Upgrading from 9 to 10 speed.

[Way2many]

Moving into the 2000's on 1 one of my mtb's ha me going Shimano this time over SRAM.

So far 10 speed XT cassette paired with a Shimano chain for reliability and a XT RD-T8000 mech but struggling find suitable shifters.

Don't want to go full Shimano on the front as I'm still happy with seperate Hope brake levers.

What's a good shifter to go for?

Thanks.

 

[ishaw]

You can still go Shimano shifters and retain your hope brakes. Xt shifter is available with a bar clamp, or you can get the i-spec one and get an adapter that turns it into a bar clamp.

You can even get a hope matchmaker and mount the shifter to the brake lever clamp.

Other options are limited a bit as you'll need a shifter that's compatible with the Shimano pull ratio. Other brands do exist, you can even get thumbies in 10sp Shimano flavour for that retro, but modern touch.

 

[Siish]

Depending how much you want to spend, here are a couple of options on ebay.

https://ebay.us/m/kmZYYA

https://ebay.us/m/qMnrZv

 

[Retrorockit]

Shimano 10s,11s use the same cable pull ratio as SRAM 8,9,10,11s. This opens up some gripshift options. I used a Shimano Zee M640 SS cage mech., 11s 11-40 cassette, and SRAM NX gripshifter. Worked great. This was a 1x conversion. SLX mid cage works also with 2x10 an option.

 

[hamster]

I am not sure that's right, seeming as SRAM changed their shift ratios between 9S and 10S. However one man's 'compatible works perfectly' is another's poor match.

 

[Retrorockit]

SRAM did make some Shimano ratio 8,9 speed shifters. You have to watch out for those. The numbers I've seen are Sram 1:1.1, and 10,11s Shimano 1:1.13.
The old Shimano (pre 10s) 2:1 was actually 1:1.7. There may be some oddball Shimano road stuff that's different, and CUES doesn't match either.
Bike Gremlin has an article on this.
https://bike.bikegremlin.com/1278/bicycle-rear-derailleur-compatibility/
There are also cable ratio converters from Shiftmate.
https://www.jtekengineering.com/shiftmate/
I tried to do 11s Rapid Rise. But the RR "shift when stopped" feature puts slack in the cable and deraillled the cable in the converter.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Deore or xt rapidfire plus,
band-on ensures future applications
Brilliant bit of kit.

If you fit the matching component, you get the best results and it's still good years later.

 

[dirttorpedo]

Alternate view here - go with friction shifters. If you want new I've heard good things about Rivendell Silver shifters. Otherwise, just get some vintage suntour or shimano XT thumbies.