Road Cycling - Mixing 10-speed Shmano with 9-speed

As a plan for migration I am curious at to what levels I can mix and match the components...

I know to switch from 9-speed to 10 speeds I need to bet the shifters, chain and cassette (and possibly rear D)

My first interest is to replace the 9-speed cranks with the stiffer and better bottom-bracket of the 10 speed.

I know the ramps and pins on the rings are designed for the 10-speed setup... But perhaps it will still work OK enough with the 9-speed or perhaps I could use the 9-speed rings on the 10-speed spyder?

On Campy setups, the chainrings are not only narrower, but sit closer together, so a spacer is needed to use 10spd rings with a 9spd drivetrain. I'm not sure about Dura Ace, but I suspect that the same is true. The bolt centers are the same, so in theory, 9spd rings should fit a 10spd crankset. Your other supposition is correct- shifters, chain, cassette, and rear der are required to make the switch. Not sure about the front der, but at that point, its short money to get a matching gruppo.

GOOD LUCK. there is no backwards compatability. you cannot even order the new durace wheels with a 9 speed compatible cassette. they did not spend the money on r & d without figuring out a way to trickle down the technology at their own pace.

I've been told by a wheel manufacturer that you can put a 10 speed cassette on a 9 speed hub but you can't put a 9 speed cassette on a 10 speed hub.

Straight out of the 2004 Shimano sti faq:
Your nine speed hub will work with the ten speed cassette, but you need to use the spacer that comes with the cassette.
The new crank/chainrings are dsigned to work with the new front der and chain.
The new front der is only compatible with the new crankset
The new chain is only compatible with the new parts
The nine speed cass. will not work on the new 10 wheel

P.S. Not in the faq but the new ten rear der will work with nine speed.

Yep... All good info.

I know I can upgrade the current bike with the entire groupo and will do so (once the price drops a bit and possible bugs get worked out)...

My main goal is converting to the new BB which requires converting to the new crank.

demoncyclist:
Yes I suspect you are right but on the 9-speed there was some sort of trick that if you had 8-speed cranks you could buy the 9-speed inner-ring or flip the inner-ring or something... Want to find out if same is true for the 10-speed... If it is possible to use the 9-speed chain on the 10-speed crank then I may buy the crank this year just to get the stronger BB. If all I need is spacers or to re-flip the ring or just use 9-speed rings... I hope I hope I hope...

shimano says no, but my LBS says the new 10 crank/bb will work fine with everything else 9. i'd like to confirm that, though.

i'm really into that crank, but as i just upgraded to DA9 from ultegra, there's no way i'm going to full DA10 for a while.

Two things to add:

- Unless they changed something in derailleur pull, the 8/9 speed rear derailleur should be compatible with 10-speed Shimano stuff.

- AFAIK, the 10-speed hub has a similar spline pattern than the 9-speed hub, EXCEPT the slines are taller. An enterprising person could buy a 9-speed cassette and file the splines so it fits on a 10-speed hub.

Lastly, if one is looking for closer gears in the running range and a bail-out gear, another option might be to build a custom 9-speed cassette with separate cogs.

You have two choices:

1. Upgrade crannk only - i believe you may have to use yourold chainrings.

2. Upgrade the entire drivetrain.


Period.