I read that friction shifters could handle basically any rear derailleur you link them to. Does that also mean I can put like a 9 speed cassette and derailleur on my bike and it will shift through all 9 in friction mode ?
These are great shifters and you button for the light on the handlebar is amazing. Great Bike.
jablan on
8s and up cassettes are wider than 7s, I don’t think that lever could cover the whole width
knoeier on
It will of course shift 7speed indexed, I know people that used 8 speed cassettes indexed (first gen xtr) So in friction mode you can use any cassette that has the same width. So theoretically even 10 speed could work
Ignaply on
yeah, should be fine, just keep it in friction mode.
phatsackocrap on
In friction mode, it’ll handle 9… possibly 10.
duhnlic on
So if it is indexed (it clicks into place) then it can only accommodate the number of indexes. If this shifter is indexed, I count 7 marks plus there is a 7s; so 7-speed. If it is truly a friction shifter you MIGHT be able to go up to 9-speed but I would be shocked. For instance, I am using a front microshift friction shifter for a 9-speed rear cassette at the moment and it’s my favorite setup to date.
map3k on
It depends a bit on the total cable pull, i.e. the width of the barrel. For example, I have a road downtube shifter from the 6 speed era that works absolutely fine with 7 speed, although the cassette is a bit wider. It was supposed to not work with 8 speed (the manufacturer introduced a model with a wider barrel for 8 speed compatibility), but it nevertheless still worked. But it didn’t work as perfectly as 7 speed in the lowest gear, you could feel you were pushing it, so I went back to 7 speed.
Since this shifter is from the 7 speed era, you might be lucky and it may have enough cable pull reserve to handle 8 speed or even higher (cassettes didn’t really get wider after 8 speed, just the distance between cogs got narrower, which friction shifters don’t care about).
7 Comments
These are great shifters and you button for the light on the handlebar is amazing. Great Bike.
8s and up cassettes are wider than 7s, I don’t think that lever could cover the whole width
It will of course shift 7speed indexed, I know people that used 8 speed cassettes indexed (first gen xtr) So in friction mode you can use any cassette that has the same width. So theoretically even 10 speed could work
yeah, should be fine, just keep it in friction mode.
In friction mode, it’ll handle 9… possibly 10.
So if it is indexed (it clicks into place) then it can only accommodate the number of indexes. If this shifter is indexed, I count 7 marks plus there is a 7s; so 7-speed. If it is truly a friction shifter you MIGHT be able to go up to 9-speed but I would be shocked. For instance, I am using a front microshift friction shifter for a 9-speed rear cassette at the moment and it’s my favorite setup to date.
It depends a bit on the total cable pull, i.e. the width of the barrel. For example, I have a road downtube shifter from the 6 speed era that works absolutely fine with 7 speed, although the cassette is a bit wider. It was supposed to not work with 8 speed (the manufacturer introduced a model with a wider barrel for 8 speed compatibility), but it nevertheless still worked. But it didn’t work as perfectly as 7 speed in the lowest gear, you could feel you were pushing it, so I went back to 7 speed.
Since this shifter is from the 7 speed era, you might be lucky and it may have enough cable pull reserve to handle 8 speed or even higher (cassettes didn’t really get wider after 8 speed, just the distance between cogs got narrower, which friction shifters don’t care about).