Without wanting to incur the wrath of the newsgroup purists (you know who you are), I need to ask a
technical question, but one specific to MTB's, so I'm asking here rather than rec.bicycles.tech...
I had an 8 speed bike... STX 8 speed shifters, 8 speed cassette... I was recently talked into buying
an XT front mech by my wife (her brother was working in the shop, and told me I had to buy something
to make him look good - how cool is that!!)
Now, because the XT mech was incompatible with my crappy chainrings (24-34-42), I bought a set of
deore hollowtech 22-32-44 9-speed rings with cranks, and of course - the essential XT rear mech
too.... (This shop had 35% off a bunch of shimano stuff - so it was a great price)
Now, I'm quite good at setting up gearing, and I bought a new BB to improve the chainline which was
too wide at the front with the lower profile cranks, and am basically there, all gears can be
shifted into. The trouble is - the chain just about rubs on the front derailleur on one side of the
other. ie Lets say your in the middle chainring, if the chain is just touching one side on the 1st
cassette cog, I can tighten the cable so its not, but then it will touch on the 8th cog...
Now I know a 9 speed cassette would be preferable, and matching shifters too - but I've already
spent the budget on these other parts, and I thought that a 9 speed cassette is the same high to low
width than 8 speed, its just the spacing which is different. So - the only thing I can think of is
that the chain is too thick...
So in my usual round about way - all I need to know is - will a 9-speed chain help? Is it indeed
thinner, as I only need to save about 1mm to prevent the rubbing? and will a 9-speed chain work with
an 8-speed cassette?
Cheers then
CandT