Did you just ShartQ?

No. I should try all those things.
I have a dropper that I want to put on there anyway.

What’s the deal with 3/32" half-links? Can I use them on any 3/32" chain or are they specific to 3/32" non-derailleur chains? For my fixed gear.

Okay this feels like a SQ for @adem

I’ve given up on cleaning the pistons on my brake caliper and I’m going to replace since it seems pretty basic. It’s paired to a BL-T675-B lever and has Deore LX printed on it. Seems like the closest replacements are the BR-MT200 and the BR-MT500 but I can’t tell what the difference between these is. Is there a practical difference?

From a performance/specs/blahblahblah perspective, they’re essentially identical. Slight preference for the MT200 because IMHO the bleed port on the MT500 is in a pretty dumb location that makes bleeding the front caliper a pain.

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Thank you… The MT200 description mentions something about ā€œpower modulation for beginnersā€ and I thought it was probably bullshit but you never know

Shimano makes it extra confusing by having three differing lever blade shapes in the sub-Deore line.

MT200 uses a cantilever-like 3 finger blade. There’s a slimmed down 2-finger and one that mimics the levers of the Deore - XTR shapes.

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Just bought one of those, $75. Worth the extra ~$10 for the better lever shape

So, I’m changing my Vaya to have the ā€˜Tour Divide Drivetrain’, aka GRX 2x 11-speed, but throwing a bigger cassette on the back.

From the experiments of Bikepacking Neil, you can push it from the default 11-34 up to an 11-40 with no issue and no 3rd party BS, but once you get into 42-tooth the limit screw connection starts to get a bit iffy.

TehScott (who I haven’t seen here in a while) was in the comments saying he got 11-42 working with no issues either, and no 3rd party goatllinks or whatever.

Obv. I trust Scott more, but I also don’t want to get all that stuff to the LBS and then have it not work. Let’s say, worst case scenario, the 42-tooth is just a bit too tight and not working.

  1. What’s the most robust fix? An 11-speed Wolftooth Goatlink?
  2. Are Goatlinks good in the long term? I’ve heard different things, but not from a Tarcker.

I normally wouldn’t stress about this, but Sweden’s shit for ā€˜edge case’ cycling gear, I have to buy it all from Germany or the Netherlands and don’t want to have the bike sitting disassembled while I wait a week and a half. I’d rather order extra stuff up front, and then return it if I don’t need it. TIA

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In my experience working on several bikes with various hacks to accomplish wider range this is what I have found:

11-36. No problem.
11-40. Not great shifting between lowest two gears but OK
11-42. With or without goat link shifting ā€œfunctionsā€ but can be laggy at both extreme ends of the cassette because upper pulley is now not really where it is supposed to be.

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@cousinmosquito mentioned there is someone out there grafting XT pulley cages onto GRX bodies. That seems like it would solve the shifting issues.

I’ve been running 40 or 42T cassettes, but I usually get a stall in the middle shifting around 5-6. It’s always been related to cable tension in my experience.

Good to know. I’ll go with 11-40 and see where it goes.

It should still be an improvement over my current setup, it’s a combination of geared way too high and a front derailleur that goes out of true when you glance in its direction.

Im with Braden on this one. Can you make it work? Probably. Will it shift great? Probably not. I’d also be weary of dropping off a bunch of parts at the LBS with the notion of ā€œjust use the largest cassette outside of what shimano recommends and see what kinda works because some guy named scott on the internet says it doesā€.

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If you wanna color outside the lines set by Shimano its poor form to ask a shop to do the work. You are paying the LBS to fix your bike, not half ass the shifting and send a crapy drivetrain out the door.

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It’s not that haphazard. I’ve seen dozens of videos, posts, etc. recommending the setup after months of using it. It’s tested.

And all due respect, you don’t know anything about my relationship with my LBS, how aware they are of what’s going on, and what they’re down for. Lots of negative assumptions, and not appreciated at all.

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What’s a better solution to get a wider range with smaller steps in between?

Classified hubs let you use a 1X drivetrain to make a double, but you still have the big jumps between cogs. 650b theoretically allows a lower tooth count for the same g.i.

What’s the front ring set-up now?

It’s an Ultegra 6700 road triple from 2013.
52/39/30 triple up front, 11-30 out back.

I could bore you with a lot of details, but I did my research and it’s worth it to me to replace it all. (I can post the exhaustive list if you want.)

I don’t know the availability in the EU, but the SRide 520c is a GRX drop-in replacement with gigantic range

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I’ll second the 11-36 and 11-40 comments.

I ran a 2x11 GRX with the SRAM 11-36 for quite a while, shifting was fine. Louder and not as smooth as the Shimano 11-32 or 11-34, but IME that’s just SRAM cassette things…

I’ve been on the 11-40 for over a year now and shifting is pretty good up into the bigger cogs but can be sluggish on the 15->13 or 13->11 upshift. I dimly recall tuning that out at one point, at the cost of rougher shifting on the big cogs, and deciding that I spent more time in the big cogs and would like it to run and shift smoother down there rather than up in the high range.

Can’t personally speak about how 2x11 GRX works out with the 11-42. The RD-RX810 certainly has the chainwrap capacity for it (here’s that video from TehScott that someone mentioned), but it’s still a derailleur with a shallow parallelogram angle for smaller cassettes. The mixed results I’ve heard from other people have dissuaded me from trying it myself.

Awesome, thank you, saved to my ā€˜new stuff lust’ folder!