I have a 7 speed cassette, what derailleur?

[krisgoss]

Hi!
As in title, I have recently bought a second hand road bike, which has a 7 speed cassette, I am going to be upgrading the drive train little by little, so could I start with a new derailleur as indexing mine is a pig, and is very noisy!
Can I use a 9 or 10 speed rear, until I can upgrade cassette and shifter?

Thanks for any info!

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

If we are talking about a Shimano/sram cassette and the derailleur is Shimano, and if 10 speed is not their mtb derailleur, then no problem.

If I were you I might try to figure out exactly why indexing is not sweet first, because it is often caused by something else other than worn/bent rear derailleur.

 

[krisgoss]

Ahhh, thats cool thank you! I managed to get the gears indexed more or less ok in the end, but the bike has a deore rear derailleur at the min, which I thought was mtb stuff?

anyway, thanks for your help! I have a new chain arriving tomorrow and hopefully a new derailleur soon!

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Ahhh, thats cool thank you! I managed to get the gears indexed more or less ok in the end, but the bike has a deore rear derailleur at the min, which I thought was mtb stuff?

anyway, thanks for your help! I have a new chain arriving tomorrow and hopefully a new derailleur soon!

As I said it is ok as long as it is not a 10 speed version. All Shimano 10 speed mtb rear mechs require different cable pull.

 

[HovR]

If you're still having trouble with the indexing/gears, check the cables - Especially if you're having trouble changing up gears (on to smaller cogs). Corrosion and cable wear can mean that there is excess friction in the cables which the derailleur's spring is not able to cope with, leading to sloppy and slow up changes.

Yes, Deore is technically MTB kit, but there's no reason you can't use it (as long as it isn't 10 speed, as RAFN has said) and it will work fine with other gear designed for road use.

I use an Alivio rear derailleur on my Dawes road bike, which is also technically designed for MTB use. But it works fine and allows for a wider range of gears than most road mechs allow, at a cheaper price.

 

[threefingerjoe]

make certain that the deraileur hanger isn't bent.