Chainset, cassette, chain, rear and front mech upgrades

limb0

After recently having a lot of trouble with slipping gears and also my front mech not moving at all on many occasions i've decieded to bite the bullet and spend some well earned cash on a new Chainset, cassette, chain, rear and front mech or at least some of them.

I haven't got endless amounts of cash but i've come up with some parts that I think would be good upgrades on my Giant XTC SX.

Shimano cassette 9 sd M770 £44.99

Shimano XT chainset hollow tech II M770 £89.99

Shimano XTR rear mech £55.00

Shimano XTR front mech (top swing) £49.99

Shimano XTR 9 speed chain £17.80

As you can probably tell i've only really looked into shimano's range but any suggestions about the above products or by other companies i.e sram at around the same price range that you might reccommend would be very helpful.

My current set up is
Rear Derailleur
Shimano XT

Front Derailleur
Shimano LX

Chainset
TruVativ ISIS

Cassette Shimano Deore 9 Speed (i think)

and shiamno chain, not sure which model.

I want the upgrades to be worth the money as in you can actually feel the difference so any comments at all would be very much appreiciated.
Cheers, Roy.

stevebrock

Sounds like your not set up right!

Your F & R mech are decent bits of kit, seems like you should try some new inner cables, get your gears indexing properly and aslo change your cassette/chain.

If it works ok after that no need to spend anymore cash!

An XTR F mech IMO is a waste of money!

zero303

Yeah, get the current stuff looked at and if it is all screwed then replace with new XT, XTR not worth it...

If the bike is say a year old, new cables, chain and cassette would be a good idea and possibly chain rings.

As for the XT and LX mechs, they'll go on for years and years - I've had Deore, LX and XT mechs that still shift precisely 5, 6, 7 years on...

I'd say go SRAM on the chain...

ChingfordMarin

if you have money to spend then xtr shifters are great

id agree that front mech doesnt really make a difference apart from looking newer

SRAM 971 chain id say

omegas

Before buying anything I would try and find what is not working properly for the gears to slip. Forget the XTR not worth the money unless your trying to keep the weight down, a LX or XT will work fine and last for ages.

With the money you save on the XTR get some good quality gear cables as these are critical to the operation of drive train set up.

supersonic

Yep I agree with the above - try new cables and resetting everything. At the worst you'll probably only need a new chain, cassette and middle chainring. Check the derailleur hanger is straight too.

limb0

Hey cheers for all the help. I got an opinion from my bike shop today and they said that i need a new cassette, cables and chain. And a new front mech and bottom bracket, which does make sense as the front mech doesn't actually move at all now when you press the shifter and it has been playing up for some while. But what does the bottom bracket actually do? and where does it go? never even heard of the part till today.

I think i will just go for XT as like you all said XTR is a bit of a waste of money. Also whats the difference in the SRAM chains listed below as the all seem to be about the same weight and also whats the difference between hollowpin and crossStep and the other 3?

PC-991 HollowPin
PC-991 CrossStep
PC-991
PC-971
PC-951

Cheers. Roy

supersonic

Bottom bracket is the bearing unit that the cranks attatch to. If worn the bearings wobble, and this causes rub on the front mech. Front mechs do sieze, but it is rare - they often can be unsiezed with a good scrub, degrease and oil. The shop having seen it should know best.

The chains are all explained in their entireity on the SRAM website. The PC951 is the budget one, and as you move up, the coatings and construction differs. The Cross step is a stronger pinned version, the Hollow pin a lighter version. PC 971 offers best value.

andyturner28

With the exception of the 07 Xt chainset, i am running all 08 Xt which is a massive improvement over the old Deore cassette, 06 XT rear mech and Deore front mech. I am also using a KMC X9 gold chain which i can highly reccommend. A bit expensive at just under £30 but it dosn't seem to rust as easily as cheaper chains and shifts verry well.
On my old frame i also used the XTR sealed cable kit, which was fantastic! In 3 months and around 900miles riding in thick mud i never had to adjust anything. Unfortunately my new frame runs full length cables so i can't use them any more, and they don't seem to do it in full length!

Andy.

limb0

Whats the advantages of a top swing front mech over a conventional swing mech and which one do i need to by for my XTC SX

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... 5360031035

The BB mount or multi fit?

Cheers Roy.

supersonic

Multifit comes with shims to fit most seat tubes.

The swing is where the clamp is positioned for the seattube: up high (bottom swing), down low (top swing) - depends if anything is in the way. Get what you have already!

Bottom brackets mounted ones use a special bracket that fits against the BB shell, and not on the seat tube.