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I bought a new Shimano XTR RD-M971 derailleur yesterday. I wasn’t really thinking when I bought it, but it is a 9-speed. Will this work on my 8-speed cassette?
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It should work. It might rub a tiny bit because the 8 speed chains are a hair wider than 9 speed chains but if you spend enough time setting it up right you wont have a problem. I ran a 9 speed front derailleur for a while on my 8 speed setup. They are easier to find and normally cheaper unless you decide to go all out and get the XTR version like you did. Are you going to install it yourself or have the work done? If you have patience, a set of allen wrenches, and some mechanical skills you can handle it yourself. Just follow the directions that come in the box. If you run into issues just ask here and we can probably hook you up. Good luck.
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I was going to try installing it today until I realized that I need to break my chain in order to remove the other derailleur. I was looking at some chain breakers yesterday and I thought to myself that I would probably need one sometime, but I didn’t buy one. There is a guy around here that’s been working on bikes for 22 years. I’ll probably just take the thing to him and get it installed the right way.
Over here in Germany there is this place called Stadler. It is a bike super center. I’d say it is about as large as a Wal-Mart without the food section. It is pretty cool. Most of the derailleurs were hanging on a rack and they didn’t come with a box or manual or anything. I tried to find one with a box but I didn’t have any luck. I picked mine up for 89.99 Euros. It turns out that it’s about $126 American. Everywhere I look online has the thing going for $170-$200. I guess I got a decent deal. Now I need to get a new front one too. The one I have now was messed up when I got the bike. The right limiter screw can’t reach the stopper thing and I keep shifting the chain off the side of the chain ring.
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Just realized that you bought the rear derailleur not the front. No worries. Basically the same response but ignore the part about it possibly rubbing. You won’t have that issue with the rear derailleur. It still holds for a 9 speed front derailleur though. BTW, the price you got it for was pretty good. Depending on what you were previously using, you’ll probably notice a pretty significant difference in performance. Enjoy.
Before you buy a new front derailleur, you may want to have your guy take a look at it and see if your cables and barrel adjusters on your shifters are correctly adjusted. On most bikes that I have worked on, the front derailleur cables have a tendency to slip and stretch more than the rear. It may be something as simple as that, rather than a failure of the mechanism. For what ever reason, people also seem to have more trouble adjusting the front than the rear.
Oh yeah…
Shimano’s website always has their technical documents. Here’s yours.
[url:1w5xnqhk]http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/XTR/RD-M971/SI-5VZ0A-001-En_v1_m56577569830607913.pdf[/url:1w5xnqhk] -
I was looking at my cassette just now because I’ve been having problems with something slipping when I pedal hard trying to get up to speed. It only happens when I’m using the smallest cog. It feels like it shifts but when I take a look at the thing it is still in the same spot. I see two or three teeth that have small burs on the side that the chain pulls on. I’ll get some pics up as soon as I can. Do you think the burs would cause the slipping?
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I’m currently running a 9spd XT rear derailleur on my 8spd hardtail that I use for commuting. It has given me zero issues.
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