Compact Crank for 9 speed Ultegra?

[dogdriver]

Hey all-- A buddy has a 9 speed Ultegra group with a standard crank and wants to gear down for the hills. What crankset would work for 9 speed? I was thinking the r600/r700 but am not sure if they are 10 speed specific or 9/10 speed compatible.

Thanks, Chris

[55/Rad]

I'm using a R700 with a 7400 DA 8 speed setup and a 9 speed chain. Works perfectly.

[kramnnim]

10 speed rings work fine with 9 speed... 10 speed chains work well, too...

[RPS]

An older Shimano catalog (2008) lists the FC-4550-S as a 9-speed crankset with 50-34T chainring combination. The R600 and R700 are listed as 10-speed. These are included under "Non-Series Road Components".

[roydyates]

Hey all-- A buddy has a 9 speed Ultegra group with a standard crank and wants to gear down for the hills. What crankset would work for 9 speed? I was thinking the r600/r700 but am not sure if they are 10 speed specific or 9/10 speed compatible.

Thanks, Chris
I have a bike with an R-700 crank and Ultegra 9 speed shifters. Works nice. Like kramnnim says, any 10 speed compact crank ought to work fine.

[dogdriver]

Thanks, guys. I thought that I had heard of a problem with chainring spacing on 10sp cranks being too tight for a 9sp chain, but it sounds as if that's not an issue.

[oliver1850]

I looked into the chainring spacing issue once. As I recall, it's the rings that determine the spacing on Shimano cranks, not the crank arm.

As others said, I think an R700 crank would work fine with a 9 speed setup, with the possible exception of the always iffy front trim with Shimano. The difference in spacing may be enough that you can't eliminate FD rub in all combinations. You would still have the option of switching out the rings to 9 speed ones.

If you wanted to give this a test run, I could pull the R700 off my Ritchey and you could try it.

[thwart]

Set my brother-in-law up with an R700 on his Trek OCLV with 9 speed Dura Ace. Works great.

[Rada]

I use a SRAM Rival compact crank with an otherwise all Ultegra 9 speed drivetrain on my Specialized Roubaix. Works just fine.

[Kontact]

Any crank will work. Really. Most 9 and 10 cranks are spaced the same, and some 10s are actually wider, not narrower. Pick one - it will work fine.

[Ken Robb]

he can also get an XT rear derailer and 11-32 or 11-34 cassette.