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Heyulp me stw - HEYULP ME !!!
My trusty 9sp mech has had its day - been running it as 1x10 with an ultegra flat bar shifter for a few year now but linkages are floppy beyond sensible usage and anyway it's also been dropping the chain on my bodged but pretty much bang-on chainline wit a narrow-wide chainring (has a cheapo top-guide too but still dropping) so I reckon the tension is also falling off
So then, I have a 10sp cassette that's not badly worn at all; I have a rear hub with shimano 10sp freehub and a somewhat bodged old XT chainset that has "nearly" perfect chainline
I have a 9sp mech that needs to retire and I have a 10sp shifter that won't work with 10sp mtb mechs AFAIK
What shall I do ? ("new" 9sp mech / new gearing all-in (what are we now; 10,11,... ?)
If I'm buying, might just get a chainset too as mine's pretty battered (and we all know that shimano chainsets fail if they become dusty or wet, don't we?)
(I don't really like SRAM gearing FWIW, so likely shimano)
Price is not a massive deal. Light is nice. Bling is over-rated
I bloody love di2 on my road bike but don't fancy smashing off a mech that'll cost hundreds to replace
mech is a 950 series BTW - are the 9sp shadow ones (970?) better ?
(cassette runs to 40t, used a roadlink with the mech just fine until the wear became excessive)
Go 1x11, SLX with a Sunrace cassette.
Edit: if you want posh, pop XT or XTR shifter on.
If it were me, I would probably:
1) get either a budget-ish 9 speed shimano mech to use with the Ultegra shifter OR a budget-ish SRAM mech and shifter (as it should work with the 40t with minimal faff) then grind the cassette and chain to a pulp over the winter / spring
2) have a nice new 13 speed (or whatever we're at by then) drivetrain in the spring / summer.
The 10 speed SRAM stuff is really not that bad IMO. I reckon my Zee setup on my hardtail shifts better but it'll only take a 36 out back and I'll take the 40t over the 36t.
If it’s new mech and shifter butnyou have a 10 speed cassette then newest Deore 10 speed should be quite cheap and will work fine. Also designed to run with a bigger lowest gear too should you want it.
Sram gx 10 speed would also cover what you’ve got now.
In terms of cranks I haven’t seen any massively cheap deals for single ring specific - just check Deore / Slx and see what you can find. On my last build I used a raceface xc triple with the chainring in the middle position - cost about £30 new from eBay. Looks quite nice and does the job.
From the sounds of it, the whole lot could probably do with replacing.
For functional but works, I'd make it simple and buy an SLX (nearly) groupset and fit the whole lot in one go (including cables)
Somewhat bodged and nearly new always have the potential to bugger the lot up.
No point messing and interchanging old and new for the sake of a few quid that you are not bothered about.
If you want a bit better, XT shifters and rear mech.
Go 1×11, SLX with a Sunrace cassette.
Edit: if you want posh, pop XT or XTR shifter on.
Agree with the first bit but don't put an xt shifter on. Action/feel is horiffic. Slx is much nicer
If you want to get the life out of your 10 speed cassette and chain before going up to 11 speed then get an 11 speed SLX or XT rear mech but run it with a 10 speed mtb shifter, the cable pull ratios are compatible so it will work with your cassette fine. I smashed the old 10 speed SLX mech on a rock and didn't want to get another 10 speed mech just to bin it a few months down the line, found this hack online and took the plunge. Worked perfectly. You can then get a new chain, cassette and shifter when you need to and go 11 speed. I've done exactly this on my Fuel EX running a SunRace 10 speed cassette for a while and it's now got the 11 speed bits donated from a retired bike.
thanks everyone - gambled on milky's tip for now (10sp bar shifter / 11sp mech) and will move to 11sp when new cassette needed
Chainset can wait
been running it as 1×10 with an ultegra flat bar shifter for a few year now
How did you do this? I thought pull ratio was different on road/MTB mechs?
it's a 9sp mtb mech mols - they used to be the same ratio until mtb 10sp appeared
You've got Three basic options (IMO):
1 Cheapest:
Buy an Alivio 9spd mech (~£25ish?) and replace the current wonky one and crack on as is (maybe new cables too?)...
2 Less Cheap:
Chop in the current mech an shifter for something 10 speed Dynasys-ish (Deore either m615 or M6000) and perhaps consider a new Cassette and chain to address wear and tear...
3 slightly Less Cheap still:
"Modernise" to a 1x11 setup (yes I know 12 is available too) either using NX (Not your stated preference) or SLX and the Sunrace/Shimano/SRAM Cassette of your choice... It's probably not that much more expensive than the 10 speed dynasys option
All of the above can be done with your existing hub so no need to go to an XD driver or any of that nonsense and shouldn't cost a huge sum (relatively speaking)...
Also bear in mind if trading in your current shifting setup, you should get a few sheckles for that Ultegra (6700?) Flat bar shifter (Especially if you kept the LH lever to go with it) as current equivalents are going for ~£80+ a pair new apparently...
Personally I'll probably not be going 11 (or 12) speed now until I buy a whole new bike and it comes with it...