Hello,
If going from 8 speed shifter to a 9 speed,
do I need only the rear shifter changed and keep the original shifter for the front?

If I only need the rear one changed, is it possible to purchase somewhere only the rear one, and not have to buy the whole set?

Can 8 sp. be somehow converted to a 9 sp. (if that is possible, is that advisable?)

Thank you.

Some manufactures sell rear and front shifters separately (I've just ordered a new front shifter from SRAM) - price is a little over half the cost of a pair.

Richard

Telford,
Changing just the rear shifter will probably work fine, but you may have trouble finding just one. You will probably need to change your rear derailleur because the derailleur movement for each "click" will be different since the cogs on a 9sp cassette are slightly thinner and closer together to fit in the same overall width as the 8sp. You will definitely need a 9sp chain for the same reason. If your current 8sp components are high quality, I would stick with them. If they are low end and you are upgrading to a higher component level, go for it. Going from 8 to 9 speeds for the sake of getting more gears won't get you anything that you can't accomplish just by getting a different 8sp cassette. Just trying to save you some money. I went to 9 because I wanted to move up in quality and it just made sense to move on to 9-speed since it didn't cost much more, but I didn't do it just to get more gears.
Regards,
Raymond