I’m looking at getting either a 40 or 42 tooth for My Reign but I currently run a SLX cassette and every expander says you need to loose the 11 tooth instead of the 15 or 17 and get 13 tooth cassette ring
Has anyone managed to run an Expander without destroying their cassette or loosing the 11 tooth

Cheers

Most of the producers do a 16 teeth as well to replace the 15 and 17 cogs, AFAIK:
http://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/giant-cog-for-shimano
http://int.oneupcomponents.com/collections/all-products/products/oneup-components-sprocket
http://www.fouriers-bike.com/en/pro.php?m=d&pid=395&cid=53&f=3

With SLX you can split the block by cutting the rivets, remove the 15 or 17t and re-rivet.

Bird Cycles were selling the Shimano 16T cog for a good price too, probably a better option. I’ve not done it with an SLX but I gather it’s doable.

Hm, haven’t thought about the structure of the SLX cassette. Seems it will be a bit more involved: http://www.oneupcomponents.com/pages/slx-1080

don’t bother personally, for the cost of an expander and maybe a modified deraileur cage, you aren’t that far of a rear mech, shifter and cassette from the new XT range, which isn’t a bodge.

my experience of an expander setup was one of “the gearing is what i want, but the shifting is sub-par and i’m forever adjusting the rear clutch mech”

despite what people say, they are a bodge.

if you can afford it, upgrade rather than modify

I’ve had 2 expander setups running for pretty much as long as they’ve been a thing, I really don’t recognise daver’s criticism at all. I adjust the rear mech whenever I mash it off a rock, like any other mech, and the shifting is fine (across 9/10ths of the block it is exactly like stock of course, because it’s all Shimano. The shift into the expander is just a little slower because of the jump, just like on a megarange etc)

Upgrading to XT is starting to make more sense if you need other parts at the same time but the cassette and chain alone is more expensive than the entire swap for an expander.

I’ve had 2 expander setups running for pretty much as long as they’ve been a thing, I really don’t recognise daver’s criticism at all.

Same here, mines have been fit and forget.

For me the only difference between XX1 and XTR+E thirteen 42 expander, is the top gear ,10/11…..you’re going to get dropped on the flats/road sections anyway by the 2X10’s/3X10’s etc..so best get dropped whilst riding the cheaper option……shifting is super-smooth on both IMHO

I fitted a Rad cage within my setup and its faultless. To be fair prior to that it was fine as well just polished it off. In no way feels like a bodge.

Just fitted a Superstar 40t expander to a Deore 1×10 drivetrain, thus far I am impressed, for ~£25 I can try out the overall range that an M8000 11 speed setup would offer, let’s you decide if it’s worth the spend or not.

In answer to the OP you either remove the 15t or the 17t or both and buy a separate 16t…

You can also use an RD-M8000 rear mech with the 10 speed cassette and shifter. Better value than a 10 speed shadow+ and RADr.

I took a hacksaw to my SLX cassette as per the oneupcomponents link above. Took 5 minutes, worked a treat.

teethgrinder – Member
You can also use an RD-M8000 rear mech with the 10 speed cassette and shifter. Better value than a 10 speed shadow+ and RADr

You can? Is the shimano 10 and 11 speed cable pull the same for MTB mechs then?

It’s the same pull as I’m using the 10 speed shifter still, as well as the 10 speed casset with T-Rex. Pull ratio might be different between 10 and 11 speed mechs, but if it is, it’s not enough to make aa adverse impact to shifting.

silly double post

What Northwind said. There’s no reason why it won’t run properly unless you are mixing new and old gears/chain etc with the expander cog.

I’ve not noticed any difference between my set up with an expander cog and a praxis cog.

Buying the 16t cog to remove the odd Jump in gear ratio/cadence made a big difference. I bought mine off line for £5 delivered. Someone on here posted a good link.