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Anyone successfully converted from Shimano's Hyperglide to Linkglide?
I currently running 12 speed XT on my Cube touring ebike with a slx cassette. Although its wonderful when set up it is a bit over kill for such a bike that gets daily driven round the city and I'm thinking of converting to 10 speed Linkglide, or even their 9 speed CUES for simplicity and durability when my current drivetrain wears out. I also just want to try Linkglide out.
Problem is the wheel. Currently running a FH-MT-401-B rear hub which is obviously Microspline and I'll need a HG driver for this to work. The frame is also QR boost to further complicate matters. The hub has been great and recently replaced every cartridge bearing so shame to change that. Highly unlikely but anyone know if there is a HG hub that would fit this hub? I've tried Googling but not come up with much.
The only other hub that I can see Shimano make for QR boost is a lower end FH-MT200-B which uses cup n cone bearings. Don't mind that. I thought it could be a straight swap but unfortunately it uses shorter flanges so possibly the existing spokes won't be long enough. New spokes another expense.
Or just buy a new wheel. Had a Google but can't find much out there that is QR boost for a reasonable price. Doesn't need to be Hope levels of bling for a city bike.
Anyone converted from Microspline to Linkglide that can share they route they took? Cheers peeps
Potential cost savings of linkglide or faff to install not part of my decision making. Just looking for more durability as it gets used and abused daily in all weathers.
just replace with a Deore cassette once that’s gone and your choice of chain, perhaps a higher end Sram for durability
It’ll potentially cost more to convert than just soaking up the cost of replacement parts
+1, just fit a deore cassette and chain if/when it wears out.
Unless you're doing mega mileage it'll never pay back. And if in 9 chains and 3 cassettes time you still want to downgrade it when the hub reaches the end of it's life do it at that point.
Yeah I get everyone's point. For the record I'm running a Deore cassette and rotating three chains currently. All four coming to the end of their life and the cassette is looking pretty awful. Bike does about 7000 miles a year. Just weighing up options.
Bike does about 7000 miles a year
To be fair, I’m amazed a cheap OEM Shimano hub has already lasted that long!
Linkglide seems to make more sense the more torque and more potential shock that the drivetrain might experience. So on full power eMTB’s witha Bosch/Brose/Yamaha motor they make absolute sense, less so on bikes with lower power motors and/or being ridden more smoothly.
I got lucky, my mate needed a DT Swiss Microspline freehub body, I needed an HG, so we swapped at zero cost to either of us. I then fitted XT 11spd linkglide, and although only a few rides old, it is most obviously quite a lot tougher than 12spd Hyperglide on a full power eMTB… Quite a bit slower to shift though too. I didn’t think it would bother me at all, but now I’m not quite so sure. Anyway…
If it means a new wheel, then absolutely I wouldn’t bother… Unless you’re already replacing one anyway, in which case get one with an HG hub and then you can fit your choice of any cassette as long as you don’t mind an 11T smallest cog.
Yeah similar to mboy I already had a replacement HG freehub for my wheel so I just had the outlay for the drivetrain. I went cheaper with the Cues 11speed for my kenevo and it’s been spot on. Replaced 12 speed GX, clunky shifting but I kinda like it. And over the months have definitely got used to the slower shifting. I got my shifter, mech, cassette and chain for £120 all in……cheaper than replacing the GX 12 speed cassette! I like the option to replace the bottom few cogs individually, and if I trash a mech it’s about £30 for a new one! I’ve recently stuck it on the winter hardtail as well……which is a hello dave so weight saving isn’t really a thing!!!
“ Anyone successfully converted from Shimano’s Hyperglide to Linkglide?”
Yes but I was on 11 speed XT so I was on a HG cassette before. I really like LinkGlide on my Levo - I ate through SLX cassettes so fast. When I wore out the 11 speed LinkGlide cassette I replaced it with the 10 speed one which is cheaper and lighter and had enough range.
However I’m so impressed with your cassette lifespan (mine started shifting badly at literally 10% of your annual mileage!) I’m not sure you’ll get much benefit from changing!
To be fair, I’m amazed a cheap OEM Shimano hub has already lasted that long!
So am I as I heard nothing but bad things about it but it's been faultless and even when I swapped out all the original bearings they actually felt fine after 9000 miles.
However I’m so impressed with your cassette lifespan (mine started shifting badly at literally 10% of your annual mileage!) I’m not sure you’ll get much benefit from changing!
Yeah...I wish! So the bike is roughly 1.5 years old and do about 500 miles each month. Currently the bike is on 10k miles. In that time the original Deore cassette lasted until roughly 6000 miles with three chains. On the third chain I gave up cleaning/caring for it and rode it into the ground and was used for a long time farrrr beyond the 0.75 mark. Now I'm on the second cassette and this time I'm rotating three chains every month-ish as an experiment. Chucked 2nd chain away at the weekend as it finally stretched enough to get the tool in. So I'm left with the one chain. The cassette looks very worn though so not convinced it will accept a fresh chain. Hence thinking about what to do next.
I already had a replacement HG freehub for my wheel
This would make life much easier!
Thanks everyone. Food for thought.