Modern cassette in retro drivetrain?

garethrl

Senior Retro Guru
Evening all,
I've upgraded and messed up my drivetrain so need a bit of advice on what to do next.

I have a '94 Cindercone that I've put a couple of vanity upgrades on - most recently put on a pair of M900 mechs. Prior to that the original XT STIs were replaced by M740 RapidFire units (and V-brakes, the main reason for the swap). At the same time as the 'new' mechs I put on a 7400 series Dura-Ace chain and was looking forward to razor sharp shifting - but instead I have chronic skipping on the old, worn cassette that's on there. The chain and mech work fine when I swapped an M950 cassette in so a new cassette seems to be the way to go.

Is there any reason why a current 8-speed cassette would not work so well with the other antiques? Should I hold off for a NOS or lightly worn cassette from the same period? The M900 mech is the version that doesn't have the usual return spring running the length of the parallelogram (AFAIK the only mtb mech that doesn't use it, as the M910 does) so does this design really need a particular cassette? I know that until the 7700 9-speed series Dura-Ace was not compatible with the other Shimano groups, so did early XTR have the same design philosophy?

I appreciate the usual potential problem of using a part-worn chain on a new cassette, but I've tested the chain on a nearly new cassette and it doesn't skip so I'm fairly confident it would work on a new one. HG50 and 70 cassettes are still available new quite cheaply, and XT 737 is still listed on CRC though for more money.

Cheers, Gareth.
 
Your M900 should work fine with a new cassette and chain.

I'm running a last generation 8spd XT cassette (with the alu spider) with 7spd XT thumb shifters and XT mechs. These are still available NOS.

I have also run 1989 Deore mechs with current Deore 9spd chain, cassette and shifters.

The only issues I've come across with mixing and matching old & new is the front mechs can be tricky as they can shift by varying amounts according to model.
 
garethrl":z71ql7y3 said:
... The M900 mech is the version that doesn't have the usual return spring running the length of the parallelogram (AFAIK the only mtb mech that doesn't use it, as the M910 does) so does this design really need a particular cassette?
...

That was the standard design back then for mechs. The spring you talk of in the M910 was a new fandangled design and classed imho as modern stuff ;)

There is no difference in the operation.

Just get an 8 speed cassette, new will do.
 
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