Roadies!!! Please help! STI question!

[wPod]

I know there must be some roadies out there that could help me out, or point me in the direction of a good site that could help. I am a mountain biker but my gf has gotten me into road biking. I have been riding my mtb with little skinny (1.5") smooth tires but i am currently building a road bike from various used parts i find at my local bike shop or on e-bay. i only have a few parts left to get, shift/brake levers, derailers, brakes and a chain. so my question is, I just got a wheelset (used - mavic helium) that has and 8-speed cassette. so, if i get a 9-speed STI lever will it work with the 8-speed? cant i just adjust it tight enough so it wouldnt shift into the 9th gear and would seem to be 8 speed? or should i just get some different spacers and add a 9th gear? just curious, thanks for your help!

 

[iGav]

I'd say nope, because your shifter will have 9 index points and you'll only have 8 ratios on your cassette.

Even if you could dial it out, your shifter would be out of sync.

<edit> Actually you probably could get it to work with the 9 speed, but... you'd still have one index left on the shiter, so you'd need to adjust the dérailleur's high gear limit screw to stop it skimming past the 8th ratio.

I came across a similar problem back in the day when XTR was first released, I smacked down some dirty $$$ for the 24sp rapidfire plus and tried to dial it out to work with both a Campagnolo and Suntour dérailleur, I couldn't get the smoothness I wanted so I ended up ponying up the $$$ for the XTR dérailleur too.

 

[wPod]

so there is a chance it will work, but if i want to run smoothly then i should match 9 with 9 with 9 etc. im sure an exter gear and a couple spacers dont cost that much money. though, i might just be able to find a decent 8 speed shifter on e-bay anyway. ive seen a couple, they are just harder to come by than the 9 or 10 speed shifters.

hmm, so another question. . . something ive been running into on e-bay

whats the difference b/w single axis and dual axis brakes? from shimano's site all the new brakes are dual axis. so im guessing these are newer and therefore better?

 

[iGav]

so there is a chance it will work, but if i want to run smoothly then i should match 9 with 9 with 9 etc.

I suspect you could probably get away with it, as you're only missing the one cog, however you'll always have one index click left on the shifter and a really slack gear cable if you ever shift into 9th.

Give it a whirl though you've got nothing to lose, use the high gear limit screw to stop the dérailleur skimming past the last ratio and thus jamming between the cassette and drop outs.

Ideally you want to match the correct speed shifter to the correct cassette.... that'll save you a lot of hassle and you'll see improved shifting performance.

Back in the day, thumbies used to allow you to switch from Index to friction mode which removed the indexing 'click' from the shifter and allowed you to manually change gear by position and adjustment of the lever alone. You'd be sorted if you had that. But as far as I'm aware, ever since Shimano launched STI with the rapidfire and rapidfire plus shifters back in the very early '90's, they've always been indexed only.

whats the difference b/w single axis and dual axis brakes? from shimano's site all the new brakes are dual axis. so im guessing these are newer and therefore better?

Dual pivots are calipers that have exactly that, 2 pivot points. They help to increase braking power and offer a more even distribution of that power.

Single pivots are old skool calipers, with only the one pivot point... and are essentially not as good as dual pivots.

 

[DeSnousa]

Whoa i thought by the thread tittle, that it was going to be an STI (sexual transmitted infection) question.

 

[wPod]

Whoa i thought by the thread tittle, that it was going to be an STI (sexual transmitted infection) question.

Hmm ive only heard it refered to as STD for sexual transmited disease.
anyway. . .

thanks for your input iGav! i actually just found a set of 8-speed levers on e-bay and got them! there was one pair out of the half dozen i was watching that was 8 speed so i figured my chances of getting it werent very high. so now this question could apply to my mtb experience also but i think it should be fine. can i use a 9 speed derailleur on the 8-speed set up? the only difference i can think b/w 8 and 9 speed derailleurs (if there is any dif) is that the 9 speed can move a little bit further. which really wont matter if im using 8 speed b/c the cable adjustments will be what limits the range of the derailler, that and ill probably have to adjust the limit screws slightly more than normal.

so now im getting pretty excited, i only have a few more parts to get, brakes, deraillers (front and rear), chain, cables, and a seat!

 

[iGav]

can i use a 9 speed derailleur on the 8-speed set up?

You should have no problems with that... as you say, it's the shifter which dictates how far the dérailleur moves. As long as you have your alignments and cable tension set up properly on your dérailleur, then you won't know the difference.

so now im getting pretty excited, i only have a few more parts to get, brakes, deraillers (front and rear), chain, cables, and a seat!

You mean 'just the rest of the bike'

Man, what you're doing sooooooooo reminds me of how I was when I first got into mountain biking. I tried sooooo many different combinations of stuff, usually the result of seeing Johnny Tomac riding with unconventional stuff.

I remember seeing a picture of his mountain bike and he was using roadie style dropped bars, so one night off came the handlebars and brakes from a Raleigh Super Equipe, (hey if it worked for the man, then it was good enough for me ) and an hour later...

I tried using short cage dérailleurs (the first one being a salvaged Campagnolo and later an Ultegra) as I used to run road cassettes and chainrings in the summer.

Those were the days...

Post a pic when you're done... love to see what you come up with.

 

[yg17]

Whoa i thought by the thread tittle, that it was going to be an STI (sexual transmitted infection) question.

I was thinking it would be about a Subaru WRX STI

 

[DeSnousa]

Hmm ive only heard it refered to as STD for sexual transmited disease.

Of topic again...

They changed STD to STI because most STI's our curable therefore their not a disease but an infection.

 

[wPod]

Man, what you're doing sooooooooo reminds me of how I was when I first got into mountain biking. I tried sooooo many different combinations of stuff, usually the result of seeing Johnny Tomac riding with unconventional stuff.

Post a pic when you're done... love to see what you come up with.

heh, yeah thats how i first got into mountain biking or biking in general. i was about 15 at the time. following ned overend in any magazine i could find. then i scrapped together my first bike from whatever i could pick up from the guys at my local bike shop. (now that i think about it i probably annoyed them quite a bit!!!) but they would usually sell me parts here and there off of their old bikes as they upgraded or tried out the new stuff. but my road bike should be interesting once it is complete. ill deffintly post a pic!

 

[eva01]

Whoa i thought by the thread tittle, that it was going to be an STI (sexual transmitted infection) question.

So did i. Especially with the roadies part like roadies for a KISS concert they all must have STIs

 

[mpw]

...Man, what you're doing sooooooooo reminds me of how I was when I first got into mountain biking. I tried sooooo many different combinations of stuff...

Ditto

Raleigh Super Equipe...

I had one too.

I tried using short cage dérailleurs ... an Ultegra as I used to run road cassettes and chainrings in the summer.

Ditto

Those were the days...

Yup

My first moutain bike was a Giant with XT in about '88/'89 (£550!)but the frame snapped. Next up was a Cannondale M500>sold for>M800 (with 24" rear wheel and high BB)>swapped for an Italian road bike w/Ultegra>then another M800>then surgery in the early '90's and I've not been back on a bike . As soon as funds allow I'd like either another 'Dale (F800) or a Merlin.

 

[aloofman]

I was thinking it would be about a Subaru WRX STI

And I thought it would be about setting up for a concert.

 

[iGav]

but my road bike should be interesting once it is complete. ill deffintly post a pic!

How you getting on fella?

 

[joetronic]

it can work. I know there is a sora 8 sp brifter. Or, you could always get a sora 9sp, and just adjust the stops on your rear der so that you don't over shift, so the last shift will do nothing. My firtst roadie was set up this way. go talk to your LBS and see what they say.