Changing from 9sp to 10sp

macleod113

Hi All,

after halfords broke my left shifter i have had to buy a replacement. the 105 5600 shifter arrived and i will take delight in fitting it myself later.

however i now have a dilema. i will have one shiny black and one old, scratched silver shifter making my bike look uglier than the interior of Borat's mankini.

should i want to match the new shifters up i will need to get a 10 speed rear shifter.

as i only have a 9 speed set up at present, i assume i will need a new chain, cassette and rear mech?

will my front mech be ok? its a double set up so i assumed it would be ok?

it is easy to change all the bits over or should i stick with an ugly bike?

any advice appreciated. thanks

Pross

I think just a new cassette and chain as the shifters control the number of gears not the rear mech (at least that's what I have been told recently).

andy_wrx

MacLeod113 wrote:

should i want to match the new shifters up i will need to get a 10 speed rear shifter.

as i only have a 9 speed set up at present, i assume i will need a new chain, cassette and rear mech?

will my front mech be ok? its a double set up so i assumed it would be ok?

it is easy to change all the bits over or should i stick with an ugly bike?

any advice appreciated. thanks

You're right - 10sp shifter, cassette and chain only needed.

10sp shifters won't work with a 9sp cassette - each click will tell the rear mech to move sideways the distance needed for each cog in a 10sp cassette : the 10sp cogs are closer together than the 9sp, so it won't work.

So you need a 10sp cassette, and you'll then need a 10sp chain, as this is (externally) narrower than a 9sp chain, so needs to be narrower to fit in that narrower gap between the 10sp cogs.
(besides, good idea to change your chain as well when you get a new cassette, as an old worn chain may skip on a new cassette)

Your front & rear derailleurs, chainset, brakes, etc are all fine : the rear mech doesn't 'know' whether you are running 10sp or 9sp - the shifter pulls/releases the correct amount of cable per click for the derailleur to move sideways the distance needed between the cogs on the cassette, hence shifters and cassettes must match, both either be 9sp or both be 10sp, but the derailleurs are fine.

styxd

No, you also need a new rear mech aswell.

John.T

styxd wrote:

No, you also need a new rear mech aswell.

Wrong. You do not. Andy is quite right,

styxd

Guess it must be differetn for road then. My mate had problems with a mtb 10 speed rear mech and 9 speed shifters.

John.T

Should be no problem with Shimano. It is normal practice to use a 9sp MTB mech if you want larger sprockets than 28 teeth on the cassette. All Shimano rear mechs (except some early DA ones and the latest 10sp MTB ones) use the same cable pull. Not sure about Saint though.