9 to 10 Speed Conversion
 

I am thinking of converting from a 9 speed rear to 10 speed. A few months ago, I bought a set of 7803 Durace shifters on a big sale and am wondering if I can use the existing front and rear(long arm) Durace 9 speed derailers. The conversion is on a late 2003 Calfee with 130 mm rear spacing with an FSA carbon triple crankset. I currently have the original 11x32 XTR 9 speed on the back with about 15,000 miles. I don't think it will survive the next chain replacement. I also own a 2006 Co-Motion with 10 speed rear. The rear derailer looks very similar except the older 9 speed has larger diameter pulleys. I like the closer spacing of the Co-Motions 12x27 a little better.

So, has anyone used older 9 speed longarm Durace deralliers with 10 speed or know about compatibility? Will the older derailler shift as well if it will work?

The front shouldn't care. I don't think the rear will work. I had to switch mine out. Also, on the wheels, not all 9 speed hubs will work with ten speed cassettes!

Can you fit a 10 sp cassette on a 130mm? This and your questions are probably better fit in the Bicycle Mechanics forum. I think you will get better answers, or a least faster answers.

If the frame steel you should be able to cold set it to 140mm. I think.

he didn't mention if it was a tandem but i'm assuming it is, so this is a good place for the question. yes a 10 speed cassette will fit.

for the OP, why not put it together and see if it works with what you've got, especially since you've already got another great tandem, i wish i had your problems.

it's a calfee, so it's carbon fiber, so no.

Don't do it! Why go to a narrower chain setup, more finicky shifting/adjustment and shorter chain life for the sake of one extra cog?

Also, you may find that your chain will get stuck in between the chainrings on the front - 10 speed chains are just narrow enough to fall in the gap of a 9 speed setup. In my opinion 10 speed is an engineering mistake brought on by the marketing dept.

And what does that make the campy 11? :eek:

Where can you get a 130mm tandem hub free hub?

My LBS convinced me to get the standard for single bikes on my tandem. My bike is a Calfee tandem with the standard road spacing used on single bikes with 10/11 speed cassettes. For the last 1.5 years, I have been running Chris King classic hubs which are 9/10 speed compatible.

Another post brought up the issue about spacing between the front chain rings. I know FSA claims their rings are 9/10 compatible, but I don't know if they have changed the spacing between the rings when 10 speed became the standard?

10% more stupid :)

I use a Campy 10 speed set up and never have had an issue with wear or chain suck. Maybe it is the maintenance I do, maybe it is just good stuff I use. Either way, there is never going to be enough choices for me. I would switch to Campy 11 if I could afford it now.
If we all believed that more speeds is a marketing choice then we would be stuck with fixie's.

ummm, it's called a standard road hub.

that's the reason he chose 130mm dropout spacing, so he could use standard road components making it easy to swap parts from other road bikes especially if you have expensive deep carbon wheels it allows you to use them on many bikes as opposed to buying two sets just because you have different hub spacing. they might not be as strong as some tandem specific stuff but it's a calfee so i'd assume it's pretty that it's much more a racing type of bike than the middle of the road type of functions that most stock, production tandems aim for.

Thanks to all for the advice and suggestions. Comments about the crankset and the derailler prompted me to make a couple of phone calls to tech support.

I called FSA and they said that going from 9 to 10 speed on the FSA Carbon Tandem crankset from 2003 was no problem. The tabs on the crankset did not change with the newer models, only the chainrings were changed. My chainrings need replacing anyway.

Shimano says the rear derailler will probably work. The only gotcha might be that with the larger pulleys and slightly different arm it maybe a little too close to the spokes. The guy I talked with had just put one on his cyclo-cross bike it shifts fine but it maybe too close to the spokes. I guess, I can test this out and get a new derailler if it doesn't work.

As to why do it at all, I do want a little closer spacing on the shifts. Currently, I have 11x32 on the back and I could go 12x27 with 9 speed, but the 12x27 10 speed on my Co-motion shifts almost as well as the 9 speed ( very close ). I actually think that the rear on the Co-motion shifts as well and it is only the shift from granny to the middle chainring that is not quite as nice. So, when I found the levers on sale, I thought I would try 10.

The rear DR. will work OK. I recently fitted a 26T granny ring to one of my road bikes and ran into a problem and needed a long reach rear derailler. I used an XT 9 speed with no problem. Luckily this was on a wheel that had plenty of room between the spokes and the DR. so no problem on hitting them.

"I do want a little closer spacing on the shifts. Currently, I have 11x32 on the back and I could go 12x27 with 9 speed, but the 12x27 10 speed on my Co-motion shifts almost as well as the 9 speed"

It will work, but you will probably have to change from a 33 tooth? to a 28 or 30 tooth chain ring in the front. Check Sheldon Browns site http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/ for your gear inch needs.

Homeyba is correct. You also need to change out your rear hub. You also need to change out the gear in the shift lever. You are currently spaced for a 9-speed and need to change to a 10-speed.
Don't mess around with j-tec. If you can afford a Calfee, you can afford to make the conversion correctly.
TG may have other ideas, since he has a ton more experience than I do

you don't need to change the rear hub. 10 speed cassettes are narrower than 9 speeds and fit on most cassette hubs with the addition of a small spacer

That's not true, the width isn't the problem it's the configuration on the teeth (whatever you call those things) that mate with the hub when you slide the cassette onto the hub. I have two 9 speed wheels/hubs that won't accept a ten speed cassette.

You don't necessarily need to replace the hub. You need to check and make sure it will work. If it's an old style 9sd hub it may not work.

We have been using the 11-28 SRAM 10spd cassettes and find them a good compromise for reasonable
hills (8-10% for a few miles, or a few hundred yards of 15%+). They are more available now than 18mo
ago, at around $70-85. This gives you a lot of close range stuff and a wind out to 45mph on hills.
We start bouncing a lot at cadences above 110.

I did this, upgrading from 9 spd 105 (XT in back) to 10 spd DA (XTR in back). I had a hard time finding a definitive answer as to whether I had to install new chainrings or not. The 9 speed rings worked kinda sorta, but shifting improved a lot when I installed 10 speed rings. My understanding is that the chainring spacing itself is the same, but the teeth on the 10 speed rings are set slightly off center.

And yes, chain life DOES seem kinda short.

The 10 speed components appear to be more expensive than 9 speed. Couple that with a shorter life span that increases the cost even more, and I think I'll stay with 9 speed as long as possible.

I'm never understood the advantage of 10 speeds anyway. I was perfectly happy with the 8 speed setup on our first tandem.

Mike
2002 Co-Motion Supremo

So, why didn't you stay with your 8 spd?

The chain lasts the same on my 8 spd as my 10 spd. That's probably because I'm using a 10 spd chain on my 8 spd.

The new bike came with 9 speed or I would have.

You should go with what you are comfortable with! :) My reasoning for upgrading from 7sp to 8sp to 9sp to now 10sp is because I like a very tight cluster in my cassettes. I really hate big jumps between gears. The more gears you have on there the more range you can have on a tight cluster. For me, that's worth the bucks. If you don't mind the jumps between gears stay with whatever you have. It's that simple!

you mean the splines? like i said MOST work

yeah, those things. I was having a brain fart which is happening more often in my advanced years. ;)