Originally Posted by
rgvg
Well I finished hooking it up and it stops the bike, so I guess I'll stick with it for now. I am not sure I want to go the centerpull route it would just look even funnier to me.
My next question is, what common vintage rear derailleur can work with a 9 speed cassette? I tried a cyclone mk-II long cage and it only goes up to the 8th cog (2nd gear). I think the cable is tight enough, and the adjustment screw is all the way out. The shifter is a Shimano BS50 in friction mode. I have a deore dx somewhere, would that work? Or is it the shifter? This is actually the first time I've tried anything over 7 cogs, so I've no clue.
Alternatively, if I use a smaller cassette such as a 7 or 8 speed, would I need to stick a spacer on the hub? Or no?
It could be the shifter. The Shimano 8-speed down tube index/friction shifter on the 16-speed bike I once owned rotated nearly 180 degrees to shift across the corresponding 8-speed cassette. If I'm not mistaken, your cyclone rear derailleur was designed to be compatible with a pre-indexing shift lever with a larger barrel, which would result in more cable travel (and thus more rear derailleur movement) per degree of lever rotation.
An easy test: with the bike on a repair stand, turn the cranks with your right hand while pushing the bottom of the rear derailleur parallelogram inward with your left hand. With the inner-limit screw backed out all the way, the chain should easily reach the cassette's largest cog. (Be careful not to overshoot and push the chain into the spokes!)
If the chain does indeed reach the largest cog, that tells you that the problem would likely be solved by replacing the index/friction shifter with a shifter from the pre-indexing era.