Originally Posted by
Chris Pringle
Excellent question! The front shifter with XT triple crankset works really well. The Shiftmate paired with the Shimano XT 9 Spd. rear derailleur unfortunately didn't work for us. It was finicky as hell. It was apparent on steep climbs (San Diego has lots of them!) A mechanic there told us the Shiftmate is supposed to work better with a Sram 9 spd. derailleur -- something to do about "1:1 actuation ratio" present on Sram and Campy shifters. I take blame for not researching this further (I ordered all the components.) The guys at R+E Cycles suggested to replace it with a special X9 Sram derailleur modified by
DaVinci. We did exactly that. It shifts like butter now. Live and learn!
Thanks for the response. I'm thinking about just trying out the 11 spd ergos with 9 spd cassette. I have a DaVinci tandem on order w/ record ergos and the same sram derailleur. Excited to see how all 40 gears work!
Thanks for sharing your experience.