gurk700

Has anyone tried this? Works fine?

Please keep the "man up" comments off of this thread. I ride up 12%+ climbs daily on my setup. I wanna try the above for Death Ride that involves 120 miles and 15k feet. Current setup might be fine but I don't wanna not finish the ride! Also I wanna finish it with a respectable time with little rest time as possible.

I already have a WiFli rear derailleur. Here's a link for RoadLink for those who haven't heard it before. RoadLink ? wolftoothcomponents.com

JohnJ80

You're aware that the e-tap now comes in a long cage to handle up to 32 teeth, right?

J.

gurk700

Serious?

Seems like you missed the part I said "I already have a WiFli rear derailleur."

also...

"11-36"


I have 11-32 on the bike at the moment. trying to get 11-36.

garysol1 

Nice attitude. Maybe you should take a look at a e-bike

gurk700

I'd love an e-bike actually! Wednesdays are my off day from riding. With an e-bike I can still ride a bike but be "off" the training.

Great advice.

garysol1 

Thats what I am here for!

scott967

I haven't heard any reports from someone who has fitted the etap WiFli RD. It seemed like a $600 upgrade initially, though I guess now you can buy groups with it for maybe $200 additional over the original etap.

scott s.
.

BenPS

no word on the sram stuff, but I have installed the road link for a couple of bikes with Di2 setups, and I can't find any reason it wouldn't also work with etap. One of the builds we did ended up with a compact in the front, and an 11-40 cassette on, and it shifted fine.

RShantz

It seems like you've got a lot of experience with folks wanting extreme gearing. Is there ever an advantage to going with a triple? You hardly ever see them on the road or discussed here - just curious.

BenPS

There still are triples out there, and reasons for going with a triple, but unfortunately there aren't many nice triples. Or electronic shifters that work with triples.

In the case of the Di2 bike with the 11-40, the guy was actually building a light touring bike, and wanted big gearing, but also wanted electronic shifting, so the road link was the answer. There are still merits to triples, but it seems like a compact double with a big cassette will fit the build for most people, and is easier to work around with the rest of the components

TimothyH

I don't know about SRAM derailleurs but I would be surprised if it even needed a Road Link at all to run a 36 tooth cassette.

11-36 works with Shimano GS derailleurs. Lots of guys are running it without longer derailleur hanger solutions such as Road Link. Just turn the B screw in further and it clears.
-Tim-

Mark Manner

I have the new etap mid-cage wifli rear derailleur. I am using a roadlink with a 36 cassette. I found it needed it to shift nicely. The mid-cage etap wifli cage length is a bit shorter than the mid-cage ultegra di2 which didn't need it for a 36 (until I went to a 40 in the rear).
Mark

Dean V

Who makes 11-36 11sp cassettes?

BenPS

Sram

Mark Manner

SRAM has an 11 spd 11/36 cassette (1170) that I am using now. IRD does as well, although I prefer when possible to use shimano or sram.

TimothyH

https://www.sram.com/sram/road/produ...-1170-cassette

gurk700

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a 11-36 PG1170 cassette as linked above.

It works fine with the etap WiFli derailleur if you don't cross chain. If you cross small small, no issue. If you cross big big, disaster. I haven't ridden like that obviously but I shifted while on the stand to see and it was obvious it would rip the rear derailleur apart if I put any kinda force on it. Chain is too short.

If I got a longer chain it would be ok in that gear combo but I'm 100% sure the chain would be too loose in the small small cross chain.

Not that we should ever cross but the risk is there and I suspect this is why SRAM doesn't advertise wifli with 36 compatibility. Otherwise, b screw is long enough.

I'll be using the 36 for some 12%+ walls I ride the death ride in July. I doubt I'll accidentally cross chain big big. I've never done it in my life.

fa63

I use a Roadlink + Ultegra GS RD + either 11-36 or 11-40 cassette on my bike (with a 50-34 compact crankset); it works fine in all combinations (but I don't use big-big on the road to be safe). Here are some shots with the 11-40 cassette:

gurk700

yeah big big seems sketchy on your setup as well.

I just rode my 52/36 - 36-11 etap wifli setup today. works like a charm. perfect shifts. but yeah not gonna be shifting to big big any time soon. i love the versatility and range of this setup!

TimothyH

More good information from you Mark. You are a treasure trove. Don't ever stop.

This whole thread is great.

-Tim-

a94501er

Hi Mark: I'm assuming this is what you have (11-36)?

What do you have in front? Looks like they can only be 14 apart for Roadlink to work?

https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/roadlink

I have the same question for gurk700 as well given your 52-36 setup.

merlinextraligh

You really should get the longer chain. Chains need to be sized to take the big/big combination. Even though you know to stay out of it, there will come a day where you're tired, you forget, and you put it in the big/big and rip off the derailleur.

If you size for big/big, it may be sloppy in the little/little combination, but you can just stay out of that combination. And you inadvertently forget, putting it in the little/little isn't going to be the potentially catastrophic problem of putting too small a chain in the big/big

Go get a longer chain.

gurk700

Correct. That's the exact cassette I'm using.

I ended up not using the Roadlink. I have eTap WiFli and the medium cage rear derailleur it comes with clears the 36 tooth cassette with no problem so no need for roadlink.

The 14 teeth difference is pretty much a separate issue to be honest. When you cut the chain long enough for a big big cross chain (so that it doesn't rip the derailleur apart) you end up with a too loose chain on the small small cross.

When you cut the chain to fit the small small cross then you end up with a chain too tight for the big big cross chain setup.

Anyway to simplify all you have to know from my experience is that etap clears a 36 cassette with no problem. You should however never cross chain with the big cog in the rear with big ring on the front.

Mark Manner

As noted by others, the 14 tooth front difference isn't a hard one. I have 3 bikes that are using a roadlink, 2 of them 11-40 in rear (one ultegra mechanical and one ultegra di2) with 46/30 in the front, and the third the etap 48/32 up front and 11-36 in the rear wifli. You have to be very careful in chain length sizing to make it work so it won't destruct things big/big or droop small/small. As far as not needing the roadlink with the wifli etap rear on an 11-36, I agree it isn't absolutely essential, but I find it shifts for me better using it than not. I suspect it is so close a question that the differences in chain-lines and exact component combos and chain stay lengths, etc., affect the goodness of the shifting.
Mark

gurk700

my worry is sloppy enough to rub the derailleur cogs and not ****ion at all OR very poor shifting performance over the whole system..

but you're right. that scenario does beat ripping the RD off.