hi
does anyone have any experience with shimano road/mtb cross breeding.
i have a salsa fargo, shimano ultegra 6700 10 speed shifters on the front-
xt 9 speed rear mech on the back.

i originaly started of with a 10 speed xt mech but it just would not stop jumping about. LBS suggested the 9, which works ok but has never been perfect.

any suggestions?

will probably end up having to sell a kidney and get the sram cx1 setup, would like to hold out until they make it hydraulic as well!

6700 and 9-speed XT should work just fine. I’ve been using it for years. Usual stuff about kind cable routing, new inners and outers, straight mech hanger…..

What cassette are you running? As you can get road mechs to run 32t on 10sp.
9 speed wasn’t a problem crossing road & mtg, but I never got 10 to work, so stick with a road group set until I can work out a way to get a clutch mech to work with Shimano sti’s

I’ve been running exactly that set up for 3 years and it’s been fine.

I’m running kinda similar to you; 10sp 105 shifters with 10sp 36t XT cassette with 9sp XT rear mech on my CAADX. I had the XT mech anyway so all I needed was the cassette – it does work but has a fine tolerance when it comes to setting up.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/shimano-105-shifter-xt-rear-mech-help-please

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/105-rear-mech-and-11-36-cassette

Yeh, should work
(I’ve also used ultegra flat bar shifters for cheap(er) 10sp mtb setup)

Another satisfied customer here. 105 3×10 STIs, 9 speed XT shadow rear mech, 105 5703 front mech, XT771 trekking chainset 26/36/48, 11-36 cassette. On a Fargo too as it happens.

are you using in line adjusters? – run a completely 9 speed STI to MTB touring and find they help a lot with the fine tuning

Seem to rember reading something about Chris Froome’s setup being something like this, when he won the tour.

He had Dura-Ace shifters and rear mech, but the mech was modified with an XTR cage (and maybe some other bits) to accommodate an MTB cassette for the hillier stages. Obviously this is a bit different cos you’re using an XT mech, but might be worth looking into.

I’ve fitted the same setup a few times now (10spd road STI and a 9spd mtb mech) and on a few setups it overshifted slightly. The web says it should work straight out of the box, and for some people it does, but for me, on more than one occasion it didn’t quite. This was on new builds too, so nothing to do with old cables or anything.

I got round it by changing the cable routing slightly to reduce the cable pull and cure the overshift.

A 9 speed XT rear mech is always mentioned in threads like this, but why is a 9 speed XTR rear mech never mentioned?

Is there something preferable about the XT?

The price.

apart from the price…

Personally, I only like to recommend things I actually use and/or have some experience of. I’ve had a couple of XT-meched examples, no XTR. However, I see no reason it wouldn’t work. AFAIK the range of the relevant XTR mech is the same as the XT.

In that case Turnerguy no, an XTR or an SLX will do the job too.

Do the 9 speed mechs work with a 10 speed cassette or is it 9 speed only?

If you have 10 speed road STI levers and a 10 speed MTB cassette then you use a 9 speed MTB rear mech.

If you have 9 speed road STI levers and a 9 speed MTB cassette you also use a 9 speed MTB mech.

Ta very much

are you using in line adjusters? – run a completely 9 speed STI to MTB touring and find they help a lot with the fine tuning

Yup – absolutely vital; a fraction of a turn makes all the difference:

Have set up a few bikes with 10 speed Sti and 9 mtb mech and they all work fine except for own cx bike that just won’t quite index perfectly but enough that’s it’s ok to ride

househusband – Member
are you using in line adjusters? – run a completely 9 speed STI to MTB touring and find they help a lot with the fine tuning
Yup – absolutely vital; a fraction of a turn makes all the difference:

….as do arms like a gibbon!……..forgets with cables routed under the handlebar tape you can’t have them where you can adjust on the fly …wanders off wondering about progress

I have in-line adjusters for the brakes fitted between the bars and the frame/fork cable stops. The frame has adjusters for the gears.

It was the easiest place to put it; and if you’re fettling with the bike on the workshop stand its also the most convenient.

I’m going to give my 105 11 speed STIs and cassette a go with a 10 speed XT clutch mech at the weekend on the cross bike.
Has anyone tried this combo yet? i am certain i read that the 105 11 speed stuff has the same cable pull ratio as the 10 speed dynasys MTB stuff which is crucial to getting it working

I’d try it with a 9-speed mech 😆

Dave, any luck with the 11 speed sti and 10 speed clutch mech?

Scotroutes, as a 10 speed road mech doesn’t play nicely with 11 speed road levers neither will a 9 speed MTB mech.

dave27…any update to your experiment? Thanks.