compatibility question
 

Hello,
I am in the market for a new bicycle. I have happened across a stages PM Sram rival. I was thinking of either the Defy 3 by Giant or the 2.1 made by Fuji. The defy is 9spd and the Fuji is 9spd but has a 9/10spd rear derailleur. Would the only swap needed then be just shifters and the crankset? How about the Defy 3? What changes would I need to make? I ask this because I have only seen SRAM cranksets offered in 10spd. I was thinking of getting a sram apex crankset.

Cheers,

Dos

You can most likely put a SRAM 10-speed crankset on either bike with no problem, with no other changes needed.

Changing shifters would only be necessary if you want to upgrade the bike from 9-speed to 10 or 11. If you swap the shifters, you'll obviously need to change out the cassette to match.

Are the bikes you are considering used? Unless their prices are very low and the bikes in otherwise excellent condition, buying them and then upgrading from 9 to 10-speed will be more expensive than buying a 10-speed bike right from the start. Brifters and cranks are the most expensive components to change.

BTW, if you do change the brifters, cassette and chain, and possibly the front derailleur to 10-speed, you could still use your 9-speed crank with no problems.

Another factor is can you do the work yourself and do you have the required tools? If you have to have the work done by a bike shop, the cost will be even higher and even less attractive.

speeds = count cogs on the back wheel.. cranks only have 3 at most ..

its not going to make you any faster (no free lunch)

new 10 speed chains will cost more.. than 9, 8 or 7 ..

Thanks for the responses. I guess a very condensed version of the question is: Can I jsut upgrade the crankset to an Apex crankset (so it can work with the PM) and not have to touch the other components.

Yes, probably, as mentioned in the very first response. ;-)

Thanks, I missed that one :)

If you are considering buying the Defy 3 and upgrading it to 10 speed, the best and by far the cheapest way to do this is by buying the Defy 2