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I have been eyeing the price for the Box Two 11speed group on wiggle/CRC (shifter/cassette/mech) and it seems like an interesting proposition to me... I'm not worried about 12 sprockets, 11-46 would be a good enough range for me, cassette is a reasonable weight and I wouldn't need a new hub...
Shifter sounds interesting with the option to dump 4 gears in one stroke, just a bit unsure of quality/durability etc, especially as it's their lower price point version.
Anyone tried it and able to comment?
Is it that one that requires the rear mech to be removed in order to take the rear wheel out? That'd be a deal breaker for me.
Does it? None of the reviews or videos I've seen seemed to mention any wheel removal issues...
Found it:
https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/review-box-components-1x11-derailleur-shifter/
Another issue I discovered was rear wheel removal. Because the mech doesn’t rotate far back enough on the hanger, you’re left with minimal room to release the cassette from the dropouts. There’s no way of turning the CamClutch off like you can with a Shimano derailleur, so the process is a whole lot harder than it needs to be. As such, I had to unbolt the derailleur to install or remove the rear wheel, which is terribly annoying. Again, this may be a non-issue for other frames.
Seen it mentioned in a few other places as well.
That was the Box one on a specific frame though, no idea if this applies to the Two on other frames, just a heads up 🙂
SunRace 12spd kit has this wheel removal issue too just so ya know
OK so wheel removal does appears to be a bit of an issue, noted.
On the flip side I like the idea of it having an adjustable clutch and being a robust mech and then the cassette weight is comparable to GX or XT but the group is around Deore/below NX sort of money...
I'm surprised there aren't more SYWists that haven't tried it...
Hey, yeah that was me that had the Box two on my Swarf.
There were a few things that worked against it for me, I think first off it was my first time using the sunrace 50t cassette and the shifting just wasn't as good as a 46t cassette I was used to..I couldn't get it shifting the way I wanted.
I couldn't get used to the shifter ergonomics coming from years of SRAM use, and the chunky shifter didn't play that nicely with my Hope tech3 levers(no matchmaker type clamp either).
And finally the clutch was super strong, and with no cage lock ala SRAM nor the ability to turn off the clutch like Shimano removing rear wheel was a pain.
Punted the lot and moved on with my life, much happier with SRAM 11 speed thanks.
I will say the build quality was really nice and as a company were super helpful to deal with. I really wanted to like it..but nah..
Interesting, I'd be using Box's 11-46 Cassette not going up to 11-50, but still it gives me pausefor thought. Really I'm just looking for more cost effective options to increase the range a bit over my current 11-40, 10 speed setup.
TBH the obvious alternative is probably sticking with my shimano 10 speed shifter, and fitting an M6000 Mech (or similar) as that can apparently operate an 11-46 cassette (Sunrace MX3?). that'll be a bit Cheaper (maybe under £100ish?), same range, one less click still, but an MX3 would be about on par weight wise with the Box (and current GX 12speed?)...
Shame really as I kind of wanted to try something a bit 'different' as well as being budget focussed, while keeping weigh sensible, but it might be a weee too much of a gamble.
Maybe next time...