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Low gearing options for steep rolling hills.

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Low gearing options for steep rolling hills.

Old 06-09-20, 01:20 AM
  #26  
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I didn't catch what shifters you have. But for a long time I ran my Ultegra 6800 shifters with a 50-34 crankset with an XT 11-40 cassette. An 11-42 would've worked too. The secret was the XTR M9000 Shadow Plus derailleur & Jtek Shiftmate8. Since then an XT level derailleur with the same capability has been invented. Probably SLX too for that matter

At some point there was an XT-M785 28-44 crankset on that bike too. All I had to do was move the big ring inboard a bit with some 1mm spacers & affix a 44 tooth ring from a triple...and of course a mountain bottom bracket & the spacers you already discovered you need for a mountain bottom bracket in a road frame.

There is always options.

As far as XT/XTR per the various spec sheets 11-42 is the limit in 2x systems. 11-46 is the limit in 1x systems. I understand GRX is the same but has a road pull ratio. Someone else will chime in on this, I hope....but I have not actually looked into it. If true, a GRX derailleur is a much more elegant solution than the XT/XTR derailleur & Shiftmate solution I made due with.

Boasting time: My current favorite set up is a 27 tooth type "08" Schlumpf Speed drive found dirt cheap on eBay mated to an 11-46 XT cassette & XT M8000 derailleur. 677% range. 0.58 ratio to 3.98 ratio. About 14.5-99 gear inches in my case. Sub 15 gear inches is actually hard to get up hills for a whole different reason: The balance between traction, the bike wheelieing over backwards, & pedaling fast enough & smooth enough to stay upright is a challenge all on it's own.

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Old 06-11-20, 08:48 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by rumatt
I ride routes that have a lot of rolling hills with steep climbs - 15-20% grade sections is not uncommon. I found a new route with a steep gravel section that broke my sprit. Muscling up is just not fun with my 50/34 compact crank.

I'm ready for mountain bike gearing ranges. What are my options for low, low gearing that won't totally suck on the road?

If I go Shimano 2x it seems the lowest I can go is 30 front, 34 rear. There's no way to run a larger cassette with Shimano 2x? (likely di2. I'm sick of trimming front derailleurs)

Shimano 1x my option seems to be 11-42. With a small chainring that's super low, but that's a narrow range. This can't be used in 2x right?

Apparently with sram 1x I can do 10-50 with wireless electronic shifting. Not sure if the gaps will drive me crazy. I'm not a cadence nazi, but I have my limits.

Im curious to hear people's experiences. Thanks!
I went with a GRX Di2 2x set up with the 817 1x specific rear derailleur and the 815 front derailleur. 48/32 chainrings with an 11-42 shimano cassette is actually a nice set up. Plenty of climbing ability and more than enough on the top end for me. It shifts perfectly too.

There are certainly many other cheaper and easier options out there. And I'll echo the comment that there really is no wrong way to get the gearing. Just some set ups work better for different people and their riding conditions.
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Old 06-11-20, 09:03 AM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Bryan C.
I went with a GRX Di2 2x set up with the 817 1x specific rear derailleur and the 815 front derailleur. 48/32 chainrings with an 11-42 shimano cassette is actually a nice set up. Plenty of climbing ability and more than enough on the top end for me. It shifts perfectly too.
Oh wow, I didn't realize that the 11-42 cassette worked with the 2x. It is fully compatible and works fine?

I'm guessing the down sides of the long cage derailleur are minimized with Di2? It shifts great right?

This might be a winner!
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Old 06-11-20, 09:26 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by rumatt
Oh wow, I didn't realize that the 11-42 cassette worked with the 2x. It is fully compatible and works fine?

I'm guessing the down sides of the long cage derailleur are minimized with Di2? It shifts great right?

This might be a winner!
I did a mini write up here: GRX Di2

The long cage derailleur is needed for the longer chain length. Other than ground clearance I see no downside to the longer cage and the clutch does a great job of controlling chain slap.
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Old 06-11-20, 12:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Bryan C.
The long cage derailleur is needed for the longer chain length.
The 817 isn't a longer-cage derailleur than the 815.

The 1x vs 2x discrepancy with the derailleurs has to do mostly with how big the offset is between the jockey wheel and the cage pivot. They're actually concentric on the GRX 2x derailleurs, so that front shifting doesn't affect rear shift behavior. But the 2x derailleur still has an extremely long cage, because although it's designed for smaller cassettes than the 1x derailleur, it needs to handle front shifts as well.

Actually, Shimano rates the 815 for far more chain wrap than the 817, since it's intended to be used with as much as (48-31)+(34-11)=40, while the 817 is only intended to be used with (42-11)=31. Of course, the 817 will handle more wrap than it's rated for: it has a longer cage than necessary for dealing with just an 11-42 cassette.

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Old 06-11-20, 12:43 PM
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Originally Posted by HTupolev
The 817 isn't a longer-cage derailleur than the 815.

The 1x vs 2x discrepancy with the derailleurs has to do mostly with how big the offset is between the jockey wheel and the cage pivot. They're actually concentric on the GRX 2x derailleurs, so that front shifting doesn't affect rear shift behavior. But the 2x derailleur still has an extremely long cage, because although it's designed for smaller cassettes than the 1x derailleur, it needs to handle front shifts as well.

Actually, Shimano rates the 815 for far more chain wrap than the 817, since it's intended to be used with as much as (48-31)+(34-11)=40, while the 817 is only intended to be used with (42-11)=31. Of course, the 817 will handle more wrap than it's rated for: it has a longer cage than necessary for dealing with just an 11-42 cassette.

I'm not sure what all the total capacity numbers even mean. Lol. Please don't explain either.

But perception is often more believable than reality sometimes. Out of curiosity I took some measurements from my DA 9100 SS, my XT 8000 GS, SLX 7000 GS, and compared them to the GRX 817. The 817 has an SS length cage and certainly resembles an MTB derailleur with the upper pulley offset. So, that blows the longer cage theory right out of the water. Oops.

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Old 06-11-20, 01:45 PM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Bryan C.
I went with a GRX Di2 2x set up with the 817 1x specific rear derailleur and the 815 front derailleur. 48/32 chainrings with an 11-42 shimano cassette is actually a nice set up. Plenty of climbing ability and more than enough on the top end for me. It shifts perfectly too.

There are certainly many other cheaper and easier options out there. And I'll echo the comment that there really is no wrong way to get the gearing. Just some set ups work better for different people and their riding conditions.
Did you have to extend a chain or was a 116L chain long enough?
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Old 06-11-20, 02:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Elvo
Did you have to extend a chain or was a 116L chain long enough?
I initially used a Sram Eagle XX1 12 spd chain to go with my existing 10-42 Sram cassette. I swapped to a Shimano 11-42 but kept the chain. Shifting is still perfect.

The Eagle chain was 126 links, i just checked and it's 114 links now. Chain is off the bike so it was easy to check. It did take a bit of trial and error with chain length and b-screw adjustment to get it dialed in.
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