Upgrading My MTB

Matt Gadgett said:

I'm going to upgrade my 26" 3X8 speed MTB bike (Shimano Alivio) to 3X9
speed. The questions are:-

1) Can I upgrade only RD (to XTR) without changing other related components?

Yes, but there's little point. The performance differences between, say,
XT and XTR are not worth the (large) price difference.

Quoted message said:

2) Can I mix the components such as XTR, LX, Deore and XT?

In most cases, yes. There are complications with certain combinations
though.

Quoted message said:

3) My plan is to use RD (XTR), FD (LX), Cassette (LX), Crankset (Deore) and
Shifter (LX). Is it a good combination?

XTR rear derailleur but only a deore crankset? I would want at least an LX
crankset, and as I've already said, XTR is overkill for the rear mech. If
I were you, I'd just try to go for LX across the board. It's probably your
best bet and will fall inside your budget.

You've also forgotten that you'll have to change your rear hub (and
freehub) to cope with the difference in 8 and 9 speed freehubs. You'll
also need to replace the chain (8 and 9 speed are different widths).

bomba <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Matt Gadgett said:

I'm going to upgrade my 26" 3X8 speed MTB bike (Shimano Alivio) to
3X9 speed. The questions are:-

1) Can I upgrade only RD (to XTR) without changing other related
components?

Yes, but there's little point. The performance differences between,
say, XT and XTR are not worth the (large) price difference.

I don't think there's any point in XTR anywhere unless you're trying to
save weight.

if the original frame had alivio, there's no point in saving weight.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

3) My plan is to use RD (XTR), FD (LX), Cassette (LX), Crankset
(Deore) and Shifter (LX). Is it a good combination?

XTR rear derailleur but only a deore crankset? I would want at least
an LX crankset, and as I've already said, XTR is overkill for the rear
mech. If I were you, I'd just try to go for LX across the board. It's
probably your best bet and will fall inside your budget.

Bear in mind that if you're buying current shimano componentry, you'll have
to replace the bottom bracket, too. Alivio came in square taper (I think);
deore in square and octalink, and current model LX and above in the new
integrated-BB arrangement. You probably don't want the square-taper Deore.

Quoted message said:

You've also forgotten that you'll have to change your rear hub (and
freehub) to cope with the difference in 8 and 9 speed freehubs. You'll
also need to replace the chain (8 and 9 speed are different widths).

This is, I believe, incorrect, although I have not measured. Sheldon
Brown's website says that they're the same overall width, but the 9sp has
smaller spacers between cogs.

I think whatever upgrades you do should be guided by the type of riding you
do, and the deficiencies you perceive in your current bike. Are you
hurting for range on hills? Do you search for gears in the midrange? (the
reason my commuter bike is going to get a road bike cassette (12-25) to
replace the 11-28 that's currently on it; I never touch the granny as it
is, so I will still have extra range.)

-A
--
to email me, run my email address through /usr/bin/caesar
(or rotate by -4)

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

Quoted message said:

Matt Gadgett said:

3) My plan is to use RD (XTR), FD (LX), Cassette (LX), Crankset (Deore)
and
Shifter (LX). Is it a good combination?

If I were you, I'd just try to go for LX across the board. It's probably
your
best bet and will fall inside your budget.

I bought my first bike at the cost of RM1000 and my above upgrading plan
will cost exactly the same price. I think as a rule of thumb (my thumb
maybe) we should not upgrade which cost more than the original stock price.

Quoted message said:

You've also forgotten that you'll have to change your rear hub (and
freehub) to cope with the difference in 8 and 9 speed freehubs. You'll
also need to replace the chain (8 and 9 speed are different widths).

But how come my bike mechanic does not mentioned anything about these? May
be I went to the wrong bike shop!

bomba said:

You've also forgotten that you'll have to change your rear hub (and
freehub) to cope with the difference in 8 and 9 speed freehubs. You'll
also need to replace the chain (8 and 9 speed are different widths).

I thought the hub for 8 and 9 were the same?

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado
remove "mydebt" to reply

They hub on 8 speed v 9 speed is the same .Your Mech was right.Bomba is
right in telling you to go LX across the board You will be happy and not
notice the difference. XTR is for those that really want the top notch stuff
most of us are happy with LX or XT {my preference}But if cost is a issue lx
is fine.A lot of new bike come with Xt rear dr and lx every thing else for
the money its cost effective.
Good luck

Quoted message said:

You've also forgotten that you'll have to change your rear hub (and
freehub) to cope with the difference in 8 and 9 speed freehubs.

You can put a 9 speed cassette on a 8 spd hub but you do need the narrower chain.

bomba <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

You've also forgotten that you'll have to change your rear hub (and
freehub) to cope with the difference in 8 and 9 speed freehubs. You'll
also need to replace the chain (8 and 9 speed are different widths).

I believe only the chain needs to be changed. IIRC Freehubs got bigger
in the 7s to 8s "improvement". The 9s "improvement" squeezed more cogs
in the same space, leading to the narrower 9s chain. Dave Dowler

gazzer said:

Quoted message said:

You've also forgotten that you'll have to change your rear hub (and
freehub) to cope with the difference in 8 and 9 speed freehubs.

You can put a 9 speed cassette on a 8 spd hub but you do need the narrower chain.

I think bomba was testing us with the above statement. About 6 folks
jumped on it, and it would appear he knows better.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado
remove "mydebt" to reply

Dave said:

bomba <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

You've also forgotten that you'll have to change your rear hub (and
freehub) to cope with the difference in 8 and 9 speed freehubs. You'll
also need to replace the chain (8 and 9 speed are different widths).

I believe only the chain needs to be changed. IIRC Freehubs got bigger
in the 7s to 8s "improvement". The 9s "improvement" squeezed more cogs
in the same space, leading to the narrower 9s chain. Dave Dowler

You sir are correct, imho. 8+9 speed cassettes are interchangable on
freehubs but the chain is narrower with the 9speed. And 7 speed is a
shorter freehub and chain close (if not the same?) to that of an 8 speed...

Small Black Dog

Matt Gadgett said:

I'm going to upgrade my 26" 3X8 speed MTB bike (Shimano Alivio) to 3X9
speed. The questions are:-

1) Can I upgrade only RD (to XTR) without changing other related components?

2) Can I mix the components such as XTR, LX, Deore and XT?

3) My plan is to use RD (XTR), FD (LX), Cassette (LX), Crankset (Deore) and
Shifter (LX). Is it a good combination?

TIA.

Having done this myself- you may have to replace your rear hub- depending on if
it is 8 or 8-9 speed.
You'll have to change casesttes for sure from an 8 to a 9 speed cassette.
Also- you'll have to change the chain to a 9 speed specific one.It's narrower.

You may want to go with an XT RD instead of an XTR- I hear that there is very
little difference in performance- more a weight difference.I also hear that LX
is pretty well bombproof, so you may also want to stick with that.

Right now I am running XT RD- with the rest LX all around. I really liked the LX
- had no problems whatsoever.
.. I kept the Alivio crankset- so far it's okay- but I am upgrading to Truvative.

Both my bikes have been upgraded to 9 speed now- the other one is a mixture of
Deore and LX.

It can be done!
Good luck!

Kimba

The hub for 8 and 9 are the same. But who lets a
mechanic do the upgrade, its simple to do and cheaper. And if I was
doing a upgrade to 9 I wouldn't go Alivio. It be LX or above. I've done
an upgrade to 9 but I went 99% Sram. I've even went from 5 to 7 to 8
over some years. Right now I have only one 7 speed bike all the rest
are 8 or 9 speed.

I MTB 2004

bomba said:

XTR rear derailleur but only a deore crankset? I would want at least
an LX crankset, and as I've already said, XTR is overkill for the
rear mech. If I were you, I'd just try to go for LX across the board.
It's probably your best bet and will fall inside your budget.

You've also forgotten that you'll have to change your rear hub (and
freehub) to cope with the difference in 8 and 9 speed freehubs. You'll
also need to replace the chain (8 and 9 speed are different widths).

Oooh Bomba, I was pretty much with you up until this point. 8 and 9 speeds
both use the same cassette body, hence no need to change the hub. 9 speed
just crams one more ring into the same amount of space, hence the need for a
narrower chain.

For the OP -- concur with Bomba on nixing the XTR stuff. XT (and LX for the
most part) performs just as well. With XTR you're paying a premium on
relatively minor weight savings.

Cassette, chain, and rear mech are really all you need to upgrade to 9
speed. Chances are your crankset and front shifter will be fine. Change
if you want to upgrade quality, but you shouldn't have to do it as part of
the 8 to 9 conversion.

Tom

"tcmedara" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:bOD7d.288219$4o.70948@fed1read01:

Quoted message said:

Cassette, chain, and rear mech are really all you need to upgrade to 9
speed. Chances are your crankset and front shifter will be fine.

I think you have something confused. all 8 speed rear mechs should work
with 9 speed; no 8 speed shifters will work with 9 speed.

--
to email me, run my email address through /usr/bin/caesar
(or rotate by -4)

qtq said:

"tcmedara" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:bOD7d.288219$4o.70948@fed1read01:

Quoted message said:

Cassette, chain, and rear mech are really all you need to upgrade to
9 speed. Chances are your crankset and front shifter will be fine.

I think you have something confused. all 8 speed rear mechs should
work with 9 speed; no 8 speed shifters will work with 9 speed.

Oops, good catch. Meant to say rear shifter. Mech obviously doesn't care
whether it's eight or nine. Only twist there is capacity on the older
deraillers, should be okay with anything within the last few years.

Tom

"tcmedara" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:L_E8d.291793$4o.190389@fed1read01:

Quoted message said:

Oops, good catch. Meant to say rear shifter. Mech obviously doesn't
care whether it's eight or nine. Only twist there is capacity on the
older deraillers, should be okay with anything within the last few
years.

8 and 9 are the same width, and both run to the same range (11-34 - not
sure if there are any 36s popular in either 8 or 9), so any derailleur
which does 8 should do 9 Just Fine.

--
to email me, run my email address through /usr/bin/caesar
(or rotate by -4)

qtq said:

"tcmedara" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:L_E8d.291793$4o.190389@fed1read01:

Quoted message said:

Oops, good catch. Meant to say rear shifter. Mech obviously doesn't
care whether it's eight or nine. Only twist there is capacity on the
older deraillers, should be okay with anything within the last few
years.

8 and 9 are the same width, and both run to the same range (11-34 -
not sure if there are any 36s popular in either 8 or 9), so any
derailleur which does 8 should do 9 Just Fine.

I thought I read somewhere that the pre-"Mega 9" rear derailleurs were
potentially problematic with a 34t on the rear. IIRC it depended on the way
the derailleur hanger positioned the derailleur in relation to the cassette.
I guess at this stage it's not a problem unless someone is using older
stuff.

Tom