askrom

A friend has a newish wheelset he's getting rid of, and I'm thinking I might take it and put it on my current friction-derailleur road bike.

Assuming I put a 8, 9, or 10-speed casette on it, would it work with my friction shifters?

Would I be better off going with a 8-speed instead of the 9 or 10? I'm thinking this because it would make it a little easier to fine-tune my shifting.

Would I need a new chain?

Another thing I'm thinking is that, someday, I might upgrade my shifting system and would want to have a wheel/cassette setup suitable for newer shifters.

Thanks!

af895

I"m going to go on a bit of a tangent here but I hope it helps answer some of your questions.

Sheldon Brown, a regular of this and many other online bike forums, has an excellent page on all things freewheel/cassette related. I refer to it a lot.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html

My understanding, assuming Shimano compatible hubs, you can use 8, 9 and 10 speed cassettes on the same hubs. Derailleurs "don't care" because they basically just move the chain across the space occupied by the cassette - how much it moves is a function of the shifter (lever, gripshift etc). Caveat: if you use large rear cogs and/or a widely geared ring-set (say, a road triple 52/40/30) you need a rear derailleur that has the chain capacity to handle it. (long-cage MTB derailleurs typically)

You will need to select a chain width based on 8, 9 or 10 speed.

One thing: all extra sprockets give you is tighter spacing between gears, not a greater potential range.

I have an 8-speed cassette that goes from 11T for the high gear and 34T for the low gear. That's the absolute smallest and largest you will ever find on any 7, 8, 9 or 10 speed cassette.

If you find "gaps" between gears while riding, more cogs would let you buy or build a cassette with narrower gaps.

If you see the term "corn cob" referring to a cassette, it's generally one with only a single tooth difference between each cog. The popularity for these is time-trialists probably riding flat-ish rides where they want optimum cadence. That kind of tiny change in gearing lets them work in a specific cadence range for best efficiency.

I can personally live with a multi-tooth gap between cogs so I stick with the 8-speed as opposed to going 9 or 10.

genericbikedude

^^^--Right. You're fine. Do it. 7 or 8 speed can use generic 3/32" chain. Fancier chain doesn't hurt anything, but its not as crucial for friction. For 9 or 10, you need the specific chain.

The Speaker Guy

I ran a 105 nine speed on friction shifters, worked well. Was a bit more touchy, as the same travel resolves 50% more gears than the original. I shifted less than when using indexed system, and tried to rest my thumb on the tube to steady my hand while shifting.

askrom

Thanks, folks! The Speaker Guy's comment about the "touchiness" of friction shifting within a tight 9-gear range (I'm at 6 right now) is exactly what I am concerned about. I'm leaning towards going with an 8-speed to be safe -- no need for special chains, less touchiness in the shifting, and it's still 2 gears more than I have now.

sydney

'Touchiness' is also a a function of the shifter barrel diameter. Smaller diameter works better for 9 and 10 speed.

HillRider

If your current 6-speed is an old design based on friction shifting technology, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how precise and fast current 7, 8,9 or 10-speed cassettes shift, particularly under load. The various shaped teeth and ramps that make index shifting possible also improve shift quality with friction shifters.