as above, im swapping to 11 speed using a sunrace 11-46 cassette and either a 32 or 34 up front with xt m8000 shifter and mech, bike is a cotic hemlock, do i need a medium or long cage mech?

thanks

Well long works very well, but CRC suggests 1×11 only ever needs medium.

My Orbea Loki came with 32T up front and a Sunrace 11/46 on the back and a long cage mech. Seems to work fine 😀

Medium for 1x and Long for 2x

I think.

Medium is fine – you have 35t difference and the medium gs mech has 39t max capacity.

I’m running medium on that cassette with a 32t up front. Works like a dream!

Yep, have 11-46 on a medium cage with either 32 oval or 30 oval up front works fine.

It’s medium cage (GS) for 1x 11-46. You can check this yourself on
Shimano Product Info rather than hoping the guesses here are correct 🙂

Once you have it, you’ll want to go to Shimano Manuals and follow the instructions to set it up. I’m not joking, this will save you time and energy even if you think you know what you’re doing! If you ask here you’ll get all sorts of witchcraft answers about b-screws as well as a bunch of people telling you Shimano mechs change down when you pedal backwards – they don’t if you set them up right!!

How much chain growth does the frame experience if it’s full suspension?

So help us out – what’s the rear mech model number ? Shimano list by code number not be description (and they’re often not listed on shop product pages)

Sorry to throw something else in this post but will a medium cage xt mech work with an 11/50 and a 32 on the front??

The size of the chain ring is irrelevant if you just have the one.

Shimano tech documents give max cog size, min cog size and capacity. The capacity you need is your max cog size minus your min cog size (plus an allowance for suspension action).

Shimano are conservative with this numbers, so when they say min is 11, you might get away with 10. They’ll say 46, you might get away with 48.

The exact geometry of your rear mech hanger will also influence this.

If you want to try 11-50, give it a whirl, if it doesn’t work, fit a oneup shark cage.

Also, make sure you’re chain is long enough. 114 links might be just too short for an 11-50 with a 32 on a full bounce bike.