can you fit a 9 speed cassette to an old bike?

[konahed]

Simple way is to buy a new 8 speed freehub body, replace the 7 speed with the 8 speed and then shift the axle over a smidge by moving one of the 5mm washers from the non drive side onto the drive side, recentre the axle and then redish the wheel. Alot of faffing for one extra speed so I'd go with the 7 speeds if I was you! Also gives you extra cash to spend on a set of xt thumbies!

Are thumbies still the best 7 speed shifters do you think?

 

[FluffyChicken]

depends what you prefer, Gripshift did 7 speed and I prefer them over thumbies any day.

You should also be able to pick up some 7/8 speed rapidfire.

 

[fatfixie]

still thumbies

only new 7 speed shifters are MC-20 (ALivio). not great quality

 

[Anthony]

7-speed is fine, there are so many other things you can do to improve a bike that will have more effect than moving to 8 or 9 speed.

Chain Reaction still sell STX shifters and I can't believe that anyone who has tried them can say there's anything inferior about them, other than they're a few grammes heavier. They are FAR more positive and reliable than any XT I've ever used. [I also put 8-sp Alivio on a commuter bike once and that had a similar positive action to the STX]

As you can buy a decent 8/9 sp wheel on eBay for the cost of a new freehub body, faffing around with the axle and re-dishing seems a complete waste of time to me.

If you do want to go from 7-sp to 9-sp, you need new shifters, rear wheel, cassette and chain. And although your rear mech will work fine in most gears, you'll probably find that it doesn't have enough capacity for some of the combinations.

 

[stevemar]

another from the "FWIW department", ive got 9 sp cassettes(that have the 34 tooth gear) along with 8's and 7's---cut the rivets holding the cassettes together and sorta made a custom geared 7 sp cass.--- i think my three lowest gears are the 28-32-34 rings---i like climbing
the shifters are thumbies--thats all i want or use--simple and dependable