Road Cycling - So the Airborne guy says Ultegra.....(confusion du jour)

Hi,
called Airborne (nice company to deal with)...and he thought Ultegra would be a good choice for shifters and cranks. It would give me 30/34, which is not as low as I hoped, but reasonably low.The gearing on my hybrid is Shimano Alivio..... something like 24/28; that comes from counting...not positive that's accurate. I am absent-minded when it comes to crooss chaining. I am told crossing a 34 rear and a 52 front would be very bad. Does this sound like a good way to go?
Looks like it would be about as low as my hybrid.

How do you plan on getting a 34 in the rear with ultegra?? You are going to need a MTB derailer that will shift a 34 big cog to go with the MTB cassettet that haas the 34 on it. Cross chaining is always bad.It's worse with a triple.It's insame with a 52x34.

Hi,
I already have a XTR rear derailleur. I am told it can handle one of those Megarange cassettes with a 34 tooth ring.

That works. The gear inches work out to be nearly identical to the hybrid in low gear.

I ride a dura-ace tripple with 30/39/53 in the frone and an XTR 12-34 in the read, the front derailure is a D/A tripple and the rear XTR long cage. I use D/A STI shifters. the 30/34 is a very low, load carrying gear, the system shifts very well, the drive trane is silent when riding and the shifting is crisp, I use the 8/9/8 shifting rules, I will ride the 53 front with the 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 23, 26 and 30 rear, the 39 front with any rear and the 30 front with 14 ttough 34 rear. I have 3000 miles on the drive trane and no problems.

Thanks guys,
guess that is the way to go. Any opinion on Ultegra versus Dura Ace?.....or perhaps
DA shifters with Ultegra cranks?(sorry, I get a little obsessive at times)

Originally posted by late
Thanks guys,
guess that is the way to go. Any opinion on Ultegra versus Dura Ace?.....or perhaps
DA shifters with Ultegra cranks?(sorry, I get a little obsessive at times) Shimano compatibility chart says DA triple front shifters with DA FD and DA crankset. No mix and match.

Hi,
Ultegra it is. Thanks for the help.

FWIW, I am usiing DA triple shifters with DA triple front der and an old Shimano (RSX?) double crank 110 BCD with 34 and 48T chainrings, neither of which is Shimano brand, a pretty wacky combination. It shifts beautifully. I love DA shifters and will never settle for less until the day passion overcomes me and I set up a bike with Campy Chorus. Other parts are pretty much irrelevant to me as long as they are of decent quality, but DA shifters and ders are worth every extra nickel. They also work great with an inexpensive LX rear der I put on when I am headed somewhere that I think I might need a 34T cog. The 34/34 gives me a 27 inch gear with a double crankset, almost as low as the 24 you get with a 30/34 on a triple.

Originally posted by RainmanP
FWIW, I am usiing DA triple shifters with DA triple front der and an old Shimano (RSX?) double crank 110 BCD with 34 and 48T chainrings, neither of which is Shimano brand, a pretty wacky combination. It shifts beautifully. My experience is that there are a number of things in both Shimano and Campy lineups that what work better than their verbage might have one believe. Part of what they say is CYA and part is marketing.People who experiment and think out of the box are the ones who help establish the broader applications.