Mustangs84

Recently a buddy of mine purchased new SRAM Centura grip shifters and a new SRAM X-7 rear derailleur. However, when he attaches the cable to the derailleur, it will always only shift through 6 gears, sometimes 7. With the cablet tight, it will shift through 3-9. With less tensions, 1-7. This is with the limit screws about 90% of the way out. The derailleur moves freely and all the way through WITHOUT and cables attached. We've both tried to work on this to no avail, and a local shop just suggested replacing eveyrthing again, but he'd like to try and avoid that.

The only thing that I could think of is he's using older, low-quality 9 speed cassettes. I don't know if this would cause this, does anybody have any ideas what could be going on?

Retro Grouch 

His shifters, even though they come from the same manufacturer, don't match his derailleur.

His derailleur is ESP style with 1:1 cable pull ratio. The shifters are Shimano compatable with 2:1 cable pull.

dubes

Retro Grouch is, of course, correct. Hopefully, your friend can exchange the Centuras for a set of SRAM 1:1 shifters. I believe the SX5's are the "lowest end" 1:1 shifters that SRAM makes in a 9-speed configuration. Of course, the X-7, X-9, and X-0 are all available in 9-speed configurations, but at increasing cost.