Bicycle Mechanics - SRAM/Shimano cassette compatability

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Seaners
06-06-04, 05:48 AM
My friend has a Mountain bike with SRAM 5.0 shifters and SRAM 9.0 rear derailleur(8 speed). So that equals an ESP set-up right? So what's the deal with interchangeability on cassettes? yay or nay? I'm presuming nay as the shifting is indexed differently so itwon't work with a Shimano spaced cassette block. I haven't seen the bike yet to see what cassette is on it now, but he's having shifting problems and I think it might be running a Shimano cassette....

Rev.Chuck
06-06-04, 07:17 AM
The cog spacing should be the same for both.
Retro Grouch
06-06-04, 07:58 AM
My friend has a Mountain bike with SRAM 5.0 shifters and SRAM 9.0 rear derailleur(8 speed). So that equals an ESP set-up right? So what's the deal with interchangeability on cassettes? yay or nay? I'm presuming nay as the shifting is indexed differently so itwon't work with a Shimano spaced cassette block. I haven't seen the bike yet to see what cassette is on it now, but he's having shifting problems and I think it might be running a Shimano cassette....

Actually, I'd suspect the opposite. I've solved a lot of shifting problems just by replacing a SRAM cassette with Shimano.

bg4533
06-06-04, 01:21 PM
Spacing is the same for Shimano and SRAM cassettes. Check out this page at Sheldon Browns site: link (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html) . On my road bike I have a 9speed 105 drivetrain with SRAM R9 cassette and SRAM PC89R chain and it works better than the original 105 chain and cassette. I have heard a lot of people say that Shimano chains do not work well with SRAM cassettes.