Making Ultegra groupset more gravelly

I’ve just picked up a lovely Ritchey swiss cross disc off of the forum ( cheers Joe)

The groupset is Ultegra 2 x 11 speed but the front is 52/36 and the rear is 11-28

Im old and weak so I will need to get more of a mountain bike ratio going on so the question is what is the most cost effective way of doing this.

If I bought a mtb rear cassette and rear derailleur would the ultegra shifters play nicely with a 1×11 set up and would an utegra crankset allow me to go to a single ring or would I best selling the ultegra stuff and changing crankset etc etc

All help appreciated

Don’t think you can run an mtb rear mech with road shifters. But the new Ultegra rear mech long cage version should be long enough for a big rear cassette.

Easiest first move would be to get a medium cage mech and 11-34 cassette. If you’re not too fussed about sticking with Ultegra then the new 105 R7000 groupset is great value.

MTB 1×11 will fit on the freehub but will need a spacer as 11spd road freehubs are slightly wider

MTB rear mech won’t work with road shifters. Retain the ultegra mech and fit a Road-Link :

RoadLink

Depends quite how old and weak you are, but swapping the cassette to a 11-34 would give you a 36-34 bottom gear, which on CX tyres is pretty low.

You could swap the 52 for something like a 46 or 48 (TA does one for the ultegra BCD but it’s £50 still) to make the top gears more user friendly too. you could go single ring, but then you lose the range which completely defeats the objective of trying to match it to your fitness. 36/46 would be just enough difference to keep you in the middle of the cassette when switching between road and off-road.

I’ve seen gravel/CX bikes with monster cassette and 1×11 and I really don’t see the point, the whole bikes designed to be light and responsive when skipping it’s way up steep slopes, then you go put a plodding gear on it? It’s not even lighter when compared to road bike gears! And you would need a new rear mech, new chainring, new cassette, a converter to sort the cable pull (j-tec do one) out for the rear shifting and you end up with a flappy shifter on the left.

I’m running a 11-32 105 cassette on a mid cage Ultegra, with a compact chainset 50/34 – but I think ideally I’d rather have a single 38 or 40 upfront (for cross racing) or a 36/48 cross chainset that I’m finding surprisingly difficult to find as a drop in replacement. Point being you might get away with just a cassette – not sure about going single ring on the chainset though, interested to know myself.

CRC are showing a 46/36 option on 2×11 Ultegra chainsets so presumably you could swap out the big ring too if that helped.

Wolftooth Tanpan (or the Jtech one) will let you add a MTB mech. I’m using ultegra shifters, tanpan, xt rear mech and a sram 10-42 cassette on my crosser. It’s the same drivetrain I use on the MTB but using road shifters and a larger chainring. I have a 38 for off road and a 42 if I’m planning on doing a lot of road riding.

As for why? I used to use the 46/36 and 11-28 cross setup because, well, that seemed to be the done thing. The chainring shift always seemed to be at an awkward time so I basically left it in the small ring off road and the big ring on road, barring big climbs. Going to a single middling ring and adding a bit more on the back of the cassette made sense to me. As a happy byproduct it improves mud clearance. I was happily trundling around with 11-36 10s on a 42, jumping to 11 has just given me that bit more range tackling really nasty climbs.

Cheers guys- for a bit of context I completed the Dirty Reiver 130 option this year on a whyte gisburn but had to push up 1 hill towards the end- it was all a bit slow though (av 16km/hr)

I may try the smaller front ring and a new cassette and mtfu- can I assume I would need a medium rear mech to go to a 11-34 rear then?

Ultegra RX800 GS rear mech has a clutch and takes up to 34t.

What mech do you have just now? An Ultegra RD-6800 GS takes up to 32t, SS is 28t max

Go pro – pick it up and run with it.

All depends if it is latest version of Ultegra (R8000) or the previous version

Previous version had a max of 11-32 rear, new version has max (according to them) of 11-34, but i have had mine playing nicely with an 11-36 for Torino-Nice rally a few weeks back, and i did my best to break it and it was fine, couple that with compact chainset and you should be fine, if you still want it lower, then Easton do a 46/30 chainset, oor you can buy 46 & 30 Absolute Black chainrings to go on Ultegra cranks, just cover your eyes when you look at the price!

Go pro – pick it up and run with it.

Not all pros are equal :)

I’ve put a superstar narrow wide 40t on my tiagra double chainset, set on the inner position, with an SLX 11-42 cassette and sram apex 1 rear mech. It can get me up anything that isnt proper steep and therefore requires a mountain bike. Needs a semi decent hill to spin out.

Shimano road groupsets are all over the place with what is compatible but im sure ive seen a proper compatibility table somewhere on an interweb.

Both FSA and Praxis Works are making gravel friendly chainsets for this season.

Oh, that’s the other thing- if you go 1x then you can often push the rear mech. The road 10s ones at least had an offset top pulley which meant despite the fact mine was only rated for 28 it happily cleared a 36. It just couldn’t do it with two rings at the front. It’ll be interesting to see what the new clutched ultegras can do.

I’ve also fitted an old MTB crankset with 40/28 to get the gearing down on a bike for touring. Have to drop the front mech but if you have one it’s cheaper than buying a new roadie style super-compact (or whatever they’re called). does depend a little on your BB though, don’t think it would work with press fit.

There was a good article on http://www.road.cc from John Stevenson about lowering your gears…

In reply to Swanny’s post above, it depends how low you want to go, for TNR i fitted using standard rear cage rear mech an 11-36 cassette and i fitted a set of 10 speed XT cranks with 38/22 chain rings, gave a ridiculously low gear for the loaded long Alpine climbs.

It looks like its 6800 ultegra so I assume I would need to go for a new rear mech to move to a11-34?

Looking at going for a 11-34 r8000 cassette and mid cage rear mech plus new chain, then will see if I need to change the smaller front chainring to a 34t- any obvious flaws ?

You might find that the cross-chain combinations are a problem with that set-up but I suspect it’ll work. If you’re thinking of changing both rings I found it cheaper to buy a whole chainset than 2 individual rings – worth checking that out if you go down that route.

Ultegra r8000 with an 11-40 cassette?

Ultegra r8000 with an 11-40 cassette?

My dream gravel bike is taking shape in my head with the 11-34t cassette at the bag and a sub compact oval 48-32 at the front

I went with a Wolftooth Roadlink and an 11-36 cassette with an Ultegra mech and it works well

Assume my mech is medium cage but it was just what came with the bike

52/36 up front but I would like to go single ring at some point – I think there are few people making narrow wide rings for Ultegra cranks

Ultegra RX800 GS rear mech has a clutch and takes up to 34t.

This, or you could put a RoadLink on what you’ve got now and bascially use any cassette you want (apart from the proper dinner plate ones).

I’m running an 11-40 rear cassette on a ultegra RX  long cage rear mech with no problems , I also put on a praxis Alba chainset which gives a 32/48 front chainrings. 32. 40 lowest gear is perfect for those steep or long climbs that come at the end of a long day off-road.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-ultegra-rx800-rear-derailleur/?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&sku=100711662&kpid=100711662&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=base&utm_content=mckv%7CsVNszGU8z_dt%7Cmcrid%7C295292317327%7Cmkw%7C%7Cmmt%7C%7Cmrd%7C100711662uk%7Cmslid%7C%7C&mkwid=sVNszGU8z_dt&pcrid=295292317327&prd=100711662uk&pgrid=58852352866&ptaid=pla-524066267417

Try a lower and deeper voice and run the last letter longer…ultegraaa…

I have just  done this very thing!😀

Sun race 11  42 casette , wolf tooth dm link and a 34t front ring on my 36 46 R8000 chainset. I used it for the  Veneto Trail which I finished on Tuesday. It worked perfectly!😉

I was glad of the low gearing on some of the big climbs when loaded up. Having the double meant i could still crank it up on the flats and on the descents. I’m not a fan of one by (although I could be persuaded for off road) but for touring and gravel,  it would be a hard no from me. I like to mix up steep off road climbs with fast road sections. Even with a 42 on my old Tripster, I was spinning out on descents in Mallorca p!aying catch the roadie.😁

So yes you can do it without resorting to new mechs etc!

Scud

How did you enjoy Torino Nice? It was that or the Veneto Trail and I chose the latter.

Cheers

sanny

@Sanny

Absolutely loved Torino-Nice – fantastic route James has come up with there, tough, but stunning views, hard climbs and very long, fast descents plus a really good mixture of people.

Saw your Veneto Trail is on the list too (especially with the beer!)

It might depend on your version of gravel. To me that’s FC and estate type roads or anything a softroader can deal with. More than that and its MTB.

With that in mind why not just bung on a 32t cassette and a normal 34t compact front ring? A short Ultegra mech will cope although cross chaining won’t. Put a 50t on and its fine. You don’t need to think MTB gears for gravel. That’s rarely steep. Mine for Forest of Dean use, which has few big hills, is 38/48 with a 11-25 cassette. Yes I have to honk up hills but so what?

Must point out that this bike gets my old cassettes to wear out so I use what’s in the shed.