Originally Posted by
polymorphself
I'm in need of a new wheelset and think its finally time to take the opportunity to have my first bike with some "modern" components. Aka a cassette. I'm ok spreading the triangle to 130mm but I'm worried about compatibility issues I may run into with the drive train. For example, I'm not sure my stock Shimano Light action RD will play well with whatever cassette I choose. But again, I've never messed with post 1980s components so I'm looking to learn here.
Any good examples/recommendations of setups that keep the classic look but work well on a voyageur as a bit of an all arounder that mostly does flat commuting with the occasional loaded weekend trip? The current chainrings are biopace and I don't love them so no problem swapping those out as well. Have been reading about the benefits of a compact double but don't have any experience there either.
Tagging in
ravenix and
Scottybigs who look to have gone this route.
Are you looking to keep the indexing of the Light Action rd? If so then you'll be ok with whatever cassette you choose as long as you stay within its specs. If friction then you might run into an issue with be able to span the full width of an 11s cassette, I've run into that with other RDs.
I feel like you might be opening a can of worms with this. Switching wheelsets, switching RD, switching cranksets, what else is that going to lead to? Are you looking to go full modern drivetrain or just replace the wheels? (And I'm assuming 700c rims?)