Ultegra Derailleur w/ 12-36?

[Richard Stum | eoGEAR]

On most of my road bikes I have Ultegra RD-6700 medium derailleurs. As I understand it, it has the longest cage of the Shimano Ultegra 10-speed units. I recently upgraded my cassette to a SRAM 12-32 on my standard rando rear wheel. (I have a 50-33 in front and don't want to change out my cranks).

This weekend, I finished this, my first Super 600, with this new cassette. The last few climbs were a death march, as I simply needed lower gearing, due to fatigue or not enough lower back strength training.

Will a 12-36 cassette work with this derailleur? Shimano says it will only work up to 30 teeth, yet 32 works fine.

Will a 10-speed XTR mountain bike long cage derailleur work with my Shimano Ultegra STI shifters? Is that the best solution?

Cheers,
Richard Stum
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[Mike Sturgill]

Hi Richard,

I can't answer your Ultegra derailleur question, but I can tell you that an XTR derailleur works great with my Shimano Dura Ace 7800 shifters. I have about 40k miles on that setup. I'm running an 11-28 cassette with the XTR, but the shifting is good.

-Mike

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[CJ Arayata]

I'm pretty sure anything over 32 gets you out of med-cage and into long-cage territory. Chain wrap numbers are always conservative but I think the 4+ wouldn't work....

There are guides online for what is compatible with what, but my naive understanding is that you need to pay special attention to cable pull and tooth spacing for the MTN vs. road groups. SRAM is interchangeable between their road and mountain shifters, but not as sure on Shimano.

Good luck.

[James Bondra]

This might help:

http://blog.artscyclery.com/ask-a-mechanic/ask-a-mechanic-wide-range-cassettes-with-shimano-road-derailleurs/

James Bondra
Business, Economics and Sport Management & Media Librarian
Ithaca College
Ithaca, NY  14850
607-274-1962 (w)
607-220-4382 (cell)

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From: ran...@googlegroups.com <ran...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of CJ Arayata <charles...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2015 2:51 PM
To: randon
Subject: [Randon] Re: Ultegra Derailleur w/ 12-36?

 

[Jim Bondra]

Here is another article: Look near the bottom of the article. 9
speed MTN Shimano works with 10 speed Road Shimano.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/02/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-revisiting-drivetrain-cross-compatibility_316828

[Susan Otcenas]

>>Here is another article:     Look near the bottom of the article. 9 speed MTN Shimano works with 10 speed Road Shimano.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/02/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-revisiting-drivetrain-cross-compatibility_316828

I can confirm that this works because this is the set-up I have on my rando bike.   10 speed DuraAce shifters, 9 speed XT long cage derailleur, big-ass rear cassette.    I can ALSO confirm that you need a mechanic that really knows what they are doing to get this set up correctly.   Shops that haven't done it before are unlikely to get it right, as it is an "off-label" solution.   But it works really well when set up correctly.

Susan

On Mon, Sep 14, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Jim Bondra <jbo...@ithaca.edu> wrote:

Here is another article:     Look near the bottom of the article. 9 speed MTN Shimano works with 10 speed Road Shimano.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/02/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-revisiting-drivetrain-cross-compatibility_316828

[Craig McGregor]

Congratulations on your SR600. An SR600 is a pretty extreme example of fatigue induced gearing ratio requirements, so you may not regularly need such a wide range of gearing...

No, neither the Ultegra or 10spd XTR will work. The Ultegra RD is only rated to 30 but can be set up to 32T except in a few cases related to hangar geometry etc. And Shimano MTB components since 2011 are incompatible with road shifters.

An older 9 speed Shimano MTB derailleur with an SRAM 10 speed cassette would perform exactly what you describe. Note: Newer Shimano MTB components are incompatible with road shifters (Dynasys, Shadow Plus).

[Richard Stum | eoGEAR]

Thanks for confirming this. So a 10-speed XT derailleur doesn't work, or is just not needed? That is weird, mixing speeds...but if it works, GREAT!

I plan to use a SRAM 10-speed road 12-36 cassette.

[Guy Washburn]

I use a IRD 11-36 with my Ultegra 6800 GS (medium cage) 11 speed derailleur without even needing to adjust the B-screw... It shifts really nicely!

There is rumor of a trick employing a 1mm washer under the RD mounting bolt that opens up access to much larger rear cogs... I haven't needed to try it but that is where I would go if I wanted to try this... Other tricks include replacing the stock B-screw with a longer bolt (get a hex bolt not another screw for easier adjustment!) and building up the ledge on the frame where the B-screw presses etc...

Set your chain length by measuring Big-big plus 2 links and you should be fine...

Good Luck!

Guy

[Lounging Longhorn]

Use a 9 speed MTB derailer, it works fine with 10 speed STI. This per
a Shimano engineer.

[Richard Stum | eoGEAR]

So, if an IRD 11-36 worked, shoudn't a 11-36 SRAM cassette work?

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[AKThomas]

I have not tried this, but while shopping for a new front ring for my mountain bike, I came across this thingamijig: 

http://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/collections/cyclocross-road/products/roadlink

[Joost]

On 14 Sep 2015, at 23:09 , Richard Stum | eoGEAR <ric...@eogear.com> wrote:

> Thanks for confirming this. So a 10-speed XT derailleur doesn't work, or is just not needed? That is weird, mixing speeds...but if it works, GREAT!

Won’t work. The key issue is cable pull; not speed rating. All (Shimano) derailleurs 7-9 speed road AND MTB, and 10-speed road BUT NOT MTB have the same cable pull rating, and hence will work for your goal. It’s the shifters that determine the gear steps.

[K T Huber]

Hi Richard,

On my recent SR 600 I installed an SRAM 12-36 cassette and an Ultegra RD-6700-A-GS rear derailleur.  It worked fine- not quite as slick as my usual short cage set-up, but perfectly adequate.  And I was sooooo happy to have that 34x36 granny gear.  It really saved me.

Kerin

[Bankshot]

+1 to what Kerin said. I needed it going up Sonora Pass in the dead of night.

Deb Banks

From the RivetPhone

[Stony]

I've run the set up below with Ultegra 10 speed STI shifters since PBP 2011 with a compact crank (34-50) up front..  To echo what some have said above, I first tried a 10 speed Shimano MTB derailleur, but the STI spacing wouldn't shift properly. I searched some blogs that said a 9 Spd MTB derailleur would work with the 10spd STIs - and that turned out to work for me. YMMV.

 

i) Shimano SLX Shadow Rear Derailleur Model RD-M662 (9 spd); and

ii) Shimano SLX 10 Speed Hyperglide Dynasys Cassette 11-36T