Rear Mech compatibility?

[The History Man]

Morning all,

A couple of questions.

Will ultegra 6500 brifters operate 9 spd XT rear mechs rather than the ultegra one fitted?

Will old xt/xtr 8sp cope with 9 on the brifters?

Will other 10 speed mechs work? (a lot more 10 than 9 about)

I have plenty of mtb xt/xtr mechs and was wondering? also the triple, is that interchangeable?

Got a tourer that need work and jockey wheels, mech is a bit ropey but works fine. may just polish it up but id i can fir something i already have and trust....

thanks THM

 

[hamster]

Rear
Shimano 7/8/9 mechs are completely interchangeable, regardless of what Shimano may say.
Shimano road 10 is the same as 7/8/9, MTB 10 is different (cable pull per click is not the same).
All will work in triple setups, provided the cage is long enough to wrap the chain and the cassette isn't too large.

Front
Road and MTB have different cable pull. You can fudge MTB front mechs to work with road shifters by clamping on the wrong side of the bolt (use a file to make a new cable clamping groove). Alternatively use a left hand Campag Ergo (not QS), downtube or bar-end shifter as these are not indexed.

So answer to your questions are:
Yes
Yes
Shimano road only
Yes, provided they are 7/8/9.

 

[The History Man]

That is a fantastic and most informative reply. Much appreciated.

Will probably drop an early xtr on the back then, rather than get/swap jockey wheels.

Got a new stronglight middle ring for the front so will see how it all settles in.

 

[legrandefromage]

Knowing what you are building and where you are, what about bar end shifters?

That way, just about anything fits with everything and you can get some really good ratios such as a 34t/ 2*t for climbing. I wouldnt go bigger than a 50t front for where you are either, especially if you run a 12 or 11t smallest sprocket at the back. A long cage rear mech takes up the slack and you can rebuild 'old' road mechs with MTB cages to keep the roadie look, if thats your bag... (and they will do 9spd quite happily)

I use downtube shifters on bar end mounts so I get a longer lever which was useful with thick winter gloves last year.

I've found a 50/42 triple running the smallest granny ring possible to be really useful for the low hills and wolds around here. I ran a 34/12 8spd cassette.

Running bar end shifters also means that you can run v-brake road levers and v-brakes which will be a lot better at hauling that big rig to a halt. The downside is that you may get some fork judder - this can happen with cantis too though.

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/dia- ... AtVA8P8HAQ

 

[The History Man]

Hmmmm, that was my first idea, remember i asked if you had any?

Having ridden it with the brifters and as they work well i think i'll keep them. I like riding on the hoods mostly. Not overly concerned about the 'look' as function first on this one. The xtr mech will allow a larger cassette but may fiddle and swap out cage on the ultegra first. Needs jockey wheels anyway. The triple is 52/42/32 which got me up stanway hill unloaded so as long as i'm careful......

Will strip and build, load it up with a bit of weight and try it again. Looking for a carradice saddle bag!

 

[pigman]

Re:

just bear in mind if you use later 9 and 10 speed rear mechs, while indexing will be ok, the jockey cage is narrower so you will have to use a 9 or 10 speed chain (it's ok, will still work on 87/8 speed cogs and chainwheels) otherwise you get a constant grating on the inside of the jockey cage

 

[hamster]

That's interesting, I run M770 rear mechs in 7 speed on two bikes and don't get a problem.

 

[The History Man]

To clarify, this is a 9x3 ultegra road setup with flight deck 6500 brifters at present. Want to swap out rear mech for a 97 or earlier (have both) xtr. leaving all else the same.

 

[pigman]

That's interesting, I run M770 rear mechs in 7 speed on two bikes and don't get a problem.

ah, maybe - I'm talking road stuff. The 6600 rear mech I run with an 8 speed chain grates like hell. Put on a 9 speed chain and all is good

Maybe 9 speed MTB stuff is wider to allow for mud tolerance, I dunno

 

[hamster]

Thanks for the clarification - that change by Shimano is not widely known!