore XT
mech. I'll post my experiences in the next few weeks. I am waiting for the cassette to arrive and I
need a chain then I will fit them.

8 Speed levers often crop up on eBay, Cyclesense in Tadcaster often have some on eBay, may be worth
calling them to see if the have some in stock.

MSeries said:

tony R said:

Hello all, Santa left me a pair of new wheels for my tourer this year. The bike has a 7 speed set-
up. The new rear hub is an Ultegra 8/9 speed. I had planned to fit spacers and a 7 speed cassette
(thankyou those who helped on this subject some weeks ago) and carry on as before. However, now
the wheels are here I'm wondering how complicated/expensive it'd be to go to 8 speed. I see
Edinburgh Bike Co-op has Dura-Ace 9 speed downtube shifters for £25. Am I right to assume they 'd
be OK with an 8 speed cassette? The old rear mech is a 1991 XT which could probably do with being
replaced anyway. Would these shifters work with a new XT rear mech? Obviously I'd need an 8 speed
chain to go with the cassette but is there anything else I'd need to think about? Do I need to
worry about the chainrings and front mech at all? thanks in advance, tony R.

You'd need 8 speed levers to match an 8 speed cassette as the spacing differ from 8 to 9. If you
can fit 8 sprockets you will most likely fit 9. If not you could take 8 sprockets from a 9 speed
cassette and use 8 clicks from the 9 speed levers (+ a nine speed chain). Sheldon Brown has all
this on his site. I will soon try to use DA 9 Speed DT shifters with 8 from 9 cassette and a Deore
XT mech. I'll post my experiences in the next few weeks. I am waiting for the cassette to arrive
and I need a chain then I will fit them.

8 Speed levers often crop up on eBay, Cyclesense in Tadcaster often have some on eBay, may be
worth calling them to see if the have some in stock.

(I can't do a regular 8 as my frame would need cold setting again, the wheel redishing as it is
currently built for 6/7 and I can't be bothered to do all that)

MSeries said:

8 Speed levers often crop up on eBay, Cyclesense in Tadcaster often have some on eBay, may be
worth calling them to see if the have some in stock.

and here they are

cgi.ebay.co.ukeBayISAPI.dllOpen ↗ 4

this is the guy in Tadcaster, he's had some on before and he is a bike shop. You'll probably get
them for less than a tenner including P&P.

"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I agree with Clive. Best to either go the whole hog to 9-speed, or get 8-speed shifters. Or of
course, stick with plan A: 7-speed.

Thanks to all for the succinct replies. I think I'll just stick to Plan A for the time being and
maybe change if the old bits start to fall apart. I hadn't really considered 9-speed because of
occasional comments here and there about it being a bit fussy/fiddly. As this is a tourer that does
tour occasionally I thought simple/reliable might be preferable. Thanks again,

tony R.