AAAARGH! WTF? Help!

Posting this here even though it's modern kit because it's fitted to my '92 Saracen frame and hoping someone can offer the sort of advice that doesn't involve a lump hammer!

Building up my red 'Wot' today I've encountered a problem that has resisted all my efforts so far to resolve :facepalm:

The drive train is '92 LX, SRAM 9-speed cassette, and SRAM X-7 shifters; now the front mech. has been virtually trouble free to set up and changes from top to bottom fine. It's the rear I'm having problems with...

...if I hold the end of the gear cable tight the shifter clicks up/down 1-9-1 just fine, with nice defined 'clicks.' However, with the cable fitted to the mech. it just will not shift correctly! Instead of eight sharp 'clicks' selecting one gear after another all I'm getting is maybe five clicks across the cassette as it jumps from 1 to 3 to 5 to 6, 8 and 9.

I've tried everything I can think of; I've swapped out the top alloy jockey wheel for a bog-standard Shimano, I've checked the alignment time and again, I've tightened/slackened cables, etc, etc, all to no avail...

...I simply cannot get this mech to shift! :evil:

Anyone got any ideas re SRAM/Shimano compatability, or anything else I could be missing? This has driven me nuts this afternoon and quite spoiled my day!

if you're running a shimano mech it won't work, x7 shifters have a 1 to 1 cable pull ratio which is different to shimano so it won't shift right, solution is shimano shifter or sram rear mech.

this is only specific to the rear by the way, makes no difference on the front

SRAM shifter and Shimano mechs?

Hazy memory about different pull ratios so the shifters and mechs not working together, the exception being that Shimano mechs work with the SRAM named shifters, Rockets etc, as they had the same pull ratio as Shimano but the numbered ones, X7 etc didn't.

Someone help and translate the above in to English.

SRAM shifter and Shimano rear mech? Thought they had a different cable pull ratio; albeit the actual cassette spacing is the same. Beer and lump hammer needed.

X or SX series SRAM shifters only work with SRAM mechs. You either need an X or SX series SRAM mech, or SRAM Ace or Rocket shifters which have the same pull ratio as Shimano.

Hell fire! Wish I'd asked earlier...

Thank you guys, eBay it is then; just have to decide which to change, though I think I'd rather keep the LX rear mech.

I'd stick with the LX. I have sram on one of the bikes and although the change is really sweet I have found the mech to be fragile in comparison with Shimamo. Sram didn't like the mud at Mayhem last year. But the biggest faff is not being able to pull the wheel into place easily without inverting the bike. I'd hoped to have a variety of drive train but I may be returning to just Suntour and Shimano.

Well, following the advice above, I just dived onto ebay and nabbed the only 9-speed SRAM Rocket shifter listed Worldwide(!) - no Ace shifters at all...

I would offer to help but I'm only an 'Engineer' so what do I know ??

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This will have to change!

legrandefromage":1k5hjplp said:

I would offer to help but I'm only an 'Engineer' so what do I know ??

Click to expand...

This will have to change!

Click to expand...

Ah yes, but at least I know what to do when I have the right info.