Shimano XTR 9-Speed Shifters with Shimano 105 Road triple front derailleur
#1
Shimano XTR 9-Speed Shifters with Shimano 105 Road triple front derailleur
Will Shimano XTR 9-Speed MTB shifters work with my Shimano 105 Road triple front derailleur?
Btw, I'm assuming the shifters are friction mode for the front derailleur-- is this true?
Btw, I'm assuming the shifters are friction mode for the front derailleur-- is this true?
#2
Senior Member
These will be indexed front and rear. The front may not work well, mixing mtb shifter and road derailleur. If the derailleur is appropriate for your chainring setup, you may want to source a flat bar road front shifter such as the R3500. Or if you do want friction front shifting, use a grip or thumb shifter. Rear should be fine as-is.
#3
Clark W. Griswold
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: ,location, location
Posts: 14,631
Bikes: Foundry Chilkoot Ti W/Ultegra Di2, Salsa Timberjack Ti, Cinelli Mash Work RandoCross Fun Time Machine, 1x9 XT Parts Hybrid, Co-Motion Cascadia, Specialized Langster, Phil Wood Apple VeloXS Frame (w/DA 7400), R+M Supercharger2 Rohloff, Habanero Ti 26
Liked 4,553 Times
in
3,050 Posts
For 9 speed and below generally everything was compatible (minus a few oddballs like some of the 74xx DA stuff) so you should be fine. It is all indexed. To get friction you would need thumb, downtube or barcon shifters but it should work decently well enough.
#4
Mad bike riding scientist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 27,700
Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones
Liked 4,537 Times
in
2,522 Posts
These will be indexed front and rear. The front may not work well, mixing mtb shifter and road derailleur. If the derailleur is appropriate for your chainring setup, you may want to source a flat bar road front shifter such as the R3500. Or if you do want friction front shifting, use a grip or thumb shifter. Rear should be fine as-is.
__________________
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#5
aged to perfection
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: PacNW
Posts: 1,927
Bikes: Dinucci Allez 2.0, Richard Sachs, Alex Singer, Serotta, Masi GC, Raleigh Pro Mk.1, Hetchins, etc
Liked 1,345 Times
in
715 Posts
agreed mostly with the above. Questions like "will X work with Y" where X and Y come from different manufacturers, and maybe even generations of components, are very difficult to answer with the degree of certainty that the OP expects.
not to mention the definition of "work". Will it jockey the chain back and forth ? Maybe. Will it shift with precision and flawless reliability ? Hard to say.
Given what a used MTB front derailleur costs, that would be the route I'd suggest, but it's hard to advise the OP further because we don't know if he's runninng double or triple chainrings, etc.
/markp
not to mention the definition of "work". Will it jockey the chain back and forth ? Maybe. Will it shift with precision and flawless reliability ? Hard to say.
Given what a used MTB front derailleur costs, that would be the route I'd suggest, but it's hard to advise the OP further because we don't know if he's runninng double or triple chainrings, etc.
/markp
#7
Senior Member
For reasons that nobody has ever been able to explain, Shimano MTB and road front derailleurs have different cable-pull-to-derailleur-movement (actuation) ratios. This didn't matter back before Shimano decided that indexed front shifting was a thing that was needed.
But they did, and it does.
Your 9-speed XTR, or any 9-speed Shimano MTB shifters, will not index any Shimano front derailleur over any crankset ever made. (I imagine that one could machine chainring bolt spacers that could make it work, but nobody's ever bothered to try.)
Use a Shimano MTB front derailleur. 9-speed Deore LX or above will shift better than you do, and last forever. The XTR, as sweet as it was, is just bling... which isn't a bad reason to buy one.
--Shannon
But they did, and it does.
Your 9-speed XTR, or any 9-speed Shimano MTB shifters, will not index any Shimano front derailleur over any crankset ever made. (I imagine that one could machine chainring bolt spacers that could make it work, but nobody's ever bothered to try.)
Use a Shimano MTB front derailleur. 9-speed Deore LX or above will shift better than you do, and last forever. The XTR, as sweet as it was, is just bling... which isn't a bad reason to buy one.
--Shannon
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Mission Viejo
Posts: 6,006
Bikes: 1986 Cannondale SR400 (Flat bar commuter), 1988 Cannondale Criterium XTR, 1992 Serotta T-Max, 1995 Trek 970
Liked 2,277 Times
in
1,393 Posts
If you can find an XTR FD-M900/901 it will work with your 9 speed shifters and run between 26-48 chainrings. You might be able to push it to a 50t outer ring.
A lot of MTB FD’s won’t cover a road outer ring.
John
A lot of MTB FD’s won’t cover a road outer ring.
John
#9
For reasons that nobody has ever been able to explain, Shimano MTB and road front derailleurs have different cable-pull-to-derailleur-movement (actuation) ratios. This didn't matter back before Shimano decided that indexed front shifting was a thing that was needed.
But they did, and it does.
Your 9-speed XTR, or any 9-speed Shimano MTB shifters, will not index any Shimano front derailleur over any crankset ever made. (I imagine that one could machine chainring bolt spacers that could make it work, but nobody's ever bothered to try.)
Use a Shimano MTB front derailleur. 9-speed Deore LX or above will shift better than you do, and last forever. The XTR, as sweet as it was, is just bling... which isn't a bad reason to buy one.
--Shannon
But they did, and it does.
Your 9-speed XTR, or any 9-speed Shimano MTB shifters, will not index any Shimano front derailleur over any crankset ever made. (I imagine that one could machine chainring bolt spacers that could make it work, but nobody's ever bothered to try.)
Use a Shimano MTB front derailleur. 9-speed Deore LX or above will shift better than you do, and last forever. The XTR, as sweet as it was, is just bling... which isn't a bad reason to buy one.
--Shannon
Below is a comparison of FDs from about the same time, road RX-100 triple for downtube non-index and XT MTB. Based on the appearance of the cable attachment arm and the cage pivot, they appear that they would actuate similarly.
Below is another FD for a road double, pre-brifter (many FD had the same design at the time, late 80s-early 90s). This used a pivot that moved at a diagonal angle to the frame, which needed more cable pull. All of these type was replaced with standard pivot styles (shorter pull) when brifters were introduced, (eg FD-A550 to FD-A551).
These are some observations that I've discovered while playing with various shifters and FDs.
#10
cowboy, steel horse, etc
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: The hot spot.
Posts: 46,017
Bikes: everywhere
Liked 8,537 Times
in
4,548 Posts
I reckon you could get a front trigger shifter from a flatbar road group. Tiagra for instance.