Will a 8 or 9 speed derailleur work on a 7?

[red913]

I don't wanna invest a lot of money in my iron horse because I'm upgrading soon but the rear derailleur is pretty messed up so I need to replace it. But its hard to find 7 speed ones that are even half way descent. So if I get one for a 9 speed cassette can I just set the limit screws to fix the problem of the 2 missing gears?

[DISCO]

make sure it is the same brand as your shifters so the ratio is correct, check out the take offs section at the path.

[SAR_boats]

Yes, it will work. Your shifters are what determine where your shift points are. Just adjust it like you normally would a 9-sp der and you'll be fine so long as you keep sram with sram and shimano with shimano

[red913]

Originally Posted by SAR_boats

Yes, it will work. Your shifters are what determine where your shift points are. Just adjust it like you normally would a 9-sp der and you'll be fine so long as you keep sram with sram and shimano with shimano

Well my shifters are indexed shifters and they only allow up to 7 speed. So I'm not really too sure what I would do there to allow it for a 9speed.

[DirtymikeTDB]

Originally Posted by red913

Well my shifters are indexed shifters and they only allow up to 7 speed. So I'm not really too sure what I would do there to allow it for a 9speed.

Absolutly nothing, If you use a 9sp derailer for your 7sp, you will need to run a 9sp chain. The shifter is what decides how far the derailer moves, the derailer itself just does what teh shifter tells it to do.


Personally I would try to find an 8sp derailer over the nine speed. The seven and eight sp are the same thickness, so you will get better performance out of it.