Originally Posted by
70sSanO
No problem with your reaction. I re-read my original post and could have done a much better job explaining my reasoning.
At the time my only thought was someone will find this thread one day and think, “Well Shimano said it wouldn’t work.”
John
Yeah, the sad fact is that CS reps don't always give good info. I've gotten dead wrong information over the phone from a rep at Hope and even from a kid from Turner Bikes (from some kid working there, not from Dave).
I think you may be on to something as to why Shimano may want to stick to the simple "Road and MTB are incompatible" mantra. The compatibility is a little complicated and they may be afraid that someone will read that Road and MTB are compatible and do something stupid. Even a lot of bike shops don't understand what is compatible with what.
They may also be worried about someone confusing shifter/RD compatibility with shifter/FD compatibility. Or how crank compatibility works. Or the issues when you run a Road RD without enough max cog or chain wrap capacity on a MTB cassette.