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Looking to 1x my oldest bike so was going to use a Cues 11-46 nine SPD cassette so I don't have to buy shifter and derailleur. The Shimano blurb says you must use Cues chain because teeth are thicker. Is this, as I suspect, marketing BS or just use any appropriate speed chain?
You need an 11spd chain. You'll also need a new rear mech and shifter.
iirc the Cues 11spd is just another, and additionally confusing, name for their link glide drive train. if so, im pretty sure the blurb on the link glide stiff said you could use any shimano 11spd chain. no idea on the 9 spd stuff (didn't even know they did it)
Why a new mech and shifter? Have they changed the pull ratio? If so, stuff Cues, I might as well buy kit from one of the 'normal' group sets that are cheap at the moment.
Why a new mech and shifter?
Because without them it won't work.
Well, a not very helpful answer, my question was why won't it work.
Well, a not very helpful answer, my question was why won’t it work.
Because the spacing on a cues 9 speed cassette is apparently different to old 9 speed, cues 9/10/11 are apparently all on a new, different spacing.
Has anyone tried it out yet?
I was looking earlier and there seems to be cheap cues groups up for sale on eBay, thought I might put cues 1x9 on my HT like the OP is looking at to try, but just buy the whole groupset...
There you go £140ish with a crank.
Looks like ~£85 without crank/BB. That's not a bad deal (IMO), 10/11 speed doesn't seem much steeper either.
Still waiting to hear about the drop bar levers they promised CUES would have though.
Linkglide/Cues is different pull ratio and/or spacing on cassette to normal Shimano MTB stuff. 9/10/11 speed are all cross-compatible. Any 11 speed MTB chain will work as will any 11 speed MTB chainring.
I have the 11 speed version and it’s much tougher and harder-wearing than the 11 speed SLX I had before.
The Shimano blurb says you must use Cues chain because teeth are thicker. Is this, as I suspect, marketing BS or just use any appropriate speed chain?
CUES is its own unique ecosystem. It needs to be a CUES groupset, not a mix and match of whatever other bits you have lying around.
CUES is its own unique ecosystem. It needs to be a CUES groupset, not a mix and match of whatever other bits you have lying around.
Although it does use a normal 11spd chain 🙂
Running 11speed xt linkglide (cues) on my e bike, apart from the difference in shift speed and number of shifts in one go you’d not know any difference in performance- unless you tried to shift the e bike under power, linkglide is brilliant, the old normal xt drivetrain sounded disgusting crunching as it changed. The more durable components are a huge plus too, I’ve got a cues chain on but the normal 11 will work but apparently won’t be as durable. The durability comes in the cassette I believe not the chains.
buy linkglide/cues it’s brilliant.
Cues / linkglide cassettes have approx 4.15mm cog spacing, I recall hg 11speed is 3.76mm.
So yes you need the whole lot. An 11 speed chain will work fine.
I bought one to measure. Why this information isn't widely available after all this time I don't know.
Note cues u6000 is incredibly low quality and I would not recommend. Deore or above.
Why this information isn’t widely available after all this time I don’t know.
You mean like the compatibility charts that are on the Shimano site and take about 3 seconds to find?
https://si.shimano.com/en/cues/technical-assets-techdoc-techinfo
No. I don't mean that.
I mean the cassette cog spacing as Ive referenced.
I mean the cassette cog spacing as Ive referenced.
Yeah, that's really hard to find too 🤷♂️
https://si.shimano.com/en/cues/technical-assets-tips
Seeing as I can't find it, perhaps you could screenshot it so I can verify the 4.15mm I measured.
My eyes are too rubbish to read small charts on my phone, I'll have a look for you when I get back from the pub 😁
Is that 5.25mm dim meant to be the spacing? I thought they were trying to illustrate something to do with spoke clearance on the 11 speed overlapped sprocket, bit it could be the relevant number...
The durability comes in the cassette I believe not the chains<br /><br />
I had read that somewhere… it seems odd to me because I always understood that chains wear first and that the chains wear the cassette as the distance from roller to roller increases. As such I thought the weak link in the drivetrain when it comes to wear is the chain. I guess it may be that you get more chains per cassette if you change them at the right percentage wear?
I did post up earlier in the week about replacement bottom sprockets, my 11spd XT level cues has only lasted a bit longer than a normal cassette. Well, the smallest sprockets wont mesh with a new chain due to ebikes and clydesdaleness.
...XT level cues...
Eh?
That's disappointing to hear. I haven't had my 10speed cues long enough to determine wear. At least the small cog should be cheap?
The whole cassette is only about £46 though.
I have bought a 10 speed cues 11-39t cassette out of curiosity. Here are visual comparisons with an HG 11-36
I suspect no issues with using with standard 10 speed chain and shifters.
10 speed has cog spacing as determined by the internet as 3.9mm, depending on what site you look at.
Linkglide has 4.15mm as measured by myself. Still waiting on Simonbarnes to screenshot where he saw the definite measurement on the Shimano site ..
So I don't think you could use standard 10 speed mech and shifter with a linkglide cassette.
I can't open your instergram link unfortunately as I don't have it.
The other point of interest might be sprocket thickness, does linkglide/CUES derive it's claim of improved cassette durablility from thickening up the sprockets to create more working surface?
4.15mm would fit it's a smidge less than HG 9 speed spacing so the first 9 sprockets fit comfortably on a standard FH, the 10th and 11th would overhang ~9mm inboard with some rivet heads/fixings...
@shedbrewed, your shared Instagram link doesn't work as your account is private.
I think cues sprockets are 1.8mm v 1.6mm standard. Certainly it's a much thicker heavy duty looking cassette when in your hand.
9 speed appears to be spaced at 4.35mm, so will be a good 1.6mm off over the range, which sounds too much to me.
Assuming my measurement is accurate, which it probably isn't.
And my Flickr won’t work either but hey. <br /> https://flic.kr/p/2pjmNbb
Still waiting on Simonbarnes to screenshot where he saw the definite measurement on the Shimano site ..
Sorry, I thought the link in my screenshot above that said sprocket spacing went to a diagram that had the sprocket spacing - apparently it didn't.