gearing help needed

[spearmint]

Hello all

Not a particularly retro question but you all seem quite knowledgeable so here goes.

I’m looking at putting gears back on my single speed Kona Kilauea and I want to keep the powerful feel of a single speed but with a bit more range so i’m looking at a 9 speed road set up on the back and a single ring up front. My plan is a super short cage dura-ace rear mech (RD-7700) and a 9 speed dura-ace cassette with a gear spread of 11-23 (RD-7700) and a 36 tooth single ring up front with an xtr rear shifter.

What I’m after a little bit of reassurance from someone who knows more than me that this lot is going to work together, or am i missing something crucial where mountain bike shifters don’t work with road mechs or the super short cage mech isn’t going to work with this gear spread (the mech supposedly works with a rear spread of 11-27 and a 14 tooth difference up front so this should be ok). Or am i just being stupid with this gearing and I’ll never make it up any hills?

If anyone has any other comments or suggestions feel free.

Cheers

Huw

 

[Geoff]

Rear mechs should be okay. I don't see a problem with that setup. Anybody else confirm?

 

[tinkerer]

That cassette/mech combo will work fine with mountain bike shifters - when I was cycle commuting my bike had a similar setup. I think I still have the cassette (ultegra if I recall correctly, but pretty much as good as Dura ace) knocking around somewhere which you would be welcome to try to see if you like it - I may even have the original chain as well. You will certainly save a lot of weight over a regular mtb cassette.

Cheers,

Adam

 

[garethrl]

consider some lower gears?

It should all work from a mechanical point of view, 'all' roadie short cage mechs can handle a 27T cog so the setup you've described should be fine. Make sure you get an unramped ring with full-profile teeth to make sure you don't throw the chain off the the front over rougher ground. Any geared setup has far lower chain tension than ungeared, though if you're using your existing SS ring then it's probably ok.

However, unless you have teak quads and kevlar knees then think about a wider range of gears! 36-23 is not particularly low and once you have gears again then you may find yourself tempted to head for more demanding terrain than you used to one the SS. According to weightweenies a 12-27 DA cassette is about 20g heavier than 12-23, while 12-27 Ultegra is still only 220-ish g at a far lower cost.

Unless you already have the parts lying around of course.

 

[spearmint]

Thanks everyone

I certainly don't have legs like teak more like bread sticks so I should probably look at a slightly higher gear as this is going to become my main bike until i can persuade my girlfriend that I need a full susser.

Just one more question though a friend has just come and asked whether he needs a long or mid cage xt mech for a standard 3x9 set up for a hard tail and I don’t have a clue. Any ideas?

cheers

 

[terryhfs]

should probably look at a slightly higher gear as this is

Lower not higher. If in doubt go down. Your knees will thank you. Fit a 32 or 34. Make sure that you consider BB length and chainline when doing this conversion.

For a 3x9 setup it depends on the spread. Add together the difference between small ring and big ring and small sprocket and big sprocket and compare that figure to the "Max Spread" figure for the mech in question. You can still run with a smaller caged mech than suggested but you have to remember not to cross your chain or you'll have no tension or you'll rip the mech in two, depending on which way you go. I run an Ultegra short cage mech on a 12-21 and 28-38-46 set-up.