1991 GT Karakoram — will this freewheel cassette work?

[legrandefromage]

for 1x10, change the rear cassette freehub body to a later 8spd shimano, redish the wheel over and you then have 10spd capable wheel.

sadly old shimano MTB/ Road mechs wont do 10spd MTB shifters - but 10spd Road shifters works very well with Shimano MTB/ Road mechs as far back as 1987

so a 10spd 'thumbie' style shifter (down tube 10spd road lever on a handle bar mount) will allow you to use the M550 LX rear mech - just be sure to use a 10spd chain and cassette.

 

[jimo746]

Re: Re:

]Decisions, decisions! I guess 1x10 would be an unorthodox dream, but then I'll need a new hub/wheel, derailleur, chain etc. Speaking of decisions. This will be a drop bar conversion...

Or you could go 1x9 and use road 9-speed STI units. Last drop bar build I did I used Tiagra 9-speed shifters, 1x9 gearing (11-36 csssette + 38T narrow/wide chainring), a Microshift rear mech, but just about any retro mtb rear mech would work with 9-speed (more modern 10+ speed ones won't).

 

[mikael]

Or you could go 1x9 and use road 9-speed STI units. Last drop bar build I did I used Tiagra 9-speed shifters, 1x9 gearing (11-36 csssette + 38T narrow/wide chainring), a Microshift rear mech, but just about any retro mtb rear mech would work with 9-speed (more modern 10+ speed ones won't).

But going from 7 to 8, 9 or 10 always involves some modification to wheel/freehub, right? Just realized the smallest chainring is the only one that's stuck with crank and for a 1x* conversion I'd probably want to keep the middle one. I believe I'm to anal to go 1x and still keep the two. So, back to the 3x7 idea for now I think. Front derailleur looks fine from what I can see, but screw missing. I'd love one if you had one.

for 1x10, change the rear cassette freehub body to a later 8spd shimano, redish the wheel over and you then have 10spd capable wheel.

sadly old shimano MTB/ Road mechs wont do 10spd MTB shifters - but 10spd Road shifters works very well with Shimano MTB/ Road mechs as far back as 1987

so a 10spd 'thumbie' style shifter (down tube 10spd road lever on a handle bar mount) will allow you to use the M550 LX rear mech - just be sure to use a 10spd chain and cassette.

Awesome info, I love this forum! But I'm going drop bar and I already have the brake levers. Would want some bar-end shifters that works in indexed mode. SJS says these should work fine with 7 speed, but they seem impossible to find. Guess any 8-speed bar-end shifter should work with 7-speed. Looking at microSHIFT.

 

[jimo746]

Front derailleur looks fine from what I can see, but screw missing. I'd love one if you had one.

Send me a PM. I've a carrier bag full of old mechs, surely one has the elusive screw....

 

[legrandefromage]

Either go 8 or 9 speed by changing the freehub body

Or

Get the bar end shifter mounts and fit them with 7spd downtube levers.

See this post

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=268087&p=2006736&hilit=Barcon#p2006736

 

[mikael]

Either go 8 or 9 speed by changing the freehub body

Or

Get the bar end shifter mounts and fit them with 7spd downtube levers.

See this post

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=268087&p=2006736&hilit=Barcon#p2006736

Thanks! Redishing only needed when going 10 speed? In that case 8 or 9 speed sounds interesting if my derailleur can take it. Just a new Is my cassette likely to be Shimano HG or IG? HG it seems? Frame spacing should be 135mm according to MTB Frame Database.

 

[legrandefromage]

you are worrying about the wrong things

yes - redish the wheel if fitting a new freehub body

You derailleur will work regardless if you decide to go 8 or 9 spd.

HG/IG/ SRAM/ Sunrace - it doesnt matter!

 

[mikael]

you are worrying about the wrong things

yes - redish the wheel if fitting a new freehub body

You derailleur will work regardless if you decide to go 8 or 9 spd.

HG/IG/ SRAM/ Sunrace - it doesnt matter!

Thanks! Redishing is not something I'll do myself, and there's no easily available LBS where the bike is located.

Biggest reason to go 8/9-speed now would be there are bar-end shifters for 8/9 readily available .The reason I asked about HG/IG was that one path to go down would be to replace 3.15mm (if HG) cassette spacers with 8-speed 3mm ones and run a 8-speed bar end shifter with 7-speed cassette.