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Can you pair road brifters with MTB rear mechs and vice versa?
Pardon the pun but I’d like to XPLR paring a wide range road rear mech with a mtb shifter?
Why you ask …….
I’ve no need for anything larger than a 36t rear sprocket living where I do and it would be wasteful using a 10-50 cassette.
I’m looking at a wide range Ultegra or 105 12 speed cassette (11-36) with a Rival XPLR mech
Thanks in advance ☺️
Interested for myself. My research findings so far are....
Can you pair road brifters with MTB rear mechs
definitely, its quite common. Especially before XPLR came out gravelists were using eagle mechs with drop bars
and vice versa?
no reason why it wouldn't pair...but
Rival xplr "requires" the sram road cassette and flat top chain. Im not sure if that means the mech itself requires the sram flat top chain, or if its the cassette that needs it.
Seems youve already discovered that Sram road cassettes need a different free hub which seem to not exist for MTB hubs (at least, I'm drawing a blank for my hope pro 4.)
Worth noting that the road gravel mechs dont have the impact protection thingy that the mtn ones do. Don't know if you find that important or not.
The higher end mechs (XX1 XO1, Force and Red) have a fluid clutch for chain retention, while the cheapest (GX and Rival) have a standard spring. Im not sure on the strength and/or adjustability of these clutches on the road/gravel side, the gravel reviews seem to have no issue with chain retention, but is washboarding a gravel bike the same vibrations as a mtb on singletrack?
ayjaydoubleyou
Rival xplr “requires” the sram road cassette and flat top chain. Im not sure if that means the mech itself requires the sram flat top chain, or if its the cassette that needs it.
Guy Kesteven did a build with the flattop chain on a regular MTB build (Chisel, maybe?) I don't think there are any major compatibility issues
Here you go - flat top chain, normal GX chainring, GX AXS shifter, RED AXS Mech, 10-36 cassette
flat top chain, normal GX chainring, GX AXS shifter, RED AXS Mech, 10-36 cassette
cant watch a vid at work, will watch tonight. Getting a road cassette on MTB hub is my current virtual stumbling point, interested to see how he acheives this.
Yeah, XDR freehub might be tricky, but other 12 speed options might work.
Seems road AXS mechs (non XPLR) can handle 10-36
This is looking promising albeit an expensive kind of promising!
I understood there to be a chain and cassette compatibility but have never previously bought into that. I’d likely be looking at a Shimano chain and Shimano cassette.
Freehub wise ….. the Hope Sram XDR (note road version) fits a Pro4 hub albeit with half the engagement due to the half the pawls.
The Shimano 12 speed road cassettes, I believe, use an 11speed freehub.
worst case it’s a hub swap to an RS4 hub then either the XDR freehub or the std road freehub would be an option.
Freehub wise ….. the Hope Sram XDR (note road version) fits a Pro4 hub albeit with half the engagement due to the half the pawls.
I saw this option, anyone know if it works?
And does half the engagement mean the engagement angle will be doubled, or just that only 2 pawls are in contact?
Basically, I dont know if the pro4 has 4 contact points, or if its just an either/or with 2 pawls in contact.
worst case it’s a hub swap to an RS4 hub then either the XDR freehub or the std road freehub would be an option.
are you not then limited to either 130mm road or 135x9/142x12 mtn sizes?
My guess is a 12 speed shimano road cassette and chain will be fine
This is for a 142mm spaced frame.