Ok, I have to vent. I decided to put a new chain on my MTB, in the interest of preserving the rest of my drivetrain. The chain I took off measures less than 12-1/16" for 12 links, so I figued the cassette would be fine. Both the cassette and chain had maybe 2 months of riding on them. I throw on a new chain, and it skips in every gear. Useless. I used to get 2 seasons out of a 7 speed cassette, and 1 season out of a chain, no problem. This 9 speed crap is way too fragile for mountain bike use. To add insult to injury, it costs 2x as much. Don't even get me started on the excessive wheel dish....that's another rant.

I went back to 7 speed at the back, and it works great. Same gear range, just not as closely spaced. Much more sensible for off road, IMO.

Werd!!

That's why I'm running Old Stock 8-speed stuff on my bike. If I find any 8-speed stuff on closeout, I buy it up! Chains aren't too hard to come by, but shifters and cassettes are becoming harder to find.

If anyone knows of any XT or XTR level 8 spd stuff, PM me!!!

ebay seems to be the easiest place to score that stuff, every once in awhile you see NOS 8 speed setups for sale.

ya just did a search on ebay on mtn bike shifters for "8 speed XT" and got 5 hits... Cambrias ebay store as 2 Brand new.

About 2, maybe 3 years ago, I picked up a set of 8 spd shifter pods for $29 N.I.B.

That's what I'm talking about!!!!

thats odd, ive never had a problem with my 9 speed stuff. My cassette has at least 600 miles on it

How rough of miles? Not too rough, I suspect...

Same here and I'm A2's size.

What cassette is it? SRAM cassettes are cheap and seem to last. My 970 cost me 15 bucks new on ebay. But soon i might change it, i dont know why the 990 is so much lighter though. Do you?

I run an XT on the trail bike and a SRAM R9 on the commuter. The MTB PG990 has a composite spider.

Whats a spider? Is that the thing that holds several of the cogs as a single unit? I know the manual of my rear hub says to use a cassette with a spider

Yes

Well do you think that not running a spider even though the manual says to will harm the freehub body?

Why is it that 8 speed stuff is discontinued but it's still available from the factory on many bikes? Are you left having to upgrade your entire drivetrain if part of it breaks?

It's still being made, just not in the quantities of years past. If you want to pay full price you can still get some stuff, but sooner or later it'll stop being produced and you'll (I'll) be forced to upgrade.

I've gone through 3 chains, two cassettes. Plus, a lot more fine tuning is involved for butter smooth shifting. With 8 speed, you get close and it's great!

I haven't had any problems on my 9 speed.

By the numbers, 9 spd cogs and chains are not that much smaller than 7 or 8 spd as far as load capacity is concerned. The differece is probbably in the quality level you chose. Regardless of the ammount of gears I will only use steel cassettes. I have had numerous probs with alloy cogs, a lot of which would be corrected by a spider equipped set, but thats too much dough for me.
If the cogs are made of steel and chrome or nickel plated(as a lot of the lower level ones are and a lot of Sram's are) and the chain is XT(if shimano but not my choice) or Sram PC-68 or better, you should be able to get a full season or more out of it. I get a a full XC season and a winter on my chains and 2 seasons on the cogs before I change out(and that is before they are truly worn).

i still use my 8spd cause it works and 9spd would cost too much $ to goto. Wish QBP still had 8spd lx/xt/xtr components for sale.

https://www.pricepoint.com/detail/134...illeur-Kit.htm
https://www.pricepoint.com/detail/128...illeur-Set.htm
https://www.pricepoint.com/detail/129...d-Cassette.htm
$105 it's not as bad as you think.

I hear what you are saying. I do not completely understand why I am having so many difficulties. I was using a mid level sram chromed steel cassette, and high end sram chain. I think what is happening is excessive roller wear, due to the smaller load bearing surface on the 9s chain. As I noted, the length of the chain has not changed much, maybe 1/16" over 20 link pairs. The cogs themselves are very similar in thickness to the 7 speed stuff...maybe 5% difference according to my micrometer. As you point out, that is not a significant difference in terms of load bearing on the tooth face. I am really surprised. For reference, we are talking about the same trail, same rider, same bike, same milage and same maintenance routine. The only thing that is significantly different is the 9s driveline. I've had 9s 3 cassettes and 3 chains of various branding wear out in short order, so I know it is not a fluke. I am a fairly strong, heavy rider, and I do a lot of climbing in the granny gear which probably exagerates the wear of the weaker 9s stuff. I'm done with it.