On a whim (ok, cause it was on Ebay cheap at £20) I’ve just received a 10-speed XT cassette that’s got one of those dinner plate sized 40 tooth Hope sprockets fitted. Now I’ve not really been keeping up with stuff for the last few years (since that new fangled 9-speed stuff came out in fact) so I’ve no idea what Shimano rear mech will work best with this – will any long cage 10-speed rear mech do or is there a specific one I need for it to work reliably?

My first thought was to get one of the XT Shadow ones.

Shimano SLX 10 Speed clutch mech will do the job well and not expensive, you’ll need a 10 speed shifter and a 10 speed chain also a single front chainring to suit your riding

Any medium cage rear mech will do it… But, it’s a bodge, and that makes the shifting pretty highly strung. I got it working perfectly but it was a total faff, and you lose most of the margin for error that keeps things working once your gears are full of mud and your mech’s been cowped off a rock.

So, I fitted Oneup radcages, it adds a fair bit to teh cost but it makes it absolutely OEM-perfect for setup and shifting, a big difference. Supposedly the Goatlink does the same thing, just in a different way.

It might be a bit late but we’re pretty much at the point where just going 11 speed can make more sense

I’ve just gone 11 on my mtb and I can’t tell the difference pedalling wise but I could on the road bike. The only benefit I can tell is that it works out of the box with no problems. (northwind summed it up well)

I found 40t worked well with my long cage mech but 42t just had a few issues.

May not be helpful but in the same situation I decided to go straight to 11 speed

It might be a bit late but we’re pretty much at the point where just going 11 speed can make more sense

Too greater chance of a bodge and just wanted some certainty that it would work, without new cages or goat links which make the difference in cost between 10 and 11 speed negligible

I know everyone always mentions GoatLinks and RAD cages when talking about expanded range 10sp, but don’t the 10sp SRAM mechs just work without all the faffing about? It always seems to be assumed that everyone uses Shimano..

I’ve had no problems with either of my setups. One is 10spd XT cassette with Hope 40T Trex extender, Shimano clutch mech on a Cotic Solaris. The other is a 10spd Sunrace 11-42 cassette with Shimano medium cage mech on a Singular Puffin.

Not really done muddy rides on the Puffin but done plenty on the Solaris and had no problems in three years of riding it.

Cheers – not a big SRAM fan so will be sticking with Shimano. I take the point about 11-speed but I’ll give 10-speed a go and if it doesn’t work out I can still re-use the shifter and rear mech as I’ve already got spare 11-32 & 11-34 10-speed cassettes that I can use.

I’m planning on bringing one of my hardtails (Soul or BFe) down to London and was going to give 1×10 a go on that. If 1×10 with 11-40 isn’t reliable I’ll just change to using an 11-34 cassette as I can’t really see I suspect I’d be able to live with 32/34 as a low gear down here anywhere.

I’ve ran 1×10 on my last four bikes never needed a rad cage and had no issues with the normal XT and SLX rear derailleurs. You should be fine.