sirshnike

What's the conventional thinking on pairing a short-cage rear derailleur with a compact crank? I'm think of upgrading my rear-derailleur to dura-ace and I've got a 34T/50T compact crank. My main concern is the front tooth difference. I believe the dura-ace small cage derailleur maxes out at 16T for the front-difference. So it should work, but am I better off going with the long cage?

Thanks!

Mark Manner

There is no problem using a Dura Ace or Ultegra short cage rear derailleur with a compact 34/50 front, even with a rear 12-27 or 11-28. Between my wife and I we are using both setups with no issues. The published specs are conservative. You do need to get the chain length correct and properly adjust the rear derailleur. As to chain length, since you are already using a compact front it probably will be ok as is unless you put a large rear cassette on and need more length.

Beaker

I'm running 50/34 with a 12-27 with no issue