is a 9spd rear derailleur compatible with 8spd set up?

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country

Author	Message

RP1172

Posted: Jan 15, 2012 at 5:53	Quote
Hi I want to upgrade my rear derailleur cos my current one has had it. I found a good deal on a sram x7 one, but that is designed for 9spd and my bike is set up for 8spd, does that matter? also, should i get a long or medium cage, i have a smallish single ring at the front and my and my rear gears are spead out in size a fair bit. thanks!

preston-rider

Posted: Jan 15, 2012 at 23:53	Quote
The size of the cage normally depends on the physical size of the cassette. If you have a small cassette get a short mech, if you have a large cassette get a long mech. Im sure that if you get a 9spd shifter, you should be able to dial in the 9spd mech to work with an 8spd using the limit screws. Some people on pb have used 9spd setups with 4spd cassettes.

deeeight

O+

Posted: Jan 17, 2012 at 2:17

Quote

RP1172 wrote:

Hi
I want to upgrade my rear derailleur cos my current one has had it. I found a good deal on a sram x7 one, but that is designed for 9spd and my bike is set up for 8spd, does that matter? also, should i get a long or medium cage, i have a smallish single ring at the front and my and my rear gears are spead out in size a fair bit.
thanks!

Assuming your existing 8speed shifters are SRAM X-somethings, then yes it'll work fine. There's no difference in derailleur cage/cable pull leverage ratios on any of the SRAM 8-9 speed X series derailleurs. The previously 8speed X5 and X3 groups worked fine with the X7 to X0 shifters and vice versa. If you're running a single-ring setup then the medium cage will do fine.

iffy

Posted: Feb 7, 2012 at 6:58

Quote

Hi, I anm thinking of using 8 speed cass.(SRAM PG850) and a KMC X8 speed chain with an SRAM X0 shifter, will this index OK , has anyone tried it out?

From Sheldons site http://sheldonbrown.com/speeds.html Ive seen that the spacings differ slightly btw. 8-9 cass. 4.34mm vs 4.8mm for SRAM and there is a alt cable trick that works with some rear deraillers ( X9?? ) or the JTek pulley.... yuk!

any recommendations for a bulletproof 9 speed chain(not lightweight)

thanks

Kootenaycycle

Posted: Feb 8, 2012 at 20:07	Quote
I have not had luck using a 9spd shifter on 8spd setups. As for a bomber 9spd chain the sram PC 991 cross step is great. But you want to make sure you are getting the cross step version.

iffy

Posted: Feb 9, 2012 at 2:13	Quote
thanks, mixed opinions on the crossstep chain, looks like it fails easy if neglected might give it a go when i need a new one

Kootenaycycle

Posted: Feb 9, 2012 at 13:02	Quote
I have found that anything neglected will fail. The majority of broken chains from regular use seem to be caused by improper joining of the two ends. That is why I like the sram powerlink better than the Shimano push pin. Easier to do right. That being said bad gear changes, lack of adjustment and maintenance, and plain old bad luck can make your results different.

iffy

Posted: Feb 9, 2012 at 13:39	Quote
True , keep it straight n slippery! Just mentioning that on mbr reviews (FWTW) folk really had different experiences with it. would be interested to know what this secondary rivet thang looks like , ..... i like the powerlink so much i got 4 o them fitted ...so far.. on the 8/9 thing SRAMs web says X9 twistyshft is 8/9 speed...thought they needed different index spacing ?

iffy

Posted: Feb 13, 2012 at 13:16	Quote
heard back from SRAM!!!! they DO make a 8 speed version of the X9 twistshit

bennett346

Posted: Feb 14, 2012 at 16:18

Quote

iffoverload wrote:

twistshit

indeed.

iffy

Posted: Feb 16, 2012 at 3:46	Quote
mi spelchek nowze wot itsz dooing:P

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