Mountain Biking - Upgrading advice? 8spd to 9spd

I am upgrading my 1999 cannondale F500. I bought new wheels and now I'm was looking to buy new shifters and brakes. My bike is an 8 spd so some parts are hard to come by. I saw Jenson has the 8spd xt shifters for $60. I also saw, on pricepoint, a shimano xt 9spd upgrade kit for $200. The kit includes a rear derailleur, shifter/brake lever combo, chain and cog:

Product Description

Convert your 8-speed to Mega 9! Includes STI shifters/brake levers, rear derailleur, cassette, and chain.

thanks for your replies!

If you can stick with 8 speed, stick with it. I think the term "Upgrading to 9-speed" is a misnomer. I think 9 speed is a step backward.

L8R

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/cboProfile.cfm?SKU=6101

I would personally go with the Deore LX upgrade kit as I don't really feel the need to spend the extra money to get XT.

Your choice though. Both kits come with the same stuff but the XT is a bit lighter and will have slightly better shifting.

If you can stick with 8 speed, stick with it. I think the term "Upgrading to 9-speed" is a misnomer. I think 9 speed is a step backward.

L8RUnfortunately quality 8 speed parts are becoming harder to come by so making the jump to 9 is all but an eventuality for most 8 speed users.
As for it being a step backwards I'm not so sure. One of the best things I ever did for one of my bikes was to convert my 8 speed Alivio commuter to 9 speed LX with a SRAM R9 cassette.
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/11988-347_SHILU9-3-Parts-70-Shimano-Parts-MTB/Shimano-LX-9-Speed-Upgrade-Kit-M-570-Blue_Grey.htm

Go with the 8-sp XT shifters. Quality 8-sp stuff (Shifters, cassettes, chains) is still available, so put off going to 9-sp until you're forced to (As was mentioned, it's not an upgrade).

Unfortunately quality 8 speed parts are becoming harder to come by so making the jump to 9 is all but an eventuality for most 8 speed users.
As for it being a step backwards I'm not so sure. One of the best things I ever did for one of my bikes was to convert my 8 speed Alivio commuter to 9 speed LX with a SRAM R9 cassette.
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/11988-347_SHILU9-3-Parts-70-Shimano-Parts-MTB/Shimano-LX-9-Speed-Upgrade-Kit-M-570-Blue_Grey.htm


Yeah, but you went from Alivio to LX. That's a more significant improvement than from 8 to 9.

When I was running 8 speed stuff, I'd tune the bike and leave it be. Never missed a shift. Never crunched gears. Almost never had chain suck (unless packed with MUD). The 8 speed was flawless. With 9 speed, it's so much more finicky (sp?) and it seems I'm making "fine tuning" adjustments on a regular basis. I'm also having to pull weeds out of the cassette more often. I've gone through 3 9-speed chains. Never had a problem with 8 speed chains!

L8R

Yeah, but you went from Alivio to LX. That's a more significant improvement than from 8 to 9.

When I was running 8 speed stuff, I'd tune the bike and leave it be. Never missed a shift. Never crunched gears. Almost never had chain suck (unless packed with MUD). The 8 speed was flawless. With 9 speed, it's so much more finicky (sp?) and it seems I'm making "fine tuning" adjustments on a regular basis. I'm also having to pull weeds out of the cassette more often. I've gone through 3 9-speed chains. Never had a problem with 8 speed chains!

L8RYeah but who can tell with that XTR cassette you were running Sunday? :D

I'll grant that the jump up was signifigant but I had a lot more problems with the eight speed stuff (always replacing with better than stock mid-level stuff) than I've had with the 9's on either of the bikes. <shrug>

I say go the 9spd route. All though I do think it deffinately can be a bit more finiky (spelling?) The 8-speed seemd to be more set it and that's it until you wear it out. Well at first my 9spd was a pain.. always having issues getting it tuned, but now I have tinkerd with it some more and it honeslty seems to be pretty good. Now I'm not saying you deffinately wont have issues, but I'm also not saying you will ... just that it is possible with enough time to get it set pretty well.

Plus why spend 60 bucks on shifters when you know eventually you will be forced to go to 9spd anyways, so might save the 60bucks and put it towards the 9spd stuff.

(recomend going the sram route, I have had much better luck getting that system setup with better shifting than the shimano end ... and I'm not starting a pissing contest here... just saying what I have found ok)

Good luck and let us know what you do. :D

Hey SLC, I've been debating going to the new X.9 shifters. Do you have them? How are they in comparison with XTR's?

Is the X.9 new derailleur a step up or down from the X.0?

L8R

Hey SLC, I've been debating going to the new X.9 shifters. Do you have them? How are they in comparison with XTR's?

Is the X.9 new derailleur a step up or down from the X.0?

L8R
X.0 is SRAM's top of the line so the X.9 is a step below it kind of the XT of their line.

X.0 is SRAM's top of the line so the X.9 is a step below it kind of the XT of their line.

Yeah, you pretty much hit it right on the head!

But honestly this is my opinion... not saying it's fact... but X.0 seems to be slightly above the XTR stuff and the X.9 seems to be slightly above XT but under XTR. If you ask me the X.9 shifts almost as well as the X.O. If you rip derailures off on a regular basis don't go with the X.O even though it will probably take a harder hit than most other der. I'm gonna go with the X.9 when I upgrade got an old old old old original ESP 9.0 (8-speed) on one of my other bikes now. Actually just ordered a new X.9 for my girls bike cause she ripped of her old 9.0sl (glad to see they went with an alum knuckle since they introduced the X stuff....)

I'll be honest with you though, I have not used the shifter levers except when riding some of my friends bikes, I have used the twist shifters... but am going to change to the lever style as soon as I get some extra cash or a job in a shop again.. LOL. But from what I've seen, I personally wouldn't waist money on the X.9 shifters the X.7 ones work just as well just not as smooth lookin.

Oh and so you all don't think I'm ONLY sram, I do have shimano on two other bikes ;)