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Hi - I've been reading various posts about running shadow + mechs with 9spd SRAM shifters by adding a spacer or running the cable the wrong way around the clamp - many people are saying it works. Before pulling the plug has anyone else got it running well?
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Aye- got it running well with an X9 shifter and XT rear mech. It's not quite 100% perfect, going to make a slightly different one for bike #2, but this first version's doing the job.
It's [i]very[/i] close, works better than most people's gears do 😉 No problems shifting or holding any gears, shifting feel is nice and solid, setup was no harder than normal. The end result feels very much like 10-speed Saint (which is a very good thing)
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8251/8566460428_4d323cbe9c_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/53860438@N06/8566460428/ ]IMG_1718[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/53860438@N06/ ]Northwindlowlander[/url], on Flickr
This is an interesting development. There was me thinking I'd need a completely new drive chain to run a shadow+ mech. When the X7 goes bang I might give this a go.
Hi Northwind - what will you try for v2, and what isn't quite right currently?
The spacer's quite wide, so when it's at the end of the movement it's pushing the cable out a little... Going to do some actual measurements next time before I start milling, basically 
Put it this way, at the moment I'm very happy to use it and I don't see much reason to replace this one even if the revision works marginally better. But if I was to tell someone else how to make one, I'd not be totally happy saying "make it exactly like this".
Where do you get the spacer from?
I machined it out of a bit of 12mm bar- you could do it with hand tools, it'd just be harder work! (I mocked it up with washers the first time, and that was OK too, it was just a bit fiddly)
I'd be really interested to hear what the next one measures even if only marginally better!
In theory I need to get the second bike up and running this week so might have more to report. The first one was a rush job to be fair- finished it at 11pm, raced it the next afternoon So surprising it works as well as it does really.