[olivermajewski]

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

 

[JACKL]

Jackl, how are you customizing your cassettes? Are you ordering several cassettes and reordering them? Where are you getting your cogs? As for your last thought... yes, people are doing amazing things on singlespeeds!

Yes, I buy a few 20$ Ebay cassettes with steel cogs and break them apart. I have a thread from a few years ago for my 8-speed build with pics and details. I had to bolt the 2 biggest cogs together.

However I realize I've sort of convoluted the conversation in that I use a 10-speed spacing and a 10-speed chain on my current setup. I'm not really interested in using 8-speed spacing, because 10-speed works fine IME, and having a shorter stack improves chainline. I just use spacers in place of the 2 missing gears.

 

[JACKL]

Are you talking for a 1x or 2x setup? Also, what axle spacing are we talking? IMHO, no matter what you do, if you run a 1x setup, with a regular length freehub shell, you will never have perfect chainline, your chain will be at quite an angle at one or both ends of the cassette. Me personally, I think 150x12 should be the MTB hub standard and a 2x crank, otherwise, you have to compromise somewhere for chainline.

It's a 150 rear. Chainline is better due to the 10-speed spacing for 8 gears, which I forgot to mention. When I hear "8-speed", I don't necessarily think of 8-speed spacing and chains...

 

[JACKL]

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.

 

[TiGeo]

Yeah but hang on, your SRAM Eagle costs how much?? If a modern 8-speed system was engineered to the same quality it would shift just as well and probably better.

A complete Eagle GX setup is about $450 if I am not mistaken...that's not that much IMHO for a bullet-proof modern drivetrain. 11-speed 1x stuff can be had for even less and most folks don't need a crank..only the chainring.

 

[Bordershy]

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?

 

[Bordershy]

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

 

[Vball_MTNBKR]

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.

I was doing the numbers myself and came up with a 11-13-16-19-23-28-34-40.
I think that would be the optimal 8 speed 11-40 cassette. I wonder why sunrace went with the other configuration.

 

[Darth Lefty]

I was doing the numbers myself and came up with a 11-13-16-19-23-28-34-40.
I think that would be the optimal 8 speed 11-40 cassette. I wonder why sunrace went with the other configuration.

That's a very smooth sequence but there are a couple of different things that drive manufacturers to a given sequence. One is that a smooth sequence might not be the best... like I wrote above, SRAM has a cassette with ~14% shifts high and ~20% shifts low. I had one of these on my 3x8 and it worked very well. They may also have found that certain combinations don't shift too well. At 24 and above, they definitely favor the divisible-by-four cogs where they can put a ramp every quarter-turn, and Sunrace seems less ambitious than Shimano to do the extra engineering for less-common tooth counts.

 

[olivermajewski]

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.

 

[Fleas]

Yes.

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

-F

 

[Bordershy]

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.

 

[OneTrustMan]

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.

 

[Bordershy]

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?

 

[Bordershy]

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

 

[OneTrustMan]

The black ZTTO cassettes are lighter and still cheap.

 

[Ray Lee]

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.

 

[olivermajewski]

9 speed wide range

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?

That's exactly what people are asking me for so that's what I'm doing next. The spread is going to be 12-14-17-21-25-30-36-42-49

 

[Suns_PSD]

That's exactly what people are asking me for so that's what I'm doing next. The spread is going to be 12-14-17-21-25-30-36-42-49

That honestly sounds PERFECT. Not to extreme, everything you need.

 

[olivermajewski]

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.