Alvio to slx questions

dannloo

I have an 8 speed Alvio cassette paired with Alvio rear dérailleur and Alvio shifters but recently changed my cranks to a pair of shimano slx with xt front derailleur. The cranks are great but have less teeth than my old cranks and so I find that my top (hardest) gear isn't as hard as I need it to be when flying along on the flat. I was wondering if it would make any difference to change to a 9 or even 10 speed setup at the back? Would I get better ratios and get the harder gears for faster riding?

I was thinking of just getting a slx cassette, dérailleur, chain and shifters which would make it 9 speed and would match my cranks. Is this a good idea?!

nicklouse

the small rear cog is the same on most set ups. 11T so you would really need to look at a bigger front ring.

but those tend to be standard at 44T or 42T on OE kit.

what do you have?

dannloo

I have the triple slx crankset which is 42 tooth I believe. I have a hybrid and before it had a cheap suntour with a 48 tooth chain ring but have now turned it into more of a XC bike but feel that on the flats I need a couple of harder gears.

So changing the rear cassette for a 9 or 10 speed one won't make any difference?

supersonic

Not to your top gear, no.

stu8975

Depends how fast you want to go, no real need for uber top speed on xc type stuff, you should still be able to get around 25mph depending on your fitness/cadence with a 42/11 ratio.