I’ve been wondering lately about this, i only use about three gears out of the eighteen on my bike any more would only confuse me.
what are the benefits of 10 speed, is it just an extra set of ratios? are they going to phase out 9 speed, and how many is too many, will they bring out 33 speed next?
Sorry if this has been covered.

why do you need 10 sprockets? because marketing says you do, will they phase out 9spd yes, the XTR and XT stuff will disappear first followed by the cheaper stuff. It will take years though.

Anyway, 10spd allows you to maintain a more even cadence by giving reducing gaps between gears, something far more noticeable on the road than off. The advantage of 10spd off is by having wider ratio cassette you can avoid using the front shifter, and it tends to be changing chainrings that causes problems.

The only thing that attracts me to 10 speed is the wider ratio for a single ring setup, I’d like the 11-36 cassette. But then, the only reason that’s a 10-speed benefit is that SRAM and Shimano have chosen not to make an 11-36 9-speed to try and encourage people onto 10. Which is crap.

Don’t need 30 gears, one of mine has 9, 2 have 18, one has 21. All perfectly fit for purpose.

nope.will stick to my xt 9 speed setup until i have no choice but to change to 10 speed.

run 16 gears on two of mine and still happy.

Thanks for the info guys, thinking about it now 11- 36 would probably be ideal for me, i wish i had asked this question before buying a whole new 9 speed setup for my new build..

NW – You could always buy a 12-36 9 speed cassette and a separate 11T sprocket

Aye, thinking of doing that when the SLX one wears out, but it’s not ideal, since they only do the 36 on low end cassettes. But yep, definately an option.

But then, the only reason that’s a 10-speed benefit is that SRAM and Shimano have chosen not to make an 11-36 9-speed to try and encourage people onto 10. Which is crap.

indeed. if they made an xt 11-36 cassette I’d buy into 1×9. Not going for 1×10 as there’s too much new stuff to buy

10 is expensive 9 in cheap. id never change my 9 speed for 10, and i have just built a bike up using 9 speed componants, cant see why you have to have 10speed, i suppose if i was going 9/1 or 10/1 i would prehaps spend the extra on the 10/1 set up.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EbVKWCpNFhY[/video]

mountainman123, i am a bit confused by your comment about cost? XT costs what XT costs, be it 9spd or 10spd there is really very little/no price difference. You can buy old stock XT cheaper because it is old stock but that isn’t really a fair comparison and to say 10spd XTR costs more than 9spd Deore is stating the blindingly obvious.

There are reasons not to go 10spd, but cost isn’t really one of them.

But i guess as per the past 20+ years some riders will say it was better back in the day, would i go back to 7spd XT 2 and rapidfire plus Hi pro cantis 46,36,24 chainsets, 12,28 cassettes?, No on the whole it was heavy and didn’t work as well as the new stuff.

As for a 11-36 9 spd cassette, To me the spread would be to great, You have to loose a gear to gain a gear. 10 spd lets you extend the range without loosing anything in the process.

Well there is a price diffrence, even 10 speed chain links are £8 were a 9 speed one is £2 9 speed xtr chain £22 10 speed xtr chain £45, doesnt matter wether its 2010 stock or 2011, its all new and it hasnt changed!
Most people now run 18 or 20 gears now adays with the use of a double up front, so why they bothered to make a 30 gear set up ill never know. People are actualy going back to the olden days and using less.
I use a 11/34 on the rear and a 22/34 up front, dont know why anyone would want more.

Honestly think that XT sl m740 shifters were the best they ever produced (albeit not two way), together with reusable sram powerlinks I wish I’d stayed with 8 speed on more of my bikes 🙁

madison prices, XT hg93 £33 and HG94 £40;Dura-ace 9spd is £37 and XTR 10spd is £50, so it seems the chain is a little more if you stick with the shimano items. But the chain link isn’t a shimano item so mute point. as i could find cheaper non shimano chains to balance.

I could counter that Madison list the 9spd XT front mechs at more than the 10spd items. only £4 but still more? and XTR is actually a £20 saving for the rear mech.

And yes i know you can get the stuff grey import or from rose/bike24/actionsports for less.

As for most people running a double, to be honest i know of one or two riders out of dozens who run a double.

Why make a 30 gear range, that doesn’t make alot of sense to me, i would just follow SRAM and go 2×10, but marketing is marketing and more sells. Most people buy bikes and ride them, not many people actually spec a bike and change things about beyond what breaks/wears out.

Why are most people convinced that they need more and more travel? simple marketing.

“I use a 11/34 on the rear and a 22/34 up front, dont know why anyone would want more.”

Never spun out on a 46×11 going into Les Linderets from Rockcake ? You haven’t lived.
We entered the car park (and over the drainage ditch of death) at over 75 kph when trying to catch time up after a late start to the 2008 passportes…

10 is expensive 9 in cheap

maybe for some consumable parts. 10sp groupset vs 9sp groupset is hardly any difference.

10spd allows you to maintain a more even cadence by giving reducing gaps between gears

can only really make 2 gaps narrower?
for me, if I take the plunge, it’d be to gain a bonus gear on the middle and maybe drop the granny.

Most people now run 18 or 20 gears now adays with the use of a double up front

doubt it. i’d wager that most are 24 or 27 (3×8 or 3×9) straight from the shop, unless someone wanted a jump/dirt/dh or something special. most/many now are probably 2×10 or 3×10 depending on whether the mfr has a deal with shimano or sram.

the XTR and XT stuff will disappear first followed by the cheaper stuff. It will take years though.

cassettes, chains etc. yes. plenty of online stores seem to have dropped 9sp major components or at least relegated them. at least 2 I was pricing up with have deals on 10sp groupset, but need to buy 9sp individually and shop around. to the point where 9sp is verging on uneconomical, if you classify a 10sp groupset as “getting more for your money”.

personally I’d prefer to stick with 9sp. for now.

mrmo – Member

As for a 11-36 9 spd cassette, To me the spread would be to great, You have to loose a gear to gain a gear. 10 spd lets you extend the range without loosing anything in the process.

The difference is very small- the same as the difference between a 32 and 34, and not many people even notice that never mind object to it.

northwind, i am not talking about going from 32 to 34, but rather loosing the 12 to gain an 11 or loosing the 13 to gain a 36, i guess it depends on the rider and where you ride but i find the gaps annoying and don’t want more.

22:34 (nine speed) pretty much equivalent to 24:36 (ten speed). So I could have a 24/36/48 on the front – or even 24/38/52 ! If anyone made these sizes in micro I’d upgrade in an instant.

Am I the only person interested in that end of the spectrum ? I’m feeling very out of touch with the mainstream…

mrmo – Member

northwind, i am not talking about going from 32 to 34, but rather loosing the 12 to gain an 11 or loosing the 13 to gain a 36

It’s the same thing- they had to shift the ratios by exactly the same amount to expand cassettes from 11-32 to 11-34. Lots of people thought that was a bad idea as the gaps would be too wide but it’s been very widely accepted.

(Shimano’s M770 11-32 cassette has: 11-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32
Shimano’s M770 11-34 cassette has: 11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34)