Wanting a mech and I’m running 10spd 36t cassette on the rear and 36t chainring. Will I get the upper gears on my cassette with a zee mech it will it be too stretched?

you need the FR model which is what I have and it works perfectly with a 36

Front chainring size won’t make any difference so long as it’s only 1×10 (2×10 could cause issues with a short cage rear) and the Zee comes in 2 sizes 23-28 & 32-36) so if you pick the bigger one, I think you’re covered.

HTH

Gaz

Yep, get the mech with the greater chain capacity and it’ll work fine as long as you’re 1x up front.

If you’ve got 2x or 3x then neither Zee mech will work (you’d need SLX).

Although Shimano (and forum wisdom) recommend against it, Zee can work with 2×10, it just needs careful setting up and preferably no more than a 11-32 or 12-34 cassette.

It didn’t work with my 2×10, and I had about the most conservative 2×10 setup available (only 10t difference between front rings, hardtail so no chain growth, 11:32 cassette). It kind of, sort of, worked. To allow enough chain for big-big rings, I could only use the big half of the cassette in the smaller front chainring, before the chain lost tension and flapped around/fell off. Obviously it would work in a bind if you chose your gears carefully but it was far from ideal.

You’d be daft to buy Zee if your intention was to run 2×10.

We’ve got it shifting fine and working without fail on a few Zesty’s running 2 x 10, i know that shimano advise against it but it can be made to work if you have the patience to set it up with regard to B-tension/clutch tension/chain length/correct cassette.

whats the point? just use a dedicated 2x 10 clutch mech?

We didn’t have another clutch mech in the shop and it has continued to work fine for the past 5 months, just cause the big S says it can’t be done doesn’t mean to say you can’t have a bit of fettling n’ bodging.

I never did figure out, is the Zee cage the same length as the Saint one? Because the Saint is pretty damn limited, it can’t deal with a wide ratio cassette even with single ring, on some frames- cage is just too short to take up the chain.

Zesty isn’t a very growthy frame I think? What works on one might push the limits on another.

I never did figure out, is the Zee cage the same length as the Saint one? Because the Saint is pretty damn limited, it can’t deal with a wide ratio cassette even with single ring

The cages are more or less the same length, the Zee are available in two versions for a narrow or wide range cassette. On the Saint there is a switch from DH to freeride mode. In the freeride mode it will take a 36t cassette without issues with a single ring up front

Nah, like I say mine can’t handle 11-34 never mind 11-36. The mode change doesn’t do much for that, it gives it the physical movement to move around the block so it shifts well, but it doesn’t give it a longer cage, which is what it needs to deal with the chain slack.

I’ve not used a Zee but if the cage is the same then the same problem will be there for other bikes with a lot of chainlength change. In my case, it’s a big, stretchy bike (224) so kind of on the extreme but once you throw in dual rings that’ll be much more demanding. Who knows, maybe that’s one of the reasons people keep destroying Zees- setting them up so they work at the sag point, then the suspension travel stretches the chain, and sproing…

11-36 is fine with the Zee, you know, like it’s marketed to be. Set it up in the biggest cog with the shock bottomed-out and run extra b-tension if necessary to keep the chain tight when in top gear.

lornholio – Member

11-36 is fine with the Zee

OK, fair dos then, there must be some changes over Saint then for it to work with all bikes.

Saint works fine with 11-32 (or 34 or 36) so long as you set the “mode converter” to the longer B link.

I have set the adjuster, as above. It just means it moves correctly over the block, it doesn’t sort the potential for chain tension issues which is down to the very short cage. 2 separate considerations.

36t front and 11-36 rear (1×10) works fine with the wide range Zee mech. Just make sure you check the chain length at max growth

I have set the adjuster, as above. It just means it moves correctly over the block, it doesn’t sort the potential for chain tension issues which is down to the very short cage. 2 separate considerations.

The cage provide enough chain take up for the difference between an 11 and a 36 rear cog just fine. If you have a full sus with an especially high chain growth ratio then you may be screwed I guess, but it would be an exception rather than the rule.

I just make sure im not doing anything gnarly in my biggest two sprockets.

I am using the dh mode zee mech on an 11-36 cassette, and providing you have enough b tension, I have ran into no problems at the moment.

I hope this helps

Would any of the clutch mechs work with a 2×9 setup or are they all very 10spd specific?

deanfbm – Member

I just make sure im not doing anything gnarly in my biggest two sprockets.

Aye, me too- only fixes really, either use a smaller cassette or ride around it (or fit a longer mech!) Going to stick an 11-28 on it for normal use which I think will work fine.

Would any of the clutch mechs work with a 2×9 setup or are they all very 10spd specific?

Do a search for clutch 9 speed – there’s various threads on this.

THIS is one

Short answer yes so long as you use a SRAM 9 speed shifter and a Shimano Shadow Plus mech with a 6mm spacer.

HTH

Gaz