commuter - 9 speed for 10 advice

kencandig

have a genesis croix de fer which i commute to work on, 25 miles a day, 125 a week etc on road & cycle paths.

its a 10 speed rear cassette , which means that the chain is thin and keeps wearing out on me which is a pest & getting expensive.

The rear deraileur is a shimano 105, groupset is a shimano HG CS 5600 12T - 27T

The front deraieur is a shimano , chainring a 110 pcd fcr600 50T - 34T

I have no issues with the weird gearing, i rarely need to use the top or granny gear so no problems, just the wear.

ok what do i do to stop throwing away money? i think i would like to change to a 9 speed rear cassette. have looked about and i think the rear deraileur can work fine with 9 or 10 gears. can i fit an hg80 9 speed cassette & chain keeping everything else the same? is that it? do i need to change the front?

seems if i need to change the lot its cheaper to buy a new bike!

advice please

ken

Slow Downcp

I don't think you'll get much more out of a 9 speed than you do a 10 speed - assume that you'll lubing regularly, and also changing cassette when that's worn? Unfortunately, chains are consumable items.

mudcovered

kencandig wrote:

have a genesis croix de fer which i commute to work on, 25 miles a day, 125 a week etc on road & cycle paths.

its a 10 speed rear cassette , which means that the chain is thin and keeps wearing out on me which is a pest & getting expensive.

I have no issues with the weird gearing, i rarely need to use the top or granny gear so no problems, just the wear.

How many miles are you getting between chains? I've got an almost identical drivetrain on my Kona Jake and I do a similar weekly distance but with some mud/dirt riding thrown in.

I've replaced the chain once (after 2.5k miles) and the rear cassette once (at the same time). The refitted chain has already done 3000miles and is still appears fine. I will admit it might be worn (by the 1% rule) but I think its cheaper to just run the whole lot into the ground (chain and then fit replacements). On my old MTB this approach was good for about 10000miles before the chain fell apart. At which point I needed a new chain and cassette. If I'd gone by the chain wear rules I'd have bought several chains an cassettes to cover the same distance. Didn't have any shifting problems until the chain started falling apart.

When I fitted the second chain on the Jake I started doing chain care in a different way. I used to use a chain cleaner and then relube the chain. I now just wipe off the crud and dirt with a rag then relube. So far this appears to be much more friendly to chain lifetime especially in muddy/gritty conditions.

In my experience the 9spd stuff wears at about the same rate as the 10spd stuff. At least if my MTB's are anything to go by.

Mike

kencandig

thanks for the replies, all makes sense & will bin the 9 speed idea.

things match up on the chain front too - about 2500 miles on my last chain, but this one has only done about 1000 and its grinding away as i pedal. its a shimano & was fitted by a shop might be low grade.

my commute too was a muddy hilly one too for most of it, have now moved to the road for the darker hours. makes maintenance / chain cleaning very much easier.

front chainwheel is worn so will replace that, rear cassette looks worn on some sprockets. will replace the lot & run 'er till she goes bang.

mudcovered

kencandig wrote:

things match up on the chain front too - about 2500 miles on my last chain, but this one has only done about 1000 and its grinding away as i pedal. its a shimano & was fitted by a shop might be low grade.

As far as I know the original chain on my Jake was a shimano 105 which is what I replaced it with. Its actually possible that the rear cassette wasn't worn I didn't test to find out I just assumed it was and replaced it.

my commute too was a muddy hilly one too for most of it, have now moved to the road for the darker hours. makes maintenance / chain cleaning very much easier.

I could do that but I'd be trading some wonderful flat canal towpath riding for some quite busy (and hilly roads) so I just put up with the extra chain cleaning. To clean up after a muddy ride I use 3-4 buckets of water over the entire bike. Then I just use a rag to dry the chain and then relube. Seems to be working well with the new stuff. If I have a bad weather week I end up doing this every day but the 10mins it takes seems to be paying off in increased drivetrain life. I was much more lax with the previous chain and I payed the price with it breaking when I was 3miles from home.

Mike