All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

Finally decent weather in West TN. Rain for next few days now.

 

I don’t ride my bike. I just detail it.

 

I have a Sram 8 Spd cassette that is worn. Can I replace it with an 8 Spd that has a little bit different gearing? My old one is an 11-32. Is going to an 11-34 or even 11-40 possible with the same chain and derailleur?

 

might be off topic but are there any veteran organizations or groups that MTB? anyone know of any? I know the WWP does a annual one in FL.

 

Those that ride the good stuff in Santa Cruz would know exactly where this is.

 

That is dependent on your derailleur's specs. 11-34 is likely possible, but it won't work with 11-40 since that is from a different era of parts.

 

34. Probably fine.

40. Probably not fine.

You may need something like a Wolftooth RoadLink to make a 40t work.

 

annadel?

 

Yes sir! I normally try to no-dab, non-stop 2 Quarry but wasn’t even close today.

 

ill have to check Block 15 out. Moving out there towards the end of the year.

 

Where are those trails? I usually park in the neighborhood hit up the canyon trail to the lake. sometimes hit up Marsh trail - South burma ( that trail got soo fked up) h

 

@SoCOTaco & @DingleTower
Thank you for your responses. So the issue with the 40 is the derailleur not being long enough, correct? Would the Wolftooth be a patch for not getting a new derailleur or is the Wolftooth an acceptable mod?

Thanks again!

 

To get to 2 Quarry, ride up towards the horse staging parking lot and climb up the fire road. You will see 2 Quarry bear off to your left after a bit of climbing. At the top of 2 Quarry, connect with Marsh and then left on Lawndale. There are a bunch of non-inventory singletrack off of Lawndale that are worth exploring for a bit of adventure. At the end of Lawndale (watch out for the drop into the parking lot), make a right to climb up the road, left on Schultz to pick up the trail again. Head towards Ridge and finish either on South Burma or Live Oak from the lake. Good for 20+ miles and about 2500+ feet of vert.

 

It's not about the cage length, it's about what the derailleur is designed to handle. They all have a max rear cog size and range they are designed to handle. 8 speed is older stuff, so there's only so much modernization that can be done. I'm using a Wolf Tooth Goat Link on the GF's gravel bike, but it's for a 10 speed gravel setup. I'm not sure how well it would work with older 8 speed stuff, as I don't think it was engineered with that intention.

EDIT: After looking at the WT site, it is designed for 10/11spd Shimano and won't even mount to your SRAM setup.

 

Thanks. It sounds like it is not worth the effort for this old bike.

 

If you're in the Bay Area and need work done on your truck, look up Milo and Jeff at Milogen Fabrications in Milpitas. They were able to fit me in with short notice to install the ECGS bushing. AND, they also ride! Milo rides an Evil Insurgent and Jeff rides a Levo SL. Santa Cruz ride in the morning and ECGS bushing install in the afternoon. Today was a good day.

 

As said above it’s not the cage length. The issue is the upper derailleur pulley needs to be able to clear the largest cog. Sometimes you can “fudge” it a bit and crank the adjustment way out to get enough clearance to go a little beyond what the manufacturer recommends but not too far beyond and performance suffers which gets irritating.

Nothing wrong with a 34t big cog if you’ve got a double/triple ring up front, which with 8sp setup I’m guessing triple. If you’ve already gone to a single setup just go with a smaller front ring if you need to get lower gearing.

Regarding the WT goat link, it doesn’t work with SRAM which I think you said you had as stated by @SoCOTaco.

Slightly older bikes get tricky with compatibility as bike tech changed rapidly from about 2000 to 2015 or so.

 

Yep.... I missed the Sram part. You're likely SOL for a 40.

Should have no issues with 34 though.

 

@evenslower & @DingleTower
Thanks for the info. I need replace the old Sram cassette. It is worn pretty good. The derailleur is a Shimano Deore. It is a triple up front, but I really only use about 6 different gear combinations. I never use the large gear up front and only have one use for the smallest gear up front. Thought I'd investigate simplifying things since it needs replacing. Maybe go with one ring up front and change the numbers in the back. But don't want a big PITA working on an old bike, lol.

 

Monster Cross in Virginia over the weekend (Pocahontas State Park). My heavy steel bikepacking rig probably wasn't the smartest choice, but it did the job.

I didn't die, get frostbite, or come in dead last. I'll count that as a win.