8 speed on elite suito?

Hi all I am considering an elite suito trainer and want to put my old bike on it which is 8 speed. 1 is this possible 2 what is the best way of doing it spacer vs change freehold?
Sorry if this question has been asked before and thanks in advance :+1:

Modern direct drive trainers come with 11 speed hubs.

An older road bike or hybrid bike with a 7/8/9/10/11 speed cassette will work. A cassette with eight to ten cogs requires a spacer on the eleven speed hub used on modern wheel-off trainers (probably included with the trainer).

Hubs that accept a Shimano 11 speed cassette will also accept Shimano 7, 8, 9, or 10 speed cassettes and shifting should work fine with the proper spacer in place on the hub. The 8 speed should, if I recall correctly, need a 1.85 mm spacer.

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Thanks Steve that is great I will go ahead and get it ordered :+1:

Perhaps over-explaining things …

To confirm the details – you’ll want an additional 8 speed cassette to install on the trainer, and leave it on there. Before you slip the cassette onto the trainer hub, you slip on the spacer. The spacer adjusts the width of the 8 speed cassette to fit the width of the 11 speed hub.

You can be certain that the length of your bike chain and of your rear derailleur cage will work if you get the same cassette gearing that you have on your bike’s rear wheel.

Your current cassette might have an from 25 to 34 teeth on the big cog, and 11 to 13 on the small, as in 11-28T, 11-30T, 11-32T, 11-34T, 12-25T, or 13-26T. If you get a larger big cog, you might need a longer chain, if not a longer cage derailleur.

We used an 8 speed bike/cassette on a Wahoo KICKR for over a year. It worked fine.

Thanks Steve, my plan is to use the cassette off the bike as I no longer use the bike on the road and I will leave it set up…just don’t tell the wife!! :rofl:

Well the trainer has arrived took the cassette off the bike and fitted it with the 2 spacers that came with the trainer fits like a dream indexing perfectly…well chuffed :blush:

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Hi Carl,

What size spacer do I need to put a 8 speed cassette on the elite suito? 1.85mm?

Thank you,
Carwyn

Yes. Get the Shimano one, part number is Y4T724000.

Hello,

I know this is a very old thread but am hoping to revive it as I need some help and am not at all technical.

I have just bought a second-hand 11-speed Suito Elite trainer to help me recover leg strength after a road bike accident and surgery. The parts included are all those illustrated in the manual from A through L.

Part A of which there are two, is described as a freehub body spacer, but I am unsure what its width is as it is so thin and therefore difficult to measure very precisely.

I am planning to set up an old mountain bike on the trainer.

The MTB has this set-up:
Shimano Tourney triple pedal crank is 42-34-24
Cassette: probably a Shimano Alivio CS-HG51 11-32 (8 speed)
Rear derailleur: Shimano Alivio RD-M430

The Shimano website show the Shimano Alivio RD-M430 as suitable for a 9-speed cassette.

The Elite Suito has the set-up as advertised:
Cassette: Shimano 105 CS-R7000 11-speed 11-28

The question is whether I need to buy a spacer to fit the bike correctly on the Elite Suito Cassette and if so which one.

Is the 1.85 mm spacer (low or otherwise) the one I need as per the original poster’s question?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Nick

Yes you will need the 1.85mm spacer to put a cassette of 8-10 speeds on the trainer.

If you get strong enough you may find that the 42-11 high gear is too small. That is not a very large high gear.

You should expect that you will need to adjust the rear derailleur for smooth shifting when you put the bike on the trainer.

Thanks Paul for replying so quickly.

Please note my latest edit which confirms that two freehub spacers are included with the package but I am unsure how to work out what thickness they are as it is tricky to measure some thing so thin at home.

As to the gearing, when I am stronger, I will be back on the roadbike (which was unscratched in the accident) and use the rather different and more appropriate gearing again on that.

Nick

Oh. I hoped to be able to leave the 11 speed cassette supplied with the trainer on it if possible. Is it?

If you post a picture of the two spacers I might be able to tell you. A vernier caliper is usually how you measure the thickness of the spacer. Bike shops, auto repair shops, auto parts stores, hardware stores probably all have one. A ruler with mm measurements would probably be good enough though. It doesn’t have to be exactly 1.85mm as long as it’s pretty close.

I believe Paul is referring to the 42-tooth chainring. the cassette is fine. You should be ok except for downhills.

IMG_9496

Here are two images of the spacers.

Using the ruler shown which has 0.5 mm increments on it, I would “guess” that the spacers are each 0.5 mm.

Using a non-Vernier caliper, each ring seems to be between 0.5 and 1 mm!

I will look for a Vernier caliper somewhere or try a garage or cycle shop round the corner from where I live.

Thanks Chris. I guess I will be working harder on the uphills than the downhills for the moment. :slight_smile:

Sorry I missed this comment. If the bike has an 8 speed drivetrain, you need an 8 speed cassette on the trainer. The spacing between the cogs is wider than 11 speed. The 8 speed chain also will not work on an 11 speed cassette. If you don’t have a cassette lockring tool and a chain whip, you should probably just take the bike and trainer to a bike shop (or buy the tools if you are interested in having them).

Thank you again Paul. This makes more sense. I will take the 8-speed cassette off the MTB and the 11-speed cassette off the Elite Suito and replace the latter witjh the former on the trainer.

Do I need to fit a spacer before putting the 8-speed cassette on the trainer?

I have now checked the two spacers that I have with two local shops and they are 1-1.04 mm thick.

Could I use both of the spacers which would add up to 2.08 mm max. or do I have to find and fit a 1.85 mm spacer?

Yes you will need a spacer under the 8 speed cassette or it won’t get tight enough. My guess is ~2mm won’t be too much but the things to look out for are clearance between the lockring and the frame, clearance between the chain and the frame when it’s on the smallest cog of the cassette, and having enough lockring threads screwed into the freehub.