CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

9 / 10 speed indexed gears

(12 posts)
  • Started 4 years ago by neddie
  • Latest reply from Snowy
  • This topic is not resolved

  1. neddie
    Member

    So when renovating my old steel-framed bike, I bought a 9-speed transmission to go with it.

    The Shimano shifter/brake levers were advertised by the seller (SJS Cycles) as 9/10 speed compatible.

    But on fitting them to the bike, they appear to have 10 indexes and my cassette 9 rings! The indexing doesn't seems to work properly - usable, but it means fiddling the levers up/down sometimes to stay in the gear you want. Checking the Shimano website direct seems to indicate they are possibly 10-speed only.

    So have I been mis-sold a duffer, or can they be adjusted to index only 9 gears?

    If that can't be done, should I upgrade everything else to 10-speed (££), or change the levers (£££), or just tolerate the misalignment?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  2. Murun Buchstansangur
    Member

    Have you seen Sheldon's wisdom on the matter?

    https://www.sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace.html#alternate

    Although I don't know how or why that would work - fundamentally, I'd have thought the cable pull amount per click of a 10sp shifter would be wrong for a 9sp cassette.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  3. Murun Buchstansangur
    Member

    Would it be ££ to upgrade to 10sp? Not just a Tiagra cassette and 10sp chain? Rear mech should be fine (I think)

    Posted 4 years ago #

  4. Baldcyclist
    Member

    I might be inclined to whine at the shop, and ask for discount on components for your trouble, or warn them it's used and on the way back because it was mis-sold.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  5. Murun Buchstansangur
    Member

    More on that alternate cable routing here:

    https://www.sheldonbrown.com/drivetrain-mixing.shtml#alternate

    Posted 4 years ago #

  6. neddie
    Member

    @Muran,

    I think (?) the front chainrings are 9-speed only

    I guess I should now go away and find out what parts I actually bought!

    Posted 4 years ago #

  7. Murun Buchstansangur
    Member

    @neddie

    Sheldon again:

    "Chainrings/Cranks
    Old Chainrings, New Chains

    There is a lot of confusion about the compatibility of narrow 9- and 10-speed chains with older cranksets. Shimano says you should replace the inner chainring(s) with specially designated 9- or 10-speed ones, but then they're all too eager to sell you stuff, whether you need it or not.
    These chainrings have the teeth slightly farther to the right than the older chainrings to work a little better with the narrower chains. There is no difference whatever in the crank spiders.

    The manufacturers also are concerned about clueless users. The worst-case scenario is that you will be riding along with the bike in its highest gear (large front, small rear) and then for some bizarre reason shift down in front before downshifting in the back. (There is no shift pattern in which it is reasonable to shift in this sequence.) [Not with a 9- or 10-speed cassette, to be sure -- John Allen] If you do shift this way, there's a small chance that the chain might "skate" over the edges of the teeth for maybe half a turn.

    In practice this "problem" almost never materializes. Many, many cyclists are using 9- and 10-speed chains with older cranksets and having no problems whatever."

    https://www.sheldonbrown.com/speeds.html#chainrings

    YMMV

    Posted 4 years ago #

  8. ejstubbs
    Member

    @Murun Buchstansangur: That's about chain compatibility with chainrings, though. It's not got a lot to do with whether neddie's shifters will work with his cassette.

    @neddie: What is the Shimano part number of the shifters you have bought? It'll be on e the nice blue packaging.

    SJS are usually pretty good at Shimano parts. It might be worth giving them a call to check whether the shifters you've bought are compatible with the cassette. If not then, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations, you have 14 days from receipt of the items to inform the seller that you wish to return them. I suspect that SJS would be inclined to help you get any error rectified anyway, rather than you having to invoike your legal rights.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  9. Cyclops
    Member

    There's no such thing as indexed shifters that are compatible with both 9 and 10 speed. Shifters will either be 9 OR 10 spd and it sounds like you've been sold the latter.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  10. ejstubbs
    Member

    Possible that the shifters in question are available in versions which are compatible with either, and the wrong one was ordered/sent?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  11. neddie
    Member

    Thanks for all the helpful responses so far.

    Just checked the shifters and they have “Shimano Sora 9-speed” written on them.

    The mystery deepens...

    Posted 4 years ago #

  12. Snowy
    Member

    Makes sense, the Sora ones are 9 speed. So does it definitely take 8 clicks to move from one end to the other?

    Posted 4 years ago #

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