I need to replace my old drivetrain and without much in the way of budget looking at adding one of these to existing cranks plus a nw chainring:
Shimano SLX 11 spd
Sunrace MS x 12 spd

note it’s not the blingier Sunrace MX groupset that gets decent reviews.
It’s for a C456 that’s used on the malverns. So not much road, the downhills are steep therefore freewheeled rather than worried about spinning out so I don’t need a 12th gear. I’d adjust lower gearing via a suitably sized chainring.

So Shimano seemed obv choice but is 12 speed where it’s at. Or is the Sunrace derailleur and shifter a bit pants?

Why not Shimano shifter & mech and Sunrace 11-46t 11 speed cassette?
The sunrace cassette has a more even spread of gears that the shimano offering.
And if you have a 30t on the front you shouldn’t have a problem getting up most things.

Could do….would that be the medium/gs cage for pricing up purposes?
Also what is the ispec stuff – brake integration? (I have Hopes So which version, just the “bar mount” one’s). Much appreciated.

I just wonder that I should skip 2 generations and got to 12.

For budget it’s hard seeing past Shimano SLX derailleur with a Sunrace cassette. Either 10 or 11 speed depending on what your current shifter is and whether you want to keep it. 10spd would be about £100 for mech and cassette, 11spd maybe a tenner more.

I’ve two bikes with 1×10 drivetrains and one with 1×11 and TBH I don’t notice much difference other than slightly closer ratios at certain parts of the block.

Edit: SLX 10spd is £44, 11spd is £47 at CRC

i-spec is shimano’s integrated brake and gear lever setup. You can mount i-spec B gear levers to Hope brakes but you’ll need to buy the bolt to do so. There’s a Hope made one or do what I’ve done and use a square headed bolt, I think the bolt head is either 6mm or 8mm square, easy to measure the slot on the inside of the brake clamp. I got a bag of bolts from Screwfix for a couple of quid.

They’re not tech 3 levers – older ones with square reservoir.

Hi Pedlad,

I just went through a similar process for my Soul (26). If it helps, I went for 11 speed, mainly XT and it came to £172 for the whole setup (I am using my old 10 speed M785 XT cranks).

Blackspire Snaggletooth 34T Oval £26.99
XT M8000 GS Mech. £59.99
XT M8000 shifter £32.99
SRAM NX PC-1110 11 Speed Powerchain £9.90
Sunrace CSMX8 11-46 £42.30 (I got this from Wiggle in the end with a £10 discount for opening a new account).

I might be being optimistic with the 34t – we’ll see – but I’m happy to experiment a bit with that – fairly cheap to go down a chain ring if I spend too much time on the 42\46.

For me 12 speed was a bit pointless without investing in an SRAM hub to get the 10t benefit – not worth it on this bike and 50t seemed overkill anyway – if I need it, then I’ll be on it all the time – so I might as well drop a chain ring – then I don’t need the 50t!

The Sunrace cassette gives about as evenly spaced ratios as you could hope for an 11 speed (and the 46t in black doesn’t look too weird on the 26″ wheel!). First impressions are that the 11 speed shifter has a heavier action than the old 10 speed – but it is OK for me. The cassette is really nice – the shifting very smooth between sprockets and it isn’t as heavy as I had feared.

I just need to ride it up some hills now!

Thanks Concrete24 and others – all makes sense. I’d heard that the shimano 11 speed wasn’t their finest so interesting that you mentioned the shifting being a bit heavier…that’s sort of what got me looking at the sunrace derailleur/shifter.

I moved from a 10speed expanded cassette to 11speed using the sunrace 11/46 cassette and slx 11speed sifter. I used the 10speed rear mech as it has the Rad cage fitted. Works really well, far better than the it did with the expanded casette.

So other consideration is freehub compatibility. It’s a hope pro II running 9spd at the moment. Researching I’m confused if that runs shimano 11 spd and this sunrace 12spd or needs a new freehub body (if one is available).

Freehub will take both of those.

Shimano 8/9/10/MTB11 and now Sunrace 12 + Sram NX12 all on same ‘standard’ Shimano freehub.

It is getting increasingly complicated eh!

OK great thanks

All Shimano type MTB cassettes 8-11 speed are on the same freehub. The 11sp overhangs the freehub body a little.

The standard freehub body on a pro 2 or pro2evo will accommodate a Shimano type 11 sp cassette with no faff, spacers whatevever.

There is another Hope freehub body (for the 40t pro2evo) that has ‘pockets’ machined at the bottom of the splines which accommodates ROAD 11sp cassettes and needs a 1.5mm spacer for MTB cassettes. All Pro4’s (I think) have the same problem.

The SR shifter has actually a very nice light slick operation to it. A lot slicker to feel than 11speed XT I’d say.

I was one of the first to go for a complete 12spd SR setup but due to lack of a working dropper, (bloody free reverb lol) I’ve yet to get any real miles on the SR kit.

Got the whole kit for £200 and a few pounds on top for postage.
Came with the middle of the road mech. Not the super dooper one pictured with carbon cage but that was too good to be true tbh.

The 50T is absolutely massive although I say to others, have you seen the gradient of the stuff I ”try” ride up 🤣

Plus the 12spd cassette will fit a 9/10/11spd freehub.

So no worries about that pedlad 👍

Thanks all. I’ve ordered the sun race kit with the mid range derailleur.

Proper job! 👍

So had a bit of a nightmare in that the seattube on the c456 is knackered so whilst I work out what to do I’m putting it on the spitfire. Would have ridden tonight but the bb is knackered so just waiting on a delivery for that.

@tdog out of interest what chainring size are you running?

So all fitted and impressed with the shifting on the road test. I think the chain line isn’t right though as quite straight into high gear and noticeable pull across to the low 3 gears.

No bb spaced on driveside to help and put it on NDS?

Very curious to see how this holds up. Really like the shimano multiple shifting and trigger downshifts (told sunrace has this as well)
Not massively keen on Sram shifting so another option would be nice! Like most people I’m scared to take a punt on something I don’t know anything about!