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8 speed compatibility- sun race or box?

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
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borcester rhymes
Hello friends
I am looking at building a budget drivetrain and rather than trying to get some scum to send me their roached out drivetrain, I was considering using my brand NOS XTR 8 speed shifters with a 10 speed FD lying in a box and an 11-32 XTR ti cassette I also have lying in a box. The problem is I have no derailleur and really don't want to pay for one that doesn't have a clutch. Looks like there are two options on the market now, the box 8 speed and a sunrace RDM900 9 speed. Box expressly says their cable pull is different than other 8 speed setups, and the sunrace is technically a 9 speed setup but I remember using 9 speed derailleurs with 8 speed setups in the past. Are any of these setups compatibly with my shifter and cassette?



The sunrace looks really nice.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
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It came with a bike I bought. When I bought my racelink, it came with a shitload of parts and this may have been in there. I ran it for a year or so on my DH bike but never anywhere I'd be pedaling a lot. I think it's 11-32 but I'm not sure...
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
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May 23, 2002
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I always intended on putting it back on my DH bike since it works so well and is so robust, but I bought a complete bike that came with a deore setup that has a clutch and narrow 10s cassette, so I don't really want to swap.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
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I sold an old 9 speed XTR Ti cassette a couple of months ago for a bunch of cash, it had been sitting in my parts for a few years.
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
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chez moi
I was excited till I saw it wasn't compatible with other shifters. But still--could be my way forward on my bikes when stuff I have finally dies.

Ed: oh, yeah--for just a $30 shifter more I can go to a clutch der and wide-range cassette, nice...
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
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There's no mention of compatibility with the sunrace stuff. I wonder if you could just use a shimano shifter with it. In theory all 7-8-9 stuff is compatible, I htink.
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,669
1,713
chez moi
Disregard, sunrace not Box. Got it.

But cable pull ratio does matter for shifter/der compatibility, I think. Why SRAM and Shimano don't work when mixed.

And the Sunrace shifter units mention Shimano compatible.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
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borcester rhymes
didn't see that about the shimano compatibility. I wonder why the box stuff isn't compatible...unless it's a similar cable pull issue like SRAM's 1:1
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
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Seattle
Shimano 9 speed derailleurs have the same cable pull as 8 speed. Surely you can still find one of those around.