# Again Shimano 9/10 speed compatibility



## bclboksen (Jul 9, 2006)

Hi people,


Here is the situation. I wrecked my 9-speed shifters during a cyclocross race. The rest is still working fine (chain, front and rear derailleur, crankset, cassette). I can now have an extremely good deal on a pair of Ultegra 10-speed shifters.

Question: will these 10 speed shifters work if I leave the rest unchanged so 9-speed cassette, chain, 9-speed Dura Ace front derailleur and a 105 9 speed rear derailleur ? I talked to a couple of LBS guys and Shimano service. I basically got 3 different answers.


Eddy
Belgium


----------



## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

"Question: will these 10 speed shifters work if I leave the rest unchanged so 9-speed cassette, chain, 9-speed Dura Ace front derailleur and a 105 9 speed rear derailleur ? I talked to a couple of LBS guys and Shimano service. I basically got 3 different answers."
.
.


You need......1) 10 speed cassette, 2) 10 speed chain, ...to go with 10 speed shifters.
The rear derailleur will probably work OK, but you should clean it very good, to make sure that there isn't any "sludge" build up.
10 Speed shifers won't work very well with a 9 speed cassette.


----------



## gmcastil (Jan 8, 2006)

Wow. None of those answers are correct. The spacing of 10-speed and 9-speed are different, so you can't use a 10-speed chain and shifter with a 9-speed drivetrain.


----------



## TurboTurtle (Feb 4, 2004)

MR_GRUMPY said:


> "Question: will these 10 speed shifters work if I leave the rest unchanged so 9-speed cassette, chain, 9-speed Dura Ace front derailleur and a 105 9 speed rear derailleur ? I talked to a couple of LBS guys and Shimano service. I basically got 3 different answers."
> .
> .
> 
> ...


Correct for 10-speed. You can also just change the shifters and mount the cable to the rear derailleur on the 'wrong' side of the mounting screw and run it as 9-speed.

See Alternate Cable Routing:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html

TF


----------



## DieselDan (Sep 14, 2002)

gmcastil said:


> Wow. None of those answers are correct. The spacing of 10-speed and 9-speed are different, so you can't use a 10-speed chain and shifter with a 9-speed drivetrain.


Quit listening to ShimaNO's marketing drivel. Yes, the spacing is different. The rear derailluer he has will shift a 10-speed cassette with the Ultegra 10-speed shifter, as the SHIFTER pulls the cable. As long as the throw ratio is the same with the shfiter and derailluer, which it is, it will work. The inner spacing of a Shimano 10-speed chain is the same as a 9-speed. The outer plates are thinner to fit the thinner spacing on a 10-speed cassette. I've done it on a few bikes.


----------



## The Flash (May 6, 2002)

*Doesn't work...*



TurboTurtle said:


> Correct for 10-speed. You can also just change the shifters and mount the cable to the rear derailleur on the 'wrong' side of the mounting screw and run it as 9-speed.
> 
> See Alternate Cable Routing:
> 
> ...



Been there and tried that, it doesn't work...if you are desperate, go to JTEKManufacturing.com. I use their ShiftMate adapter and it works great....

The Flash....


----------



## Dereck (Jan 31, 2005)

bclboksen said:


> Hi people,
> 
> 
> Here is the situation. I wrecked my 9-speed shifters during a cyclocross race. The rest is still working fine (chain, front and rear derailleur, crankset, cassette). I can now have an extremely good deal on a pair of Ultegra 10-speed shifters.
> ...


Hmm - not THAT Eddy from Belgium, I hope  

Once, because I am prone to trying things out, I put my 9 speed back wheel into my 10 speed Shimano bike.

I didn't try and ride it, but when I ran it through the rear gears, it would shift fine across the top and bottom four cogs, until I got to the middle cog, when I'd have to double shift to get across it. 

Would not have tried to ride it like that!

You've got two routes, as above - a JTEC shiftmate or buy a 10 speed chain and cassette. 

After two years or so on 9 speed and this year since March on 10 speed - I wished I'd stayed with 9 speed. 

That Shimano drop support for their 'old' lines of equipment very fast pushed me to 10, but its of little practical benefit to me, and the chains seem somewhat fragile compared to the "old" 9 speed. So far, my 10 speed Ultegra all works well though.

Hope that helps

Dereck

Yes - I know, the real answer begins with a C ...


----------



## The Flash (May 6, 2002)

I did the Campy 10 to Shimano 9, Shimano 10 to Shimano 9 and Campy 10 to Shimano 10....all with JTek! The net of it is this....each has a certain amount of space between each gear on the cassette and each shifter is set to pull a certain amount. Jtek basically has a dual pulley system with a flat spot that take is from the pull distance to the cassette distance. Pretty simplistic, but it works.....

Give them a call...they have a money back guarantee and he told me he's only ever had two returned. With Shimano not making rebuildable shifters, you almost have to go to 10speed now and this is the only way I know of not breaking the bank...

Flash


----------



## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Did you use the B cable routing? I know for a fact that 10 speed Dura Ace shifters work perfectly shifting 9 speed if you use the B cable routing. I've never tried 10 Ultegra shifters. Also, 9 speed STI will shift 8 speed when you use the B routing.


----------



## The Flash (May 6, 2002)

Dave,

I tried that before the Jtek system and it would work for me moving up the cassette, but would get slightly "off" on every shift. The "B" method does not change the shift "pull" distance, only the leverage point and while it is close, and I had 6 of the 9 shift well, over a few miles, it would begin to jump if I did not "reset" it back to the 12 cog. 

I understand why Shimano doesn't make conversion kits, but this is really killing us with the cost of 10speed shifters these days. I hate to say that this is the reason I have the Campy shifters. I like their shape and ability to be repaired. I use a Shimano drivetrain because the parts work better for me....

Jtek...best of both worlds...

Flash


----------



## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

I'm curious are you using Ultegra or Dura Ace shifters? I've heard others say the same thing about Ultegra 10 speed STI. I've used the DA 10 with no problems shifting 9


----------



## The Flash (May 6, 2002)

Ultegra 10's....I had assumed that they would shift the same distance, but I wonder if the the tolerances are different. These were the first things I took off my new Scott CR1-Pro. I put Campy shifters on it with the Jtek adapter and went with it. For fun, I've been trying the Ultegra's again for the last month or so, and I have been having non-stop problems with cable stretch. I wonder if the shifters are just not being consistent....

Flash


----------



## banjovi (Jun 13, 2012)

*Works with 2012 Ultegra*

I know this is a six year old thread, but I was looking for this compatibility information and decided to share my results. I was replacing my nine-speed Dura Ace down tube shifters with 2012 10 speed Ultegra 6700s (got a great deal on these). I had a mashup of components to deal with: SRAM Rival compact 10 speed crank, SRAM 9 speed 11-32 cassette, Dura Ace 9 speed chain, Rival front DR and Ultegra GS rear DR. Using the Sheldon Brown "B" cable routing, the system shifts flawlessly front and rear through all gear combinations.


----------

