Upgrade from 8 to 9 speed.
 

So.. one of my shifters is shot, its old shimano 600 so its had a good life. Talking to the mechanic at the shop it sounds like my options are either buy new 8 speed levers which would cost me ~$140, or I can spend a little more and upgrade to 9speed 105 parts.

To go to 9 speed, I know I need new shift levers, a new cassette, rear derailluer(?), and chain. If I only upgrade those parts, will I have a smooth shifting group? Or do I need a new crankset/front derailluer also?

Also, as I was checking out prices I saw a lot of RD's said 8/9spd. Will my shimano 600 RD work with a 9 speed group too (and work well)?

Thanks in advance.

You may want to think about making the jump all the way to 105 ten speed. It will cost you a tad more but you will be up to the state of current...not that anyone needs 10 speed but...

Just a thought.

Going to 10 speed would require new cranks/chain rings and rear wheel though right? I'm not ready to spend that much on this bike.

My reasoning is my bike is a tad to small for me, doesn't bother me too much... but I don't want to spend too much money on parts I can't take with me to a new bike. The price difference between replacing just the levers with new 8spd ones and upgrading the parts I listed to 9 speed isn't very much ~100~150 more since most of the parts seem to be on sale now. I did consider 10spd though, but I think I'll wait and buy a bike already equiped with it.

Nope, you would need the same things as a swap from 8 to 9 to go from 8 to 10. There are 10 speed specific wheels but an 8/9 speed free hub is forward compatible. You might want to add FD to the list but they are pretty cheap. I think I got like $160 for the new take off 105 10 speed shift levers I sold off my Roubaix so they will cost a little more than the 105 9 speed shifters which are on closeout but you should still be able to get a decent deal.

Edit: For $321.36 you can get the front and rear derailleurs, chain, cassette and shifters from Probikekit.com

Since the shifters are the biggest ticket item, if you were ever considering an upgrade, now's the time to do it. With 10-speed stuff out, there are lots of good deals available on 9-speed components.

Rear derailleurs guide the chain by the center so they don't care how wide the chain is or how many cogs the cassette has. Your present derailleur will work fine. Front derailleurs guide the chain by the sides and are specific for the different width chains required for different numbers of speeds. The difference is so subtle that an 8-speed double front derailleur will work for a 9-speed. I've found it necessary, however, to get a 9-speed front derailleur when upgrading a triple.

Other than the prestigue factor how much you prefer the extra cog that 9 or 10 speed provides depends on the flat road gears that you most commonly use. If 53/16 is your favorite flat road gear, a cassette that lacks a 16 will suck. If it was my bike, I'd figure out what specific cogs I needed and choose a drivetrain that provided them at the lowest cost.

Check out 9-speed stuff on nashbar.com. $139 for 105 brifters or $129 for Tiagra. Braze-on 105 front derailleur for $15. $9 off a Sram chain. $7 off a 105 cassette. You could put a nice little order together. There's usually a web coupon in effect as well. A rear derailleur would be fairly easy to find on ebay.

Thanks again for the replies, this is a lot of help to me.

Grasschopper, I priced out a 10spd setup and it came to over $400 for shimano 105 parts, if I went with a few tiagra parts it could bring the price down a little... its just not worth it given my budget for the one extra gear.

I saw those prices Dtrain, its a great deal for the 105 levers, hard to pass that one up.

So it sounds like all I would need is a new chain, shifters and cassette?

Hey...not so fast...

I have a full 8spd 600 groupo sitting around with 2 sets of STI levers. PM me if interested.

As for your original question - only needing the shifters, cassette, chain, and RD - Yes. Your 8spd wheel will also work with a 9 spd cassette (as well as a 10spd cassette).

Rear derail should be OK. One thing to be aware of is that the throw (lateral deraileur movement to cable pull ratio) can be different between RDs. I believe the Shimano 8-9-10 are all the same(?) if not very similar. Pulley sizes might be a little different as well (11 teeth as opposed to the 10 teeth on the 600). It should work just fine, but odds are your shifting performance would be improved with a new derail (that 600 has to be pretty worn...)

Hi psimet, I am interested, but don't have a clue on how to send a PM... :o

You do not need a new RD. You need new shifters, cassette and chain for going to 9 speed. I went from my old downtube 7 spd shifters to 9 speed with just a new cassette and chain. The friction mode on the downtube shifters worked just fine with 9 spd. Of course, later on I swapped them for STI, but that is a different story. In fact, even an older mtn bike rear derailleur will work fine.

Looks like I have a few more options here.... thanks for making this decision that much harder guys! :D

Now I'm looking at full 10spd groups , minus the brakes.. ~$400 or so. Heck I could go to full campy centaur for ~$500 :( :(

If anyone reads down this far... what would you do?

Well if you go Campy (which is what I would do but that's because I think Campy is superior to Shimano) you WILL have to get new wheels unless you go with a conversion cassette.

The price I put out there was for 105 10s minus the brakes and the crank...you don't need a new crank no matter what you do. If you are fine with 8 speed I would probably buy the used 8 speed parts to be honest...nothing wrong with what you have...if you are upgrading I wouldn't bother with 9 speed...go 10s.

He can just get a new rear hub and rebuild.