The old Drivetrain troubles...

David Lund

After a day up at Dalby my gears are useless, no shifting response, chain skips and jerks over the charirings and the rear mech has so much play its beyond a joke.
You may say, why not just replace the cassette and give it a good service but i end up doing this and sending it off to the LBS practicaly after every ride so im pretty sick of it all.
My idea is to either lump it for now and save my money but have huge problems and an unrideible bike in a few months or so.
OR..
Splash out on all new stuff and buy my bike to perfection.
Im currently running an 07 XT rear mech and a xt front mech, sram chain and 07 xt cassette.
The front mech is perfectly functioning and i have no complaints there as with the newish chain.
Im looking at converting to sram, simply to give it all a try as iv only ever run shimano and never hugly impressed buy them, however im aware of the compatibility issues which i may have to deal with. Im thinking of upgrading to a Sram x.7 9sp Rear mech, sram x.7 shifters and a sram PG950 9sp cassette. Also if money isnt an issue at the time i was thinking of going for the Sram flak jacket gear cabling set to hopefully keep the sh1t out for good.
Does anyone see a problem with this set-up, see any problems with sram e.t.c.?
Thanks in advance for any help
David

johnsav

SRAM is awesome stuff. I run full X9 and its faultless

youl need some 1:1 sram shifters with that mech though.

David Lund

Thanks, thats what iv heared from people i know who ride with it.
As i said id try and get some x.7 shifters, CRC seem to be doing them nice and cheep at the moment!
Have you ever riden x.7 as oposed to x.9, the main reason im looking at the cheeper line is mainly money issues. should i just save and get the better product in the end?
The thing i worry about with expencive mechs is that iv smashed a couple in my time and im not too keen on seeing £60 go down the drain on my first bad ride.
David

supersonic

You can buy the most expensive drivetrain in the world - but without good cables and knowing how to adjust it will be pretty useless!

Why not get new cables for now and see how you egt on?

David Lund

Iv just replaced the cables and outers and after a ride its once again beggered,
The main problam i have is the freewheel which is pretty worn and needs desperatly replacing, i cant go roung one pedal stroke without the chain jumping at least once, so will a sram one be compatible with XT mech?
Also as i mentioned the mech had lots of play in it and its getting fairly bashed up so id be looking at replacing that in the near future, all im thinking is if after i have those two items, would it be worth going the full way and upgrading to the suposidly fantasic sram set-up?
Thanks,
David

Sir HC

The sram cassette will work fine with an XT mech. As long as the top part of the mech doesn't have too much play in it, it will be fine.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=produ ... egoryId=83

David Lund

Great thanks, might order one tonight then!
Does anyone have any more opinions?
Cheers
David

Sir HC

Buy fully sealed cables.

Another option is to drill/dremel out the cable guides and use the plastic inserts that are normally used for the disc hose guides. I've done it on my stinky, just means I can use normal cables.

David Lund

What cables would you recomend?
Iv heared xtr cables are good but the sram ones on CRC have good reviews.
David

johnsav

much of a muchness with coated cables

David Lund

johnsav wrote:

much of a muchness with coated cables

Please expand? :roll:

johnsav

ermm, well they are just much the same really!

ive got the sram x9 cable set. never touched it since install and its grrrrrrrrrreat

David Lund

Hmmm.. would you think it would be worth the upgrade to sram then? inc. shifters?
I think the first port of call would be the cassette and then the cables and il see how i go from there.
Dave

Anonymous

best thing for cbles is to run a complete outer cable from shifter to mech, gives alot less options for sh1t to get in.

as for sram versus shimano, i have:

one bike with xtr shifters and xtr mech
another with sram x0 mech and x9 shifters.
also got a bike with x9 mech and x9 shifters (the old version with indicator windows)
1 x bike with deore mech and old fhioned lx shifters

the 2 sram equiped bikes feel the same, literally the same!! as each other and i love the shifting feel

the xtr set up is very good but there is no real difference between this compared to the same set up but with lx shifters (which was the sandard setup). the only difference is that the xtr shifters have a nice metal lever compared to the plastic one from the lx shifters.
the deore set up feels the same as the xtr one too, im not joking, in a blind taste test, i cant feel any difference.

over all, my fave is sram and i might well be putting the xtr set up up for sale to finance a sram set up instead.

David Lund

Thanks sheepsteeth that was pretty interesting, unfurtunatly i cant have the outer cable running all the way in one stretch due to the mounts on the frame having only one large gap and one small gap (if you get me) and they have no gaps to put an cable tie through but il look into it, Cheers.
Also what do you find is the difference between the xtr and x.9? iv heared sram are mych more percise and 'clunky' and also 'dont seem to go wrong as much' is this true do you find?
Dave

Anonymous

i have read the term "clunky" eveywhere too and im not sure its very accurate.

sram feels more positive i would say, the lever moves further per shift so it is eaier to make one single shift when on the move in the rough stuf. the shifts occur lightening quick.

shimano (xtr, xt, deore) all feels the same as each other but compared to sram the levers feel lighter but less precise in my opinion, it is easy to shift too many gears in one go and i find the shifting result isnt as quick

sram is about a billion times easier to get set up in the first place and remains correctly set up for longer too.


of course this is all my own experience and i dont doubt other folk will have had different encounters.

Anonymous

as for running complete cable outers, as sirhc said, it is possible to drill your cable guides so you dont end up with the slotted flat stop part. then you can pass a hose straight through it.

David Lund

Well what youve said, iv heared many times before so im inclined to trust you on that one.

Iv been looking at the sealed gear gable sets and these have looked to be the most promising-
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=2645
Any thought on them?

Also as i do not have my bike in reach at the moment, what sizes / specifications do i was for the cassette? will is say somewhere on my existing one?
Id just like to know for the future thanks,
Dave

Anonymous

i havent got any real exerience with gear cables but they look like they will be spot on. of course, nothing defends the final stop at the mech end but thats something everyone has to put up with.

as for cassettes, its a case of counting the number of teeth on your big and little cogs.

i like 11-34 as the bigger lowest gear (34) means i hardly ever need to use the granny ring.

Anonymous

ps. i like xt cassettes as they are cheap light and long lasting, also the composite carrier is safe for use with alloy free hubs

David Lund

Brilliant, thanks for the advice!
Il probably get the sram cabling and let you know how it goes.
David

clarkson

i had x9 mech and x7 shifters on my spesh before ditching them for new XT. i didnt like the sram stuff, and im glad i made the move to XT again. the instant release oin the XT shifters is really that instant. you only have to think and it changes.

as for ease of setting up and reliability, i find sram is easier to set up, but shimano is better when set up properly. the shadow mech also hides out of the way more. id say go for shimano. all my bikes are shimano now, and the better for it!