changing 9 speed to 10 speed SHIMANO

If you are doing this for the sole purpose of getting a wider range of gearing, it seems to me that you would be better off getting a compact crank or a tripple crank, and a wider range of gearing on your rear end. You can do this with the existing 9 speed, and not have to spend the $$$. If you have the $$$ to spend to upgrade all those components, unless you are just looking for bling, spend it on other things that may help you out. A lightweight set of wheels would probably make you faster on the hills. Get new lightweight wheels and a rear end with a wider range of gearing. That'd probably give you the best bang for the buck for climbing.

Ride more and ride hills more.

I have a couple of bikes with 9sp and one with 10sp set up. What I notice between the the two is tighter ratio between gears, little easier to find the right gear with the 10sp.

If you are riding hills, can you go to a 39 front ring for the inside one and a 27 or 26t rear cassette? That's a pretty good climbing set up, and assumes you don't have a compact front right now. Switching to 10sp from 9sp is a lot parts and you will just end up with the same hill climbing gear unless you switch to a compact double or triple.

Only part of this is true; if you want to go to 10-spd and are running STI shifters, what you will need to replace are the right brifter, cassette and chain.  If you are running bar cons, you will just need to put it into friction and replace cassette and chain.

However, as others have mentioned, 10-spd is not likely the answer you are looking for; I would go with a different cassete (say 12-27) in order to give you better climbing gears.  You could definitely go compact as well but the cassette is a much cheaper switch.

Shane

Okay so what is a compact crank and what does the "t" stand for behind the 26?

I looked at my current set-up and my 9-speed cassette is 12t-25t and the front is B39/B53

It sounds like I am chasing the wrong upgrades.  I do not have lots of $$$ so what kind of wheels should I be looking for if that is a better upgrade?  I have Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels right now.

Thanks for the help 

t = teeth; so a 26 would have 26 teeth.  Your current cassette has 12 teeth in the smallest cog and 25 in the biggest.

A common starting point for people who are running out of gears is to go with a 12-27; the 27 tooth cog would give you a speed of about 10mph at 90rpm compared to the 25 which is about 11mph at 90rpm.

ETA - this is not a wheel upgrade; your wheels are not what are causing problems with climbing.  The cassette (gear cluster) on the wheel can be swapped out for a cassette that is better suited to your cycling ability.

Shane

Edited by gsmacleod 2009-07-08 8:09 AM

You can also buy a 38t chain ring ands swap out for the 39. Look at peterwhitecycles.com and you want what's known as a 130mm BCD (bolt center diamater) for a Shimano crankset. It helps a little. The 12-27 will be a bigger help. Swap those out and you'll notice a difference. Changing to 10 speed is too costly and marginal improvement.

Thanks for the help.