9 speeds

joey0301

Hi, is it a must have now to have 9 speed rather than 8 speed

The bloke in the bike shop was saying that 8 speed has gone out and replacement parts and upgrades would be impossible and 9 speed is the only way to go - was he telling the truth or just trying to get me to spend more cash.

Also how much difference to my ride will those extra gears make?

thanks

supersonic

He's talking mostly rubbish.

8 speed stops at Alivio, which is still decent stuff, just not as light as Deore and above. Upgrades, well, you can still get older 8 speed XT and even XTR.

The parts will be around for ages.

The extra gear reduce the gaps in the ratios.

joey0301

supersonic wrote:

The extra gear reduce the gaps in the ratios.

please can you explain that to me thanks?

supersonic

If your cassette is 11-32 teeth, then having 9 cogs in there instead of 8 will reduce the size of the jumps to the next cog in some case it maybe go 24-32 on the 8 and 24-28-32 on the 9. Or another combo.

nicklouse

Also note that some bikes are coming out with 7sp next year.

supersonic

And possibly with freewheels rather than cassettes.

nicklouse

"But the LBS told me they went the way of the Dodo!"

unfortunately the Dodo will not be making a come back but under (poorly) speced bikes are!