steinrr

My wife's 2002 hybrid bike has a "strange setup".

The components are:

Rear derailleur: Shimano Sora RD-3300GS (which Shimano techdocs saying is 8 speed)
Cassette: 8 speed
Shifter: SL-R440 - this is flat handlebar rapid shifters and has "9 speed" printed on them

Some questions:

1. What can be the reason of setting up a 9 speed shifter with a 8 speed rear setup?
2. How is this technically possible?
3. My wife is complaining of too heavy gears and I plan to exchange the Sora setup with a Deore setup instead. Can I replace with a 9 speed rear derailleur and 9 speed cassette instead? It seems that the shifter is 9 speed anyway. Or is there "not enough space" between wheel and frame for 9 speed cassette?

dabac

1) the derailer doesn't care, that part is purely labeling aestethics and not functional. The cassette is harder to explain. Maybe they ran out of the correct parts at final assembly? Or human error. Or something.Or you missed counting a sprocket.
2) Shimano rear derailleurs are amazingly cross compatible and don't care much about what speeds they are listed at.
D-A may deviate, and I'm not too sure about the newer MTB-specific stuff.
But good ol' Deore shouldn't pose a problem.
Your Sora shouldn't be a problem either, as long as it can handle the tooth count difference.
The more speeds you run, the smaller the incremental change in spacing becomes from one to the other.
Half-conversions like that have been fairly common, with some people being entirely happy with the results, and others claiming that it's outright undoable.
The truth is probably somewhere in between, where certain combos of equipment conditions and riding styles does provide acceptable performance, while a more heavy handed rider, with gear that has just a little more slop in it will have nothing but frustration from it.
3) 8/9/10-speed all use the same size freehub body, and the cassettes all interchange, sometimes requiring a thin spacer to be added or removed. There's the occasional Dura-Ace that's an exception to the rule, but otherwise it's all mix n' match.
8/9/10-speed all use the OLD - Over Locknut Dimension(width between rear dropouts) of 130 mm for "road" bikes and 135 mm for MTBs. Hybrids can go either way.

But since you mention heavy gears I'm assuming you're planning to fit a wider range MTB cassette as well.
Personally, I like road-spaced cassettes, and would rather fit smaller chainrings. But it can be more expensive. And unless you're running a triple front, it is possible to feel limited by the available range offered by a small double front and a road cassette.

Bill Kapaun

From Sheldon-
"Any 7-speed Shimano Hyperglide Freehub will actually work with 8 or 9 sprockets, without any modification! What you need to do is to use 8 of the sprockets from a 9-speed cassette, with the 9-speed spacers -- or 9 of the sprockets from a 10-speed cassette. This trick also is useful when cassette body transplantation isn't possible -- on an off-brand hub or a Sachs 3 x 7 hybrid-gearing hub.
To make this work, you'll also need to use a 9- or 10-speed chain and shifters. Your old 7-speed derailer (except 1996 or earlier Dura-Ace) should work OK if it isn't too badly worn. Most, but not all, 9- and 10-speed shifters will work.
The limit stops on the derailer will cause the useless position on the shifter to be locked out, so this will work as a perfectly normal 8- or 9-speed rig."

dabac

But can you imagine a bike coming stock off the shop floor with a shortened cassette fitted?

surreal

Let's change that "are" to "were", since Shimano has been reversing that trend needlessly, presumably b/c they despise the touring cyclists, tinkerers, and lovers of vintage bicycles who have supported them all these decades.

OP, how does the drivetrain work? Does it index well? Does it shift properly?

Bill Kapaun

The bike is a 2002 model.
OP didn't state if they bought it new.
Op wanted to know- "2. How is this technically possible?".

fietsbob

I just Blind-Guess wheel got swapped , someone stole the bike and also stole the wheel from another bike.

you bought it online ,for cheap ..

surreal

This seems most likely... whether related to theft, theft replacement, or even just broken-wheel replacement, the last ten years could have brought a swaped rear wheel or even just a swapped cassette into the equation. Quickest fix would be to put a 9speed cassette on that hub....No need to change the derailer, and so long as the freehub body is an 8/9/10, there won't be spacing/fitment issues. Just make sure the max cog is not too much for the rear derailer to handle, and be prepared to change the length of your chain. (May be a good time for new chain, anyway.)

surreal

This is entirely possible. I am running a 9/10on7 set up, with no problems aside from the 9-to-8 shift, which takes longer than I'd like.

A lot can happen to a 2002 hybrid in a decade.

steinrr

Thanks for all your reply.

We actually bought the bike "new" from a shop - it had been rode for just 10-20 miles (a customer had swapped it).

A thought I have: I checked the original catalogue and it actually says that it was fitted with a 9 speed cassette 12-25T from the fabric. I see that the derailleur only supports 27T, but If I remember correctly - it is actually fitted with a 28T large sprocket.
Can it be that the first customer requested lighter gearing and the shop fitted a 28T cassette - and to avoid problems with a too loose chain when derailleur was set to smallest sprocket - they removed the smallest sprocket. In this way they kind of modified the setup to work with a 28T?

Anyway - I just recevied a Deore derailleur today and a 11-34T cassette. Will fit this in the weekend. I guess she'll be happy now...

dabac

8-9-10 speed cassettes are basically the same length. A shortened 9-speed stack would need a 4.5mm spacer to mount up to an 8-9-10 speed compatible body. You should see that easily enough.
I wouldn't worry about an 1-tooth overshoot, and would assume it to work until proven otherwise.

steinrr

Mounted the 9 speed derailleur today with 11-34 cassette. Everything works perfect. I saw that the old cassette was a 8 speed 12-23 cassette - so it must have been fitted at the shop for the first customer. No modification done to it.

Going from 23T to 34T should make a difference up those hills