I can pedal with fairly large rpm range, so I would like to at least try 8-spd cassette with 10-46T range (or even 50 if there would be cheap way to get that to work), of course evenly spaced as percentage between cogs, 4T increment from cog to cog is not evenly spaced because percentage of change is what matters, at least that is my understanding.

For example I have looked Sunrace MX8 11-46 11-speed cassette and then Shimano 11-46 SLX 11-speed cassette, Sunrace has smaller difference in number of teeth between low ratio end while Shimano has larger difference in teeth, I'm sure Shimano knows quite well how to make usable gear spacing.

With only 8 cogs gaps will be large, but if kept fairly constant gap in percentage it should work out.


With my current 9-spd 11-36 Shimano HG300 or HG400 can't remember which, I feel that there is actually too small gaps, I'm using mostly cogs 1. 3. 5. 6. 8. , sometimes 4. and 9. but 7. and 2. are there mostly to be skipped over (from largest to smaller diameter).

My most used cogs are 1. 5. 6. two latter on paths, city riding etc. First on our muddy trails. Once upon a time I had bicycle with only 3 gears and that was fine, except I could of used lower 1st gear, 3rd was mostly for downhills, still those gaps between gears were probably huge compared to these modern bikes, bit same as difference between chainrings in 3x setup?

So big gap between gears would probably not be too much of issue as long as ratios are not too close to each other so that there would be gears with little use.

 

Custom cassettes here, using single cogs and 8 speed spacers.

11-13-16-19-23-28-34-42 (May take modification of 42t cog)

or

11-13-16-20-24-30-36-42

Running 9 speed shadow-style rd's with Shimano 7/8 speed thumbies. Indexing is reasonable, although I generally stick to friction shifting off-road just to play it safe.

 

Gentlemen, I give you the Sunrace CSM680 8-speed wide ratio cassette: with the following 11-13-15-18-22-28-34-40 cogs.

SunRace | CSM680

I use a 11-40 9-speed cassette from Sunrace and have no complaints.

 

Good find, but the 22 to 28 shift is a 27% difference which is out of place with the other gear changes. After being able to get consistency in the % changes, I wouldn't be using something like that.

 

Sunrace needs to do a wide range 8 speed cassette with a 42t top cog. Or someone else needs to step in. It's even possible to get an old school Deore Xt M730 rear derailleur from 1988 to function on a 42t cog if the dropout tab on the frame is big enough and/or one resorts to other modifications like switching the b-tension screw around, and using a 9 or 10t top derailleur pulley. A Wolf Tooth Goat Link or something similar might also help with getting older derailleurs to function with big cogs on 8 speed drivetrains.

 

Are there any decent 8 speed shifters available?

 

I guess there is none, Shimano's only is M360 that is being sold at Bike-Discount, perhaps only one Shimano still makes?

 

Depends on what you consider decent...Microshift ought to have thumb shifters, either indexed or friction. There is probably a grip shifter or trigger shifter from them as well. If you want Shimano or Sram then NOS or used.

 

Sunrace has some 8 speed shifters, now, if they made a 10-42 8speed cassette I would probably be using it on my next project, a long low and slack plus hardtail.

 

I'm still not sure what RD is supposed to go with those big 8 and 9 speed cassettes.

Could I make do with one? Yes. I just finally got a bike with a 1x11 setup after being on 3x8 for ~15 years. The range is pretty good. I would like one more upshift but I could make do with one less. The shifts are a little too small in the middle-to-bottom range. SRAM makes an 8x11-32 cassette where the bottom three shifts are a lot bigger than the top four. They're spaced so that the bottom three shifts make a double shift with the middle-inner shift, and the top four shifts make a double shift with the middle-outer shift. If you followed that approach, but made the shifts bigger across the board, and got me the same bottom and a little less top, I could still be happy.

 

I like the idea of 'if we want it, let's just step up to the plate and do it ourselves' mentality. Here's an 11-46 8 speed system I put together with a high end shifter and a modern 1x specific derailleur.

Wide Range 8 Speed 1X Drivetrain | Blue Liquid Labs

 

What shifter are you using with that cassette? Sram made no high quality 8sp 1:1 shifters to my knowledge?

Also how many individual cassettes did you use to make one 46-11 8sp cassette?

 

Sunrace CSM990 9AX 40-11 9sp. Been using one for 6 months.

 

I used a sram xo shifter and transplanted an 8 speed ratchet into it. To make the first one, I bought two cassettes to get the gears I wanted. In the future hopefully I won't have to do that once I buy all the gears I need.

 

I used a sram xo shifter and transplanted an 8 speed ratchet into it.

Are you replacing the xo ratchet with the guts from a x4 shifter? Why not just build a wide 9sp cassette & use a 9sp sram shifter?

 

Yes.

http://forums.mtbr.com/drivetrain-s...ters-derailleurs-cranks/close-ratio-cassettes-bigger-jumps-b-gears-1042442.html

-F

 

I'd be down for a 42-11 9sp cassette, but a factory one. Macgyver-ing one is too much hassle & expense when there are so many 42-11 10sp cassettes already out there.

My reason to stay with 9sp is i prefer shimano clutch derailleur's & sram shifters.

 

I don't know if someone has already it already mentioned, but ZTTO makes wide 8,9,10 and 11 speed cassettes.

Their 8sp wide is a 11-40
https://tinyurl.com/y96yaekb

Their 9sp wide is a 11-42
https://tinyurl.com/yayvbmry

Their 10sp wide is a 11-46
https://tinyurl.com/yc8jra4n

And their 11 and 12sp wide range cassette is 11-50
https://tinyurl.com/yazp5wrz

All of their cassettes are cheap and maybe worth a try.

 

Thanks for that. Might be worth a try. Too bad it's a brick weight wise.

Light,cheap,strong...pick two

 

The black ZTTO cassettes are lighter and still cheap.

 

I like the 8 speed better on my local trails, after reading this thread I decided to try the SunRace 11-40 8 speed.

My main mountain bike is an 11 speed and I have a rigid 29er 8 speed, we do not have much elevation but really really steep short ups and downs on our local trails...often you need to hit the hill with some speed in the middle of the cassette and jump into the 40t when you loose momentum and on the 11 speed you grab a few gears in one thumb push then one more onto the 40t...on the 8 speed I can go from my flat sprint gear to the 40 in one push so I actually prefer the 11-40 8 speed vs the 11 speed 11-40.

Did not know they made 40t cassettes in 8-9 speeds.. picked up a 9 speed version for the wifes bike and she is pretty stoked... made it up some hills that gave her grief before

On my bike I needed a longer B screw or maybe could have used the little hanger extender but the wifes bike bolted right up with her B screw maxed.

I would hate it on my gravel bike or on really long climbs where I need the prefect gearing so I don't tire myself out.

 

Thanks man, hopefully people like it. Another cool part about this little experiment is that I found out that BOTH the pull ratios of the new Shimano 11sp derailleurs AND the Sram X-horizon derailleurs work great with good old Sram 9 speed shifters without modification. Pretty funny that during a time when new standards are always popping up and theres less cross compatibility than ever before, this setup works between two completely different derailleur brands.

 

Sunrace needs to up their game! (I run their 9 speed 11-40 cassette...but would love an 11-42 because reasons)

 

Not sure i need that much range & couldn't loose the 11, but if the cogs are moveable & can be differently configured to a 46 or 42-11 9sp i'm game esp if i can keep my XO shifter!

Keep us updated please.

 

There is a 9spd 11-50 cassette made by ZTTO for 45 $
Lol I wonder if there is even a derailleur who can handle this.

Here the link
https://de.aliexpress.com/store/pro...rad-9-S-Freilauf/2386003_32858735220.html?spm=a2g0x.12010612.0.0.302d187dugA5jY

 

I think so too, plus it's pretty cheap.
Will someone of you give it a Try.
In 7 days there will be 10% discount on this cassette.

 

I just swapped my wife's 3x8 bike to the shimano megarange cassette, wish I had of known about the sunrace 40t. She loves it as she sometimes needs the granny for hauling the kid carrier up hills. Shifts aren't that bad if you set up the RD correctly and get the chain length right. Caveat is she rarely uses the big cog up front so its in reality a 2x8.

 

But what are the teeth of the lowest chainring? If it's 28-30 that's OK, but if it's 22 or even 24 can you really use the 40t in back? Wouldn't you be going like 1 mph up the incline?

 

I would love it because I'm riding 3x8 now. I'm thinking 26t with sunrace 11-40t would be best, maybe 28t front at most. But 1/2 the people say a 10 speed narrow wide chaining will not work well for an 8 speed chain and cassette. 1/2 say its doable. Some insist the chain number must be the same as the chainring type, some say 3/32 is constant for internal chain width and not to worry. Two different bike shop guys said no to the conversion so that's not a good start.

 

11-48t 8 Speed Sram Cassette Xg-899 E-block X-glide

The problem is that it's over $300 just for the cassette, and you could do a whole 10 or 11 speed drivetrain conversion for that money.

 

I used the sunrace 11-40 9 speed for half a season with an xt rear d, and XTR shifters.

It was a steamy pile of garbage compared to a clutched setup with a Shimano cassette.

11s is cheap, reliable, easy to setup, has insanely better chain retention, and most importantly... Widespread parts availability.

 

You're trying to save a fraction of a second of shift time, and trading that off for very poor parts availability with a cobbled together setup.

Do you really think that's worth it?

I use about 4 gears out of my 10s cassette and the rest is just wasted shifting through, so I hear you on that front... But that's really pretty insignificant, isn't it?

Clutches and 10/11s work amazing. And small downside is hugely overshadowed by the upsides!

 

You're trying to save a fraction of a second of shift time, and trading that off for very poor parts availability with a cobbled together setup.

Do you really think that's worth it?

I use about 4 gears out of my 10s cassette and the rest is just wasted shifting through, so I hear you on that front... But that's really pretty insignificant, isn't it?

Clutches and 10/11s work amazing. And small downside is hugely overshadowed by the upsides!

I dunno if it's worth it. In fact for all of the major upgrades out there: tires, wheelset, fork, brakes, it seems like the drivetrain upgrade is the least important of all, as long as you have the range you want. And yes I totally admit 1x8 is a ghetto conversion no matter how you do it. Doing a 1x10 or 1x11 conversion right with all of the correct quality parts could easily be $350, which could be spent on a new bike that already has a 1x system, and some of those are now trickling down below $1000 for the whole (hardtail) bike. The only way 1x8 is even practical is to do it cheap, under $100, or don't do it at all.