24 speed to 27 speed?

Smithers13

What is needed to upgrade? Is it hard to do?

njee20

Chain, cassette, RH shifter. If your rings are 8 speed specific then you'd benefit from new ones but the old ones will work.

SaintMark

Relatively easy to do yourself, you will need to remove/refit the chain, shifter and cassette and set up your gears again afterwards.

As well as the three key new parts you need to budget for a cassette tool and chain whip if you don't already have them, and maybe cable cutters for the inner cable.

Northwind

It's not actually all that benificial though... If you're replacing worn out old parts it makes sense but if it's all still working you'll get more benefit spending money elsewhere.

diy

I agree with northwind.

If you've been running 8sp for a while then its likely that the front chainrings wont like a new 9sp chain and will suck badly even if they are 9sp compatible.

The Rookie

You may also need a new front mech, 9 speed specific are slightly narrower, although 7/8 speed usually work.

Simon

apreading

+1 cant really see the point unless something is broken and needs replacing already. You can get the same range in an 8 speed, just with less increments between top & bottom - not worth the effort or money in my mind...

The Rookie

I certainly wouldn't do it if everything is in fine fettle, but if you have anything that needs changing (other than a chain) it's worth considering, when we bought the sons Spesh P1 (used) it had a 9 speed cassette on a 24 speed bike (explains why the gears didn't shift right!) and the rear mech was past it's best so we swapped to 27 speed using good quality used parts from ebay/classifieds and it cost £20 (Sram X7 mech, X5 shifter instead of the original X4 parts), you'd need to add a cassette to that.

Simon