Originally Posted by
elizilla
It is not the one I got, but I am interested! I think I will wait and see what happens with the parts I already have coming, though, before I buy any more.
Since I posted last night I have been reading Sheldon Brown again, and he says the cogs are spaced the same in 7/8/9 and that all these claims of incompatiblity are just to sell us things. So maybe the 7-cog freewheel WILL work with my 9-speed derailleur/chain/shifter and the indexing detentes will be correct. One way to know, try it and see. If it does, I will just stick with that and save myself from the frame springing drama, no need to order more parts. Or maybe I will follow his instruction on springing the frame. I will keep you guys posted.
While 7 and 8 speed are close enough that they can usually be made to work mixing speeds and shifters, 9 speed is substantially different. The overall width of a 9 speed is nearly identical to 8 speed, because they are packed closer together.