Shimano Road / MTB front shifter & mech compatibility

[Fatal Swan]

I'm building a gravel bike from an old MTB and will probably go 1x11 in the end. But I'd really like to do 2x11 if I could make it work with most of my current parts. I know it won't work as is, but would love to know if anyone has managed to make it work, like with a Jtek shiftmate adapter (but I can't find one for this specific combination). I've tried to google but nothing obvious. The combination I want to use is:

Shimano road STI (2 x 11)
Shimano MTB front mech (no choice here as it's a direct mount frame). I have a triple mech but would get a double mech if it made any difference
Shimano MTB crankset, using the 32 and 44 rings.

Of course the front mech and crankset are fine together on the MTB frame, but f I've read up correctly, the road front shifter won't pull enough cable to move the MTB mech between two chainrings. Any suggestions before I resign myself to 1x11?

Cheers!

 

[Woz]

Put the cable the other side of the pinch bolt.

 

[Woz]

Just to expand above, see the later pages:
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/drivetrain-compatibility-in-pictures.434920/

I can't say if it will work for your set-up, but worth a try. 11 speed proved too much hassle and I got rid of it all years ago. You will also find the lever shift much stiffer. I had hopes that Shimano would answer our prays with gravel bikes, but instead no and we got more incompatible daft stuff.

There was only one top-pull STI compatible FD for double made for 10 speed - the FD-CX70.

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/prod...d-onroad-hydraulic-diskbrake/FD-CX70-B-T.html

A German company Speen made an adapter called the "Umlenker" - probably long gone now too.

 

[Fatal Swan]

Thanks - I'm not sure I follow the explanation though, sorry! The pull direction is not a problem since I can route the cable fine for the bottom pull MTB mech, since the frame is bottom pull. I've used the devices like that Speen one in the past ("DMR mech verter") to switch around the cable pull.

The problem I have with the proposed setup is that the frame uses a slightly odd modernish direct mount front mech fit (low direct mount, E-type) like this:

A proper solution would be if there were a low direct mount/E-type front mech for road shifters, but as far as I know such a front mech doesn't exist so I'm stuck with using an MTB front mech. And the issue with that - as far as I can tell - is going to be that the cable pull ratio for road and MTB front shifters is different. Again, if I've read up correctly, then when I use the 11-speed road STI shifter, the cable pull won't be enough to shift the MTB front mech from one chainring to another. So I think I need some device like the Jtek shiftmate ones to convert the Shimano road cable pull ratio to the MTB cable pull ratio, but I haven't come across one!

 

[Fatal Swan]

Ah, maybe I've answered my own question - it looks like the Shiftmate 7 is designed to do this!

Shiftmate 7 mixes Shimano & Campagnolo triple road shifters with mountain bike front derailleurs

Shiftmate 7 also mixes Capagnolo 11 speed Ergo Shifters with wide ratio Shimano 11 speed cassettes using the Shimano 10 speed Shadow derailleur

www.jtekengineering.com

 

[Woz]

The main point was / is you can alter the cable pull by altering the distance the cable attaches in relation to the pivot point.

Mmmh. That mech. style is something I'm not familiar with, so I can't advise more than the principal involved.

 

[Madmax1993]

You've mentioned the front compatibility issues, but 11spd road and 11spd MTB pull ratios are also different with Shimano, so your 11spd STI shifter won't work on an MTB derailleur.
Have you considered using a surly corner bar. It gives you a flared drop bar, but you can slip on MTB/flat bar shifters and brake levers. That way you don't need to use any road stuff.

 

[Fatal Swan]

You've mentioned the front compatibility issues, but 11spd road and 11spd MTB pull ratios are also different with Shimano, so your 11spd STI shifter won't work on an MTB derailleur.
Have you considered using a surly corner bar. It gives you a flared drop bar, but you can slip on MTB/flat bar shifters and brake levers. That way you don't need to use any road stuff.

Basically I like the normal position on the hoods with road STI and a regular drop bar (I've tried flared bars a few times don't love them), so the aim is really to stick with that.

For the rear shifter although Shimano 11spd road and MTB aren't interchangeable, unlike the front shifter, there are decent options - running an 34t cassette and maybe even a bit larger is fine on the modern Ultegra rear mech and if I end up going with a single chainring instead then the GRX rear mech can take 42t and is fine with road STIs.