Kettenschaltung: 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, 10- oder 11-Gang?: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen

Different seat-tube angles and chainwheel sizes also may require different front derailers. See my Front Derailers Article and Derailer Adjustment Article for more detail. Also see "Road" vs. "Mountain" comments later on this page.

There's considerable interchangeability among hubs . If you're upgrading from a system with fewer than 8 rear sprockets to one with more, you may need to concern yourself with the frame spacing. See my Frame Spacing Article for details on this.

The freewheel threading on these older hubs is generally interchangeable except for some very old French units. If you go from a 5-speed freewheel to a 6- or 7-speed freewheel, you will usually need to add some spacers to the right end of the axle between the cone and the locknut. Once you have done this, you'll also need to re-dish the wheel to bring the rim back to the centerline. You may need to re-space the frame if you have added spacers to the axle. See my Frame Spacing Article for details on this.

Shimano 5-speed and 6-speed shifters are made to index with the 5.5 mm spacing between sprockets on older 5- speed and 6-speed freewheels (or even, some new freewheels made as replacements). Without indexing, and because chains with protruding rivets are no longer widely available, it is possible to shift partway between sprockets and for the chain to "skate" along one side of a sprocket and on top of the teeth of the next smaller sprocket. On the other hand, old SunTour "Ultra" and modern 7-speeds have 5 mm spacing and will index with Shimano or SRAM 7-speed shifters, or 8-speed shifters with alternate cable routing. On an older freewheel without Hyperglide (or similar) shaped sprocket teeth, shifting will not be as clean as on a modern freewheel or cassette, but the indexing will work.

Up through 9-speeds, all cassettes use very nearly the same wdith of sprocket teeth, and will work with 7/8 or 9-speed chains. Old Uniglide 6-speed cassettes have larger spacing between sprockets, and like older freewheels, have the same shifting issues.

10-speed sprocket teeth are narrower, to cram in one more sprocket. As a result, 10 speed sprockets do not wear as long. The structural strength of 10 speed sprockets also can be a concern; some have bent, a problem unheard of with other cassettes. Manufacturers have come up with clever ways to strengthen a cassette by riveting several sprockets together or machining them out of one piece of metal, but generally at the cost of increased expense, and of having to replace several sprockets at a time when only one is worn.

Campagnolo 8-speed cassettes used a slightly different spline pattern from the current pattern used for 9-and 10-speed systems.

It is theoretically possible to upgrade Campagnolo 8-speed hubs with newer cassette bodies, but in practice the parts don't generally seem to be available.

In general, all Shimano Cassette Freehubs will work with all Shimano cassettes, any number of speeds. There are a very few exceptions: