I only ask this because I bought a new 9 speed Ultegra cassette silly cheap in a charity shop recently, and I ride a mountain bike. Would it fit my bike?

I currently have a bog standard Shimano 8 speed cassette (and I know I’d need a long cage derailleur and a 9-speed shifter and chain). Should I hang on to it till I next need to replace my chain etc, or flog it on Ebay instead?

It should fit your hub. However, the ratio spread wont be that large I would imagine, probably only 12-25 or something. That’s going to be pretty limiting on an mtb unless you just go downhill, in which case having close ratios seems quite popular.

I’d stick it on ebay or one of the DH forums, or a roadie forum, or here etc…

12-27 actually (so pretty much what you said). And my current 8 speed has (goes downstairs and counts…) 11-30. So I’d reduce my range at both ends. I wouldn’t mind not having such a low gear, but wouldn’t want to lose the highest, so I’ll sell this cassette. Ta!

It will work fine. No need for a longer cage mech though, less gear spread means less slack to take up so you can use a shorter cage mech.

It will work fine on a mountain bike, I ran one briefly a number of years ago and the only issue I had was that the ratios were really too closely spaced for an XC bike IMO, and I found myself constantly changing gear. That, and with 3 chainrings up front there were a lot of crossover ratios, better to run 2 chainrings and an 11-32 or 11-34 9spd cassette IMO…

If you do want to sell it though, I’m after a 12-27 9spd for my road bike, and can’t find one in stock anywhere right now… I’ll have it off you and you could buy an 11-32 or 11-34 with the proceeds!

stick with 8 speed dyl, it’s massively cheaper to replace than 9 for like for like quality cassettes/chains. (you won’t find anything above XT equivalent anymore tho)

Thanks for the advice guys. I’ll stick with my current setup, which does work very nicely, though the 9 speed mountain bike I built for my girlfriend seems smoother, but that’s probably down to the ancient Deore LX derailleur (I have a knackered Alivio with a Deore waiting to replace it when it gets too floppy) rather than the gears. I digress…

Mboy: I’m in the process of listing it on Ebay, but if you want to make me an offer, go for it. Where are you? I’m in Sheffield.

GW: “you won’t find anything above XT equivalent anymore” – I don’t know what this means, please do explain.

you won’t find anything above XT equivalent anymore” – I don’t know what this means, please do explain.

Only the cheaper shimano and cheap sram comes in 8 speed

dyl, I’m in Worcester, bit of a drive, but you can post!

Ooooooh, have something you might be interested in for a swap/PX… Just found in my spares box, a VERY lightly used (think it has done about 4 rides) 8spd 11-28 XT cassette. I haven’t been 8spd on any of my bikes in about 10 years, so god knows how I’ve still got it, but it really hasn’t been used much and looks in very good nick. Interested? I’d be happy to swap and bung a few quid your way for the trouble…

I’m not desperate for a new cassette at the moment, probably won’t need that for a year or so, but will consider the offer, since I’d probably use it eventually. Though I’d rather have a higher, not lower top gear than my current 30 sprocket.

On Ebay I’ve looked at completed listings can’t quite make sense of how much these Ultegras go for. Seems to be anything between £30 + minimal postage within the UK and £50 + postage to the UK from USA.

Worcester: I’m there next weekend visiting my girlfriend’s family so maybe not so inconvenient after all!

Had said cassette on HT with XT drive chain couple of years back, worked fine

I realise on re-reading my post that I’d be losing my lowest, not highest gear, oops 🙂

Dyl, drop me an email (in my profile). I should be about next weekend, so if you do fancy the swap (with some money your way), then let me know.

And yes, the price of the 9speed Ultegra cassettes does seen to vary. Used to be able to get them for £25 new from a shop, these days it seems that price fluctuates based on whether they’re in stock or not anywhere.