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I've been riding my old 26" Five a bit more recently and am thinking of treating it to a new 1x drivetrain as it feels better with a 32T chainring. But I "need" a super low gear, so was thinking of the new GX Eagle.
I've currently got a Hope BB, which is still going strong. I see there is a version of the groupset marked as GXP and hope sell some little adaptors for using their BB with (presumably older) GXP cranks. So, is this a all I need to sort out the front end ?
Yes, you should be able to fit any GXP crank of the correct spindle length on your Hope BB using those adaptors/reducers.
Great. Thanks. Now I just need to work out what to do at the rear 🙂
The good news is that I've got Hope Pro2 Evo hubs, but the Five uses the weird 135 maxle "standard" and I can't work out whether I can just use my existing end caps with a new XD driver. Ah the joys of ever changing standards.
If I remember correctly, there are two Shimano-compatible 12mm caps: 12mm (12x135) and X12 (12x142).
The only difference on the XD-compatible caps (only driveside is different) is that they don't have the outside "lip", so they can be pulled/pushed through the cassette lockring - it is highly recommended to assemble your XD cassette without the endcap, to minimize the risk of stripping the splines on the cassette. Also, use plenty of grease/anti seize on the threads.
You can modify your current endcap on a lathe to fit through the cassette.
Will Eagle work on 26 inch bikes? Won't the mech be touching the floor or something?
I've got the last 26 inch Five and Alpine and genuinely interested if it'll work ok or not as I'm a bit fed up with Shimano's M8000 and unless I get a new bike soon might swap one of them to run SRAM 1x.
I've got both of those Hope Pro2 Evo End Caps (as Five is 135x12 and the Alpine is 142x12) and I asked Hope about it and they said older caps don't pass through the Lock Rings but newer ones do and you're right that you should remove them to tighten the cassette properly. I think I have the old caps for the 135 and newer ones for the 142.
Will Eagle work on 26 inch bikes?
Nah, 50t sprocket is bigger than the rim
One thing to watch out for will be if you run a chain device. The Hope GXP conversion will give you a chainline of about 48mm (As opposed the 49) so you if you're running a chain device and it couldnt go any narrower than 49mm you might need to find another that works.
Great info @benpinnick, thank you.
Will an EAGLE cassette work ok on 49mm chain line*? Or does it require 48mm? I ask because my Next SL crank (I don't recommend buying one, but I have one) has 49mm chain line using a OneUp "standard offset 6mm" chain ring as apposed to the awful 51mm chain line RaceFace Cinch cranks default to and it's only changeable by having a different Cinch ring offset or by moving a BB spacer to the NDS if you have the clearances to do so.
*applies to non Boost bikes of all wheel sizes.
Boost bikes need +3mm at the chain ring to match the rear.
Eagle was designed for 49 (Non boost, 52mm on boost), but works at other chainlines too, but I would advise to not stray too far from that. 48 (What the hope conversion gives you, well near enough) is fine too, but it might cause clearance issues with your frame/chain device.