Getting the Equivalent of SRAM WiFli on Shimano 10 Speed.
TheBigYin
Posts: 5,686 Member
Okay, I'll admit it, I'm useless at climbing. Even when fully fit and healthy I have problems with climbing anything longer than a couple of miles, or steeper than 8% or so, and the combination of the two is just pretty much impossible for me at the moment with my current state of fitness / recovery from illness... at least, it is on standard road gearing.
At the moment i'm running a 50/34 compact with 11-28 cassette and frankly, Its just not easy enough for sitting in and spinning away up a decent sized hill at a rate that I can sustain without going pop. My thoughts went to the gearing on my MTB, which has a old-school 9 Speed XT setup - 44/34/22 at the front and 11-34 at the back, and - subject to being able to keep the front wheel on the ground, I can pretty much grind my way up anything on roads with that gearing without resort to the granny ring (22).
So... my idea was, at least for occasional swap-outs, to re-use the long cage 9 speed XT rear mech. (as the shimano MTB 10 speed stuff went to a different cable-pull ratio and won't index with road shifters) - the XT mech already has a pair of aftermarket 10-speed compatible aluminium jockey wheels fitted, as frankly, the Shimano plastic ones don't generally make it through a typical UK winter.
Now, this is intended as a reasonably "budget" proposition - i.e. I don't really want to be throwing a load of money at something that may be used for half a dozen rides at most, so I was hoping to find a "budget" 10 speed cassette that would work nicely - 11-34 would be fine, I'm pretty sure that on a roadbike anything easier than a 1:1 drive to the back wheel would either rip the spokes out, mangle the freehub pawls or result in constant wheelies - I know with the old Dawes Tourer I had that had a 24T at the front an 32t at the rear, the only way I could use the easiest gear was if I had the front panniers on the bike to help anchor the front end down.
Problem is, Ultegra 10 speed tops out at a 12-30, so I was hoping that the MTB cassettes were still the same width spacing as the road ones - allowing me to use something like a Dyna-Sys SLX 10 speed MTB cassette and still get things to index. Failing that, anyone got any suggestions, ideally from a point of view of "I'm running this and it works perfectly" or "The Technical Documents HERE show that this will work" - rather than "I've read on the internet..."
I'd appreciate help on this - i'm getting a little bored of not being able to do some of my favourite rides because I can't get up a couple of the hills in my current state of post-injury recouperation.
At the moment i'm running a 50/34 compact with 11-28 cassette and frankly, Its just not easy enough for sitting in and spinning away up a decent sized hill at a rate that I can sustain without going pop. My thoughts went to the gearing on my MTB, which has a old-school 9 Speed XT setup - 44/34/22 at the front and 11-34 at the back, and - subject to being able to keep the front wheel on the ground, I can pretty much grind my way up anything on roads with that gearing without resort to the granny ring (22).
So... my idea was, at least for occasional swap-outs, to re-use the long cage 9 speed XT rear mech. (as the shimano MTB 10 speed stuff went to a different cable-pull ratio and won't index with road shifters) - the XT mech already has a pair of aftermarket 10-speed compatible aluminium jockey wheels fitted, as frankly, the Shimano plastic ones don't generally make it through a typical UK winter.
Now, this is intended as a reasonably "budget" proposition - i.e. I don't really want to be throwing a load of money at something that may be used for half a dozen rides at most, so I was hoping to find a "budget" 10 speed cassette that would work nicely - 11-34 would be fine, I'm pretty sure that on a roadbike anything easier than a 1:1 drive to the back wheel would either rip the spokes out, mangle the freehub pawls or result in constant wheelies - I know with the old Dawes Tourer I had that had a 24T at the front an 32t at the rear, the only way I could use the easiest gear was if I had the front panniers on the bike to help anchor the front end down.
Problem is, Ultegra 10 speed tops out at a 12-30, so I was hoping that the MTB cassettes were still the same width spacing as the road ones - allowing me to use something like a Dyna-Sys SLX 10 speed MTB cassette and still get things to index. Failing that, anyone got any suggestions, ideally from a point of view of "I'm running this and it works perfectly" or "The Technical Documents HERE show that this will work" - rather than "I've read on the internet..."
I'd appreciate help on this - i'm getting a little bored of not being able to do some of my favourite rides because I can't get up a couple of the hills in my current state of post-injury recouperation.
0
Replies
-
Mark, I have the same issues in climbing, I use an Ultegra 6800 which has a 32 "dinner plate" as the biggest gear and a 50/34 chainset. I think the cassette is 11-32. The bike is only 18 months old, so I'd expect that cassette to be still available. The 34/32 combination is rarely used but I find I can get up almost anything when I do.0
-
6800 series is 11 speed though... Can't justify throwing out the perfectly good 18 month old shifters... and 6700 10 speed tops out at a 12-30T - the 6700 series rear mech will (theoretically at least) only cope with a 30T max rear sprocket - though I understand that potentially a 105GS 10 speed mech WOULD cope with a 32T as long as I can source a 10 speed cassette.0
-
I don't know the specifics, though I can certainly find out more if need be, but my coach and some of the other Cyclocross guys he knows that are racing the SRAM CX1 1x gruppos are using 11-36 or bigger cassettes. I think they are using MTB rear derailleurs and cassettes and the guys I've spoken to say they work great and they like them a lot. I'd think if it's working on a 'cross bike it should be no problem to replicate the setup on a road bike and I see no reason why it would require a 1x up front.
I can find out the specifics of what they are using for cassette and rear derailleur if you wish.0 -
at the moment I've got a 9 speed XT rear mech (RD-M770SGS) that's lying around (well - it's on the MTB, but 2 minutes with the allen keys and it's available) that I can test with the current 105 setup on the CaadX after the end of the TdF challenge (good excuse not to ride for a while) - might just order a Dyna-Sys SLX 10 from one of the cheap mail-order suppliers and get the verniers on them to see if they're the same spacing as a 105 or Ultegra - if they are the same, i'll keep it, if not i'll send it back...
Only other thing that's likely to confuse me, is that the XT mech is one of those "low normal" ones - i.e. with the cable disconnected it makes for the big cog at the rear, so the shifters on the 'bars are going to work in reverse - that'll be "interesting". Of course, if It works, then I can always pick up another old stock XT 9 Speed SGS from somewhere...0 -
Okay, I'll admit it, I'm useless at climbing. Even when fully fit and healthy I have problems with climbing anything longer than a couple of miles, or steeper than 8% or so, and the combination of the two is just pretty much impossible for me at the moment with my current state of fitness / recovery from illness... at least, it is on standard road gearing.
At the moment i'm running a 50/34 compact with 11-28 cassette and frankly, Its just not easy enough for sitting in and spinning away up a decent sized hill at a rate that I can sustain without going pop. My thoughts went to the gearing on my MTB, which has a old-school 9 Speed XT setup - 44/34/22 at the front and 11-34 at the back, and - subject to being able to keep the front wheel on the ground, I can pretty much grind my way up anything on roads with that gearing without resort to the granny ring (22).
So... my idea was, at least for occasional swap-outs, to re-use the long cage 9 speed XT rear mech. (as the shimano MTB 10 speed stuff went to a different cable-pull ratio and won't index with road shifters) - the XT mech already has a pair of aftermarket 10-speed compatible aluminium jockey wheels fitted, as frankly, the Shimano plastic ones don't generally make it through a typical UK winter.
Now, this is intended as a reasonably "budget" proposition - i.e. I don't really want to be throwing a load of money at something that may be used for half a dozen rides at most, so I was hoping to find a "budget" 10 speed cassette that would work nicely - 11-34 would be fine, I'm pretty sure that on a roadbike anything easier than a 1:1 drive to the back wheel would either rip the spokes out, mangle the freehub pawls or result in constant wheelies - I know with the old Dawes Tourer I had that had a 24T at the front an 32t at the rear, the only way I could use the easiest gear was if I had the front panniers on the bike to help anchor the front end down.
Problem is, Ultegra 10 speed tops out at a 12-30, so I was hoping that the MTB cassettes were still the same width spacing as the road ones - allowing me to use something like a Dyna-Sys SLX 10 speed MTB cassette and still get things to index. Failing that, anyone got any suggestions, ideally from a point of view of "I'm running this and it works perfectly" or "The Technical Documents HERE show that this will work" - rather than "I've read on the internet..."
I'd appreciate help on this - i'm getting a little bored of not being able to do some of my favourite rides because I can't get up a couple of the hills in my current state of post-injury recouperation.
I've read many of your posts on the community site and figure you'd be the type of cyclist who would typically blow by me on any terrain, when you mentioned you were useless on 8% grades, I had to do a double take. I do not live anywhere close to places that have long grades, just a few short steep grades. I have ridden multi-day rides where a triple was highly recommended, aka, expect grades 8-12% grades. I used to be embarrassed to go up climbs at glacial speed but after being on more than one ride and passing more than walking cyclist, I got over it. I decided I'd rather continue to ride than not have enough gears to make it to top. There is no embarrassment to a granny gear, especially if you are recovering from an injury.
0 -
BikeTourer wrote: »Okay, I'll admit it, I'm useless at climbing. Even when fully fit and healthy I have problems with climbing anything longer than a couple of miles, or steeper than 8% or so, and the combination of the two is just pretty much impossible for me at the moment with my current state of fitness / recovery from illness... at least, it is on standard road gearing.
At the moment i'm running a 50/34 compact with 11-28 cassette and frankly, Its just not easy enough for sitting in and spinning away up a decent sized hill at a rate that I can sustain without going pop. My thoughts went to the gearing on my MTB, which has a old-school 9 Speed XT setup - 44/34/22 at the front and 11-34 at the back, and - subject to being able to keep the front wheel on the ground, I can pretty much grind my way up anything on roads with that gearing without resort to the granny ring (22).
So... my idea was, at least for occasional swap-outs, to re-use the long cage 9 speed XT rear mech. (as the shimano MTB 10 speed stuff went to a different cable-pull ratio and won't index with road shifters) - the XT mech already has a pair of aftermarket 10-speed compatible aluminium jockey wheels fitted, as frankly, the Shimano plastic ones don't generally make it through a typical UK winter.
Now, this is intended as a reasonably "budget" proposition - i.e. I don't really want to be throwing a load of money at something that may be used for half a dozen rides at most, so I was hoping to find a "budget" 10 speed cassette that would work nicely - 11-34 would be fine, I'm pretty sure that on a roadbike anything easier than a 1:1 drive to the back wheel would either rip the spokes out, mangle the freehub pawls or result in constant wheelies - I know with the old Dawes Tourer I had that had a 24T at the front an 32t at the rear, the only way I could use the easiest gear was if I had the front panniers on the bike to help anchor the front end down.
Problem is, Ultegra 10 speed tops out at a 12-30, so I was hoping that the MTB cassettes were still the same width spacing as the road ones - allowing me to use something like a Dyna-Sys SLX 10 speed MTB cassette and still get things to index. Failing that, anyone got any suggestions, ideally from a point of view of "I'm running this and it works perfectly" or "The Technical Documents HERE show that this will work" - rather than "I've read on the internet..."
I'd appreciate help on this - i'm getting a little bored of not being able to do some of my favourite rides because I can't get up a couple of the hills in my current state of post-injury recouperation.
I've read many of your posts on the community site and figure you'd be the type of cyclist who would typically blow by me on any terrain, when you mentioned you were useless on 8% grades, I had to do a double take. I do not live anywhere close to places that have long grades, just a few short steep grades. I have ridden multi-day rides where a triple was highly recommended, aka, expect grades 8-12% grades. I used to be embarrassed to go up climbs at glacial speed but after being on more than one ride and passing more than walking cyclist, I got over it. I decided I'd rather continue to ride than not have enough gears to make it to top. There is no embarrassment to a granny gear, especially if you are recovering from an injury.
At 180lb I was fine a climbing - okay, I didn't ENJOY it, as I've always been more of a "diesel engine" more suited to winding it up to 25mph and keeping it there for 3-4 hours than explosive efforts up the hills we get in this country... sadly, 20 years older, 100lb heavier and with (most likely - I never actually had access to power data back then) a lower FTP, hills leave me in a complete MESS. Last year, before my recent illness and the attendent problems I was maybe 30lb lighter than at the moment and after 3 years of gradual improvement and training I got to the point where I was no longer AFRAID of going somewhere where it was hilly - but at the moment I'm completely stuffed - as soon as I either have to stand up on the pedals or my HR goes over 150 I just have to shut off and if necessary actually stop until the pain disperses again. So, yeah, I'm looking for something gear-wise where I can just sit there in a low gear, twiddling away, and moving forward - even if it's barely at walking pace.
0 -
Why don't you use a SRAM cassette? They make an 11-32 and an 11-36, both in a10 speed cassette (PG-1030), and the spacing is the same a Shimano.
0 -
to be honest, I've had "issues" running SRAM cassettes on Otherwise Shimano groupsets before... I never seemed to be able to get the shifting to be smooth all the way across the cassette - it'd usually work fine on the first 2 cogs, then the middle ones would be a bit "crunchy" then the last couple that were on the spiders seemed okay again - okay, this was 9 speed, and a few years ago, but i'm REALLY picky with my gears and was really hoping for an all-shimano solution. Plus, having had a quick browse around, the 1030 (presumably entry level - so "105" equivalent - seems to be pretty much out of stock at all my usual suppliers.
Think I'll just grab an XT 10 speed Cassette next time I'm buying some bits from Chain Reaction and "give it a go"... I can always pick up a "proper way around" 9-speed XT rear mech if it works well...0 -
To my knowledge, there is be no difference in spacing between a 10 speed road or 10 speed mountain Shimano cassette. The XT should work fine.0
-
Mark, I think you are between a rock and a hard place mate. I'd go for an SLX 11-34 9 spd cassette, they're cheap as chips and use that with your XT long cage. Only thing with a wide ratio 9 spd is the gaps between ratios are quite noticeable which may or may not bother you.
I have to say that upgrading my road bike to 11 spd with a 52/36 in front and 11-32 in back was the best thing I ever did. Better range top and bottom with good spacing between gears.
0 -
Mark, I think you are between a rock and a hard place mate. I'd go for an SLX 11-34 9 spd cassette, they're cheap as chips and use that with your XT long cage. Only thing with a wide ratio 9 spd is the gaps between ratios are quite noticeable which may or may not bother you.
I have to say that upgrading my road bike to 11 spd with a 52/36 in front and 11-32 in back was the best thing I ever did. Better range top and bottom with good spacing between gears.
I've done that trick with the old Ultegra 9 speed shifters - indeed up until recently I've been considering letting the MTB "share oily bits" (9 speed Triple XT groupset) with the Dawes Super Galaxy frame in the loft, and use my old Ultegra "brifters" to make a full-on tourer setup. However, at the moment I'm using the MTB quite a bit for it's "sit up and beg" positioning which makes the chest-pains quite a bit easier to cope with.
But I think i'm going to give the existing XT SGS mech a go on one of the 10 speed setups and see if it indexes - at which point I can just grab a 11-34 10 speed Shimano MTB cassette of some persuasion (and probably a new chain to cope with the extra "wrap". I'm not too worried about inter-gear ratio-jumps, as it's likely to be something that I just whang onto the bike for occasional trips up into the Dales or Lake District, rather than flogging it around my local area... at least it is IF I carry on improving in fitness...
0
This discussion has been closed.