Bicycle Mechanics - Mix 105 and MTB drive components?

I'm buying a Fuji CX and am going to change the drive. I want to replace the 105 double with an XT triple. Also replace the front and rear derailers with MTB parts. Rear = XTR M953 and front = FD-M740. I think you can always mix up 105 items but can you intermix Road and MTB parts.

It is worth a try. I thnk your chance of success is pretty high.

I am certainly not much of a bike mechanic but, my Bianchi Volpe
came with Tiagra shifters and front derailliur and deore rear
deraillur. So I would say they can be mixed but someone else
here probably has many more details than I do.

What are you using for shifters?

Shimano says not to mix road shifters with MTB front derailleurs. There are a number of bikes (my wife has one) that use MTB shifters to shift road front derailleurs, so I'd ASSUME the opposite would work. It's not something I've ever tried, however, so I really don't know for sure.

Sheldon Brown doesn't seem to think it will work (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/derailers.html#front) although it's not clear to me why, exactly.

But it's true enough that the touring bikes I've seen that use MTB cranksets all have bar-end shifters, like the Bruce Gordons. Those that use STI shifters all seem to use road cranks and FD's, along with MTB RD's and wide range (eg 12-34) cassettes. That's the more usual solution these days, sometimes augmented by replacing the 30-tooth small chainring with something slightly smaller.

Bar-end shifters are common on cyclocross bikes, too.

RichC

to be honest, i think your best bet would be to get the 105 triple crankset and fd, and swap out the cassette and rd for an xt cassette and rd. if you really need a smaller chainring than the 30t granny that comes with the 105 crankset, you can always swap that out for a smaller one. i think salsa makes a 24t ring for the shimano road crankset bolt pattern. that, combined with a 12-34 xt cassette, would give you a way-low gear, almost as low as you'd get with a mtb crankset, but without sacrificing your top-end gearing [not that you'd ever use a 53x12, and you could always swap out the 53 for a 48 at some point, if you like] and without having to deal with all of the compatibility problems. it's also be a lot cheaper. the salsa chainrings sell for @ $20.

it works great, I rebuilt a bridgestone RB-T using a dura-ace tripple in the front, I used a DA tripple crankset, a DA tripple bottom bracket and a DA tripple front derailure. In the back I used an XTR derailure and cassette, I shift the front and rear with a set of Dura-Ace STI levers. the shifting is crist and precise, I ride the shimano CN7701 chain on all my bikes, it never brakes and makes any bike shift better.

I kept searching for compatability information after I originally posted my inquiry and found a really neat site. Build "COMPLETE BIKE OPTIONS" and price for 105 components. YOu can then go down the list and add items you choose. Not only will you get a warning if you have any compatability issues, you also get a pricing uptick if you choose an item more expensive than th original 105.

www.airborne.net