A little help

nickyburnell

Hi all, recently come back to this game and enjoying it a lot. My last foray was in 1977 or therebouts with the Twickenham CC.
I need a little help as I recon I'm going to accumulate some parts. When I finished in 77 we had block, not cassetts, no STI at all and things were simple! Could someone please point me to an article, or jot a few lines about the cross compatibilty of the varios ratio sets? IE. Can I use 8 speed levers with 7 speed hub, same for 10/9. Can I use triple mechs on double chansets, or triple lever on double etc etc etc. Also bottom bracket, English v not, I seem to remeber this being an older issue? All the above for Shimano will do, although SRAM and Campag most welcome.
If someone does take the time to type all this up I'm happy to chuck a donation to their charity of choice?

Many thanks

andrewjoseph

If using STI levers, it is much easier to use and set up if they match the cassette. using 7 speed STI with 8 speed cassette will mean you are losing one gear, (if they are even compatible, the movement between cogs may not be the same).

if 8 speed and 7 speed mechs are compatible, then using 8 speed shifter and 7 speed cog will give you difficulties setting them up properly, there will be an extra click in the shifter.

similarly with 8/9 and 9/10.

Much easier if you get same speed cassette/shifters/mech. Takes away a lot of headaches.

Same with front mechs. you also need to look at the cage size, too small for the chainrings cause problems as does too big.

Double shifters with triple mech and triple chainrings is just a waste. you might get a triple to work with a double but you will have several clicks before/after anything works.

Just not worth the hassle.

chaymck

http://sheldonbrown.com/

nickyburnell

Many thanks all.

I also found this.

http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3946

Nick