Zonda + Shimano

[Mugshot]

Similar question to the one which has appeared in the £125 wheels set thread, but I thought I'd start a new one.
I'm upgrading my wheels and I think I'm going to go for the Zondas. I have Shimano Tiagra on my Defy, a 9 speed cassette. The Zondas are available with a Shimano or Campag hub option so that's straight forward. However according to Chain Reaction the wheels are only suitable for 10/11 speed cassettes, whereas Wiggle and Evans say they are suitable with a 9 speed, one suggests you'd use a spacer which should be supplied the other saying no spacer required.
Does anybody have the definitive answer please?

 

[Cyclist33]

I doubt anyone has a definitive, but my understanding is
11 speed is widest, 9 speed a bit narrower and 10 speed narrower still. So both 9 and 10 speed will fit on an 11 speed hub. With the right spacers. That could be fairly arbitrary because I’ve got two 11 speed hubs and two 9 speed cassettes, and on one the spacer sits behind the cassette and the other one it sits in front of.

 

[Roadrider48]

Buy the wheels and a spacer.
Zondas look nice though!

 

[Mugshot]

That certainly makes sense to me with my understading of 9/10/11 speed cassettes and the variance in their widths, but the answer from the Chain Reaction staff threw a spanner into my reasoning. The only difference I can see is that Chain Reaction are listing the 2014 model whereas the others aren't, they don't mention a year.

 

[StuAff]

Campagnolo's technical PDF says 9 speed compatible and seems to imply the spacer is included...
http://www.campagnolo.com/repository/documenti/en/ZONDA_EN_03_2013.pdf

Great wheels, BTW.

 

[Hacienda71]

Here is my take on it. I have a 10 speed bike and a 9 speed bike. I have when required used the wheel of the 9 to run on the 10 with no spacer required when changing between cassettes. I therefore cannot see any reason why if a hub is 10/11 speed it would not work with a 9 speed cassette. If there was a discrepancy then an appropriate spacer is pennies from your lbs. The only real way to check is to measure the widths of a 9, 10 and 11 speed cassette or find a tech doc to confirm it. The worst case scenario is that a 9 speed cassette is wider than a 10/11 and therefore would not fit, this does seem unlikely though.

 

[Mugshot]

Nice one @StuAff, I did look for that level of information and couldn't find it, thank you

 

[Mugshot]

Got an update for the thread. I emailed wiggle then noticed they had a live chat so asked on that as well.
The chap on live chat said they will accept a 9 speed but will require a 1mm spacer available separately. I then received an email which said they will accept the 9 speed but require a 1.85mm spacer which comes with the wheelset. I queried the difference and received an email back which basically says that the hub has changed to fit an 11 speed and comes with a spacer, the 10 speed hub is no longer avaliable but I wouldn't require a spacer with those.
So, long and short of it is they will take a 9 speed with the relevant spacer if you need one which you don't necessarily.