gundamzaku

Hello,
I am currently trying to upgrade the drivetrain on my 2009 Scott Speedster S60 flat bar. I found that Shimano offers XT drivetrain where I can get 3x11 but it’s mountain bike drivetrain. If I get every part from the mountain bike XT line, will it work on my Speedster? Also, would it be ok to mix and match between road and mountain parts from Shimano like an Ultegra cassette and a XT rear derailleur? Thanks for the opinions in advance!
Eugene

Russ Roth

Only major problem I can see is that the cassette might not fit your hub. If your wheels are original than they are 10sp and an Ultegra cassette needs an 11sp freehub body. You won't have this problem with the XT cassette. Also might have a problem with the gear range on your crank, MTB fder are designed for a more compact crank like a 28/38/48; if your crank starts with a 53t then you might have some funky shifting but not necessarily a bad thing. If you're really talking everything XT; f and r der, crank, and shifters then yes, it will work perfectly fine and 11sp cog spacing is all the same, its just the larger mtb cogs sort of climb up the spokes which is how it still gets away with using a 10sp freehub.

base2 

I'm not sure why you would want an Ultegra cassette to mate to an XT derailleur. From personal experience, I will tell you it works like garbage. The derailleur parallelogram operates on a different angle & unless the b-screw is backed all the way out the jockey wheel is too far away from the cogs to shift remotely well enough to be acceptable.

The XT/XTR cranksets are designed a 73mm bottom bracket. So you will need to use the spacers included with the bottom bracket to widen the 68mm bottom bracket shell of your road frame.

As far as I know the new GRX rear derailleur has a road pull ratio upper, & an XT/XTR cage/parrelogram lower for the 11-to-pie-plate XT cassettes. (I mention this in case you want drop bar shifters.)

What is your objective? To outfit XT/XTR drive train to your flat bar road bike? Then yes, keeping everything in the same groupset is the most likely way to success.

XT is nearly as good as XTR. The only difference in the shifters is an XTR shifter has 2 bearings in the shifter & an XT has one bearing and 1 bushing.

The spider of the cassette of XTR is composite & the XT is aluminum. For being 50% the cost, the XT is the one that won't self destruct.

The derailleur cage is similarly composite in the XTR, and aluminum on the XT. There is no functional difference besides lightening your wallet.

I am going to guess that your rear hub is a standard Shimano road 8, 9, 10 speed free hub. If that is the case, then an XT/XTR 11 speed mountain cassette will work just fine with your current hub.

An 11 speed road cassette will not work with your 8,9,10 road hub unless it is an EDCO Monoblock with the "10-11" locknut...but as addressed earlier, the XT/XTR derailleur would shift like garbage on a road ratio cassette anyway so if you want 11 speed it'll have to be XT/XTR no matter which way you cut this problem.

Pay attention to the derailleur capacity. So far as I know 47 teeth (memory) is as much as you can go. So bigger than an 11-42 cassette is a non-starter if you have more than a double crankset with a 16 tooth difference small to big at the crankset. This, more than anything will determine your cassette/crankset options.

Admittedly, it's been about 2-3 years since I've looked into this sort of thing. So some may have additional information to add.

Additional food for thought: I'm not impressed with 11 speed chain life (~1500 miles, 2000 tops road, 500-ish dirt) & the bottom 6, 11 speed cogs dig into aluminum freehub bodies something fierce. You might want to ensure your freehub is either steel or you have a ready source for freehub bodies available if/when you decide to make the switch. I replaced a freehub on average every year or 2 on each of my bikes until I made the switch to monoblock cassettes for this very reason...But, then again, I ride a lot of miles & they always lasted until the freehub bearings rolled like corn flakes anyway. You & many others may never encounter this issue.

50PlusCycling

I run an 11 speed XTR cassette and derailleur on a Ultegra hub, there are no fitment issues, I was able to fit it on an Alfine hub as well.

gundamzaku

thank you all for responding, my first inquiring about mixing and matching different model drivetrains from shimano was just curious, and from all your answers, i probably shouldn't do that, or it probably won't work. also based on all your answers, i'm going to stick with XT on the drivetrain. it is a flat bar, so the XT shifters should work just fine. i want 3x11 so that i have more options and being a mountain bike drivetrain it will make my climb a little easier. unfortunately, there is no 3x11 drivetrain from shimano on the road side, so i decided to see if a mtn bike drivetrain would work. i realized that i can get as many gears as shifters would allow me, so i looked at the shifters first, then decide on the rest of the drivetrain. thank you all for the valuable opinions!

50PlusCycling

I needed more gearing for hills, which is why I moved to the MTB rear driveline. My crankset is a Dura Ace 7800, it works perfectly well with the XTR 11 speed cassette and derailleur. The cassette has a 36 tooth low gear, which is low enough that I don't need a triple on the front, at least on the hills here in Japan.

veganbikes

I would look at a different bike maybe. Certainly upgrades are great but the S60 if I remember my Scott line up is towards the bottom end of what they made and not a great candidate for huge upgrades. Certainly go for it if you really want but you might find a nicer frame and put these upgrades on that plus you will have something more modern which will work better with modern group sets and brakes.

I wouldn't go 3x11. At max I would do a 2x11 but you really don't need a triple with todays larger cassettes. My ideal bike in this situation would be a nice steel frame with carbon fork thru axles front and rear and probably either 2x or maybe just a 1x11 XT group set with a VO Crazy Bar or Koga Denham Bar or Surly Moloko. I am basically going to be building something similar and cannot wait.

wsteve464

If you are looking for easier gearing consider just changing the cassette to one with larger low gear, you may have to change the rear der to a long cage or put a wolf tooth in between the der and frame. You can also change the rear drive train ( shifter, der and cassette) to mtb and leave the front alone.

gundamzaku

that's a good point, as i am having more and more difficulty finding triple cranks in the market, but i haven't look for upgrades since 2010, had to read up on all the new stuff

that's not a bad suggestion at all and i have had a few friends suggest that i should spend a money on a different bike all together. and you are correct, the s60 flat bar is pretty much the bottom model of the speedster line, but somehow i've grown to love it so it's gonna be hard for me to leave it, but i will definitely look into a compact in the front instead of triple

this idea will definitely save me a lot of money, appreciate that, thank you!!!

gundamzaku

with the idea going with a 2x11 drivetrain, or even just going to a bigger 8 speed cassette, this will allow me to climb a bit easier and also not break my wallet

thank you all for sharing your knowledge with me!!

Eugene

Doug64

I have mountian bike gearing on my touring bike using a road front derailleur, mtn rear derailleur, 11-34 mtn cassette, 44/32/22 mountain crankset with shorter bottom bracket, and Shimano STI road shifters.

subgrade

I don't think Shimano offers a 3x11 groupset - the trekking series go to 3x10, MTB to 2x12. Of course you could always assemble one from different parts, but I'm not sure if there is muche sense in it.

gundamzaku

ah, this is very encouraging, thank you for the picture, now i'm back to deciding to go triple or compact

gundamzaku

great picture, thank you!

gundamzaku

you are correct sir, i've checked and shimano does not offer a 3x11 groupset...if anything, i had to pick out part by part to make it a 3x11. now that i know for sure it is possible to go triple in the front and mix road and mountain parts, i guess the decision is back to if it's really worth it like someone previously mentioned, and figuring out which is the most cost effective.

rodgeman

What about the Shimano GRX line at 2x11?

See Shimano RX 2x11

veganbikes

You don't have to leave it unless you want. You can keep it and use it for times you need a bike you don't worry about so much.

You can also go subcompact as well Sugino in their OX line does it, White Industries, René Herse/Compass all offer customizable stuff and Shimano, FSA and others offer it in stock models. You can really go wild with gearing.

If you need help finding a frame and picking parts feel free to PM me and I can help.

gundamzaku

appreciate that, thank you!

gundamzaku

i initially wanted to go with mtn bike parts is because shimano does not offer a whole lot for 3x8 which is what my bike is stock. so i figure if i were to upgrade, i might as well replace everything. but after hearing everyone's advice i learned that i might only need to change the cassette for easier climbing, i might just stick with just replacing the cassette and possibly the rear derailleur. i have thought about 2x11 but this will also require me to replace a lot if not my whole drivetrain, but compact is definitely a great option but i will have to improve on climbing as a rider first