Carbonfiberboy 

Our 2003 9-speed Ultegra brifter finally packed it in last year. I had some 10-speed Ultegra stuff squirrelled away against this event. I only changed out the brifter. The 10-speed brifter did shift the front sort of OK, but not really, with lots of missed up-shifts. I put up with it for a while because I wasn't sure of what else to spend money on. The old rings were worn, so I put on new 10-speed rings. Essentially no better. A couple days ago, I put on a 10-speed Ultegra FD and chain. Bingo. Shifts perfectly, including on the 9-speed cassette. The 10-speed FD is a vastly nicer and better made piece of equipment. So at least now we know that 10-speed Shimano cranksets are identical to 9-speed cranksets. No other way to tell as the specs are not published.

I'm running our last nice 12-34 cassette and I don't think there are any more..When that wears out, I'll replace the right brifter with a 10-speed and put on a 10-speed 11-34 cassette, which will work fine with the old XTR RD. I think 10-speed chains and cassettes will be around for a while, no need to stock up yet.

Carbonfiberboy 

After I put on the 10 speed FD, I decided to get my stoker some shorter cranks, too. I had a 172.5 FSA Gossamer 10-sp. stoker set redrilled and shortened to make 151mm cranks. Stoker has a 27" inseam, so this length is about perfect. We did a 48 mile hilly ride on Sunday and Stoker loves the new cranks. It feels like we have more power on the flat and small rollers but maybe less on steep hills when our cadence drops off. Or maybe we're just not in shape yet. Time will tell, but the new cranks are definitely staying on.