[griffter18]

Has 9 speed become obsolete?

In need of replacement 9 speed shifter (SLX or XT) and all usual shops and online sources (uk) appear to only be listing 10 speed.

Merlin; Winstanleys; Ribble; etc etc

Is this Shimano's way of forcing the upgrade to 10 speed or do the shops no longer care for supporting those with 9 speed drive trains

 

[mjs1231]

Has 9 speed become obsolete?

In need of replacement 9 speed shifter (SLX or XT) and all usual shops and online sources (uk) appear to only be listing 10 speed.

Merlin; Winstanleys; Ribble; etc etc

Is this Shimano's way of forcing the upgrade to 10 speed or do the shops no longer care for supporting those with 9 speed drive trains

That my friend is called marketing magic. Lol

At least thats what its called in the tire industry.

I have a xc bike and i run a light 8 speed. I dont realy even need 8 speeds.

Marketing magic baby

Pump them out and YOU will buy them ahahahahah

If it aint broke, market it.

 

[mjs1231]

Why not market frames and tires with helium ????

Make them even lighter.

 

[mjs1231]

Pretty soon these bike will float away if not held down .


I can see it now. New bike weighs - 2 lbs lol.

 

[MagicCarpet]

You should still be able to get those on eBay. I feel your pain. I have been super happy with my XT 3x9 and have enough of it to go again soon when the current chains start slipping.

 

[LyNx]

I'm not sure if this is a Troll or joke, obviously you didn't look very hard at all. I still use 9spd on all my bikes and have no trouble finding 9spd parts for them, got XT shifters just the other day actually for a damn nice price and some XTR chains

 

[245044]

Kicked to the curb!!

 

[griffter18]

Nope not a troll, just someone frustrated at not being able to walk into a uk bike shop and pick up a part that is generally still in wide use.

All I want is a 9 speed (rear) SLX or XT shifter, Im even happy to buy front & rear.

Winstanley Bikes - Rear SLX no longer listed, Pair XT out of stock no date available
Merlin - SLX out of stock no date available, XT out of stock no date available
Ribble - Nothing listed at all
Evans - SLX nothing listed, XT pair available in 5 days
Wiggle - SLX not listed, XT available to order only
Cyclestore - SLX available to order only, XT right out of stock
Chain Reaction - SLX Discontinued, XT out of stock no date available

Every shop contacted is saying the same thing not currently available and unable to get a date on shimano 9 speeds (unless bottom of range) but they have an endless supply of 10 speeds which are of no use to the mass of 9/18/27 speed riders.

 

[griffter18]

Just spoken to Maddison and they have confirmed that the 9 speed SLX right shifter is discontinued by Shimano.
He told me I could use a lower spec, or look at XT.
Lower spec is not feasible as the shifters a matched to Hope breaks so there is no room for an indicator. XT is therefore the only option if I can source a cover or tape them up.

 

[zerodish]

No joke. I dig through recycle bins for these. People who buy 10 speed chains have money and replace them after 1000 miles. The other major users are those who have to ride through poverty they tend to buy 7 cog freewheels. So most of the chains sold are either 10 of the 8 7 6 5 universal size. Don't put with this buy mail order.

 

[LyNx]

Hum, guess I got mine just in time then When I was looking, I could easily find 9spd stuff in stock. I'm guessing that they're trying to do with 9spd like they did with the rest and make it for low tier bikes and 10 and 11 spd be for high end. Think it's maybe time to buy up some 9spd stuff then as I have no intention of switching anytime soon.

Nope not a troll, just someone frustrated at not being able to walk into a uk bike shop and pick up a part that is generally still in wide use.

All I want is a 9 speed (rear) SLX or XT shifter, Im even happy to buy front & rear.

Winstanley Bikes - Rear SLX no longer listed, Pair XT out of stock no date available
Merlin - SLX out of stock no date available, XT out of stock no date available
Ribble - Nothing listed at all
Evans - SLX nothing listed, XT pair available in 5 days
Wiggle - SLX not listed, XT available to order only
Cyclestore - SLX available to order only, XT right out of stock
Chain Reaction - SLX Discontinued, XT out of stock no date available

Every shop contacted is saying the same thing not currently available and unable to get a date on shimano 9 speeds (unless bottom of range) but they have an endless supply of 10 speeds which are of no use to the mass of 9/18/27 speed riders.

 

[Le Duke]

I have several thousand miles of OR, upstate NY, and northern Georgia riding and racing on my carbon frame, with carbon wheels.

No problems. You are an idiot.

 

[thomllama]

what's that got to do with 9 or 10 speed drive trains?

 

[J.B. Weld]

No joke. I dig through recycle bins for these. People who buy 10 speed chains have money and replace them after 1000 miles. The other major users are those who have to ride through poverty they tend to buy 7 cog freewheels. So most of the chains sold are either 10 of the 8 7 6 5 universal size. Don't put with this buy mail order.

People who are smart with their money replace their chains every 1000 miles, otherwise they will have to lay down some real coin replacing rings and cassettes.

 

[clydecrash]

I still see 9 speed stuff around here in the states, though there is less available over time. If EU mail order companies are not carrying 9 speed, check ebay or sellers in the states. And, yes, if you want to keep 9 speed working, stock up when you see that stuff on sale. I did that many years ago when I picked up a few 8s XTR steel cassettes (best cassettes ever).

Took a short ride on the 8s speed bike this morning, which is a Nomad carbon frame. Yep, a fancy new carbon frame with 8 speed. Currently use some X7 shifters, but have some twisties if those go out. I have one more cassette after the one on the bike, so should do me for a few more years (not my main bike). Then I will probably go 10 speed.

 

[edubfromktown]

Nothing new has happened... bike shops and component manufacturers want you to throw away perfectly good "old" stuff and buy more and more new stuff.

There are three 9-speeds, one 7-speed (that has the original chain from 1995 still working like a CHAMP) and a single speed in my house. My approach has been to acquire spare items from eBay or when online retailers have blowout sales.

 

[griffter18]

Talking to Maddison and local providers they believe 9 speed will still be serviceable but you will need to drop quality ie move to LX or lower!
When I asked about move to 10 speed, they all believe that there is soon to be a large scale move by shimano to 11 speed and to there new derailleur attachment, once bike manufacturers adopt.

 

[thomllama]

ya, I think you'll see 7-8 speed kinda disappear and 9 speed will be the new low end stuff with 10 being the main stream and 11 top end...

wont be surprised if you'll see a mess of aftermarket companies come out with the more 9 speed cassettes .. like KCNC and the like..

 

[LyNx]

9spd already IS the low end alternative for big brands - TREK bikes with spec Deore and under is 9spd, everything above is 10spd.

Talking to Maddison and local providers they believe 9 speed will still be serviceable but you will need to drop quality ie move to LX or lower!
When I asked about move to 10 speed, they all believe that there is soon to be a large scale move by shimano to 11 speed and to there new derailleur attachment, once bike manufacturers adopt.

ya, I think you'll see 7-8 speed kinda disappear and 9 speed will be the new low end stuff with 10 being the main stream and 11 top end...

wont be surprised if you'll see a mess of aftermarket companies come out with the more 9 speed cassettes .. like KCNC and the like..

 

[jsilva]

It definitely is frustrating. However, I don't think it's as simple as a ploy to get customers to spend more money.

It is cheaper for a company to mass-produce their 'latest' technology and force that onto customers rather than wait around for people to decide whether they want it or not. There are some benefits to this approach but also some negatives. One negative is people like us who know that 9-speed is great but will eventually be manipulated into upgrading because we can't find decent 9-speed cassettes.

Of course they do benefit from people's temptation for the latest and greatest, and they do benefit from us having to upgrade our shifters/derailleurs when our cassettes wear out