Originally Posted by
yumseyo
Geez, you hit my situation almost dead on ! I was planning to use some Paul White shifter adapters that I bought some Dura Ace 105 bar end shifters for so I wouldn't have to deal with "click" shifting. Kinda "Old School" but effective. With regards to the front derailleur, what do you think of an XTR 960 front deraileur? and I might just go with the 50/34 compact gearing..
Where would I have to trim on Thors rear adapter if I wanted to use that cool KCNC 12-34 I have? If not, what size would I be able to use with his adapter comfortably?
Well, more later, got to start cooking my bird for the 30 people after thanks giving inlaw dinner tonight :=(
50/34 compact will serve you better than 53/39. Vuelta USA sells these type of cranks cheap and there is no point in spending oddles of money to save a few teeny grams or perhaps a hundred. I usually put the money towards my next travel adventure rather than on the toys!!
But if you must insist on having the weight weeny carbon bling bling, then there are plenty of options. My shifter is an Old Skool Falcon rachet thumb friction shifter reminiscent of the old Sturmey Archer commander shifter of the past if you know what I mean. For only $3 on sale last NOS brand new I think from Universal Cycles in Oregon, it provides a superb shifting platform for my front derailleur. If you use a friction shifter, you can use pretty much any front derailleur because you can trim manually shifting between the 2 chain rings.
The Thor adapter puts your front derailleur is such a position that you may get chain rub against the front derailleur cage at certain gear combinations. The advantage of the friction shifter is that, you can trim the cage not to rub against the chain if you cross chain to get a certain gear ratio. Otherwise with a click shifter, you may get chain rub due to its limited trimming or no trimming at all.
I have toured and ridden hub and spoke with it and boy my Mu SL flies baby! Light weight does carry certain benefits going up the hill!