It must've been 1997 when I had an Erickson Gizmo. I used it on a Cannondale CX bike with Headshock. The drivetrain was full XTR, the shifters Ultegra.

Shimano could call it ADV or Adventure. Plenty of tourers and gravel riders would welcome it.

I have been trying to digest the information on the lower gearing thread, especially regarding what I understand to be 'add-on' devices to enhance shifting.

I have been struggling with my own SRAM XX1 quandary, trying to make the 1 x 11 system work as a 2 x 11. And finding out why SRAM has said the 10-42 will only work as a 1 x.

But my bike mechanic just got back from a SRAM dealer show of some sort, and he said they showed a new long cage derailleur (forgot to note the model) that is supposed to work for a 2 x 11. I asked him to order one for me and it should be in later this week. Hopefully this will make the difference, and if so then Shimano will likely be not far behind.

I am currently using the XX1 cassette with a Rival RD, but as a 2x with a Shimano Sora road triple crank (9 speed, but with two 11 speed chain rings installed on it, 26T and 38T, since 26T is the smallest chain ring that will fit given the outside diameter of the BB). This gives me about a 17 gear inch low granny gear.

I know that cassette. Same one that I'm running

Hi DeadGrandpa,

Wasn't trying to be rude but I can't reply to your PM my post count isn't high enough.


The market has a lot of different add-on that I considered.The Shiftmate wasn't applicable to my case since I'm running Shimano's Di2. If I want to mix component groups my only choice was to run parallel systems which was an option but an expensive one. So I went with the "Goat Link", a cheap step to lower gearing. It allowed me to go from 32T to 40T on my existing rear derailleur. Down from 29 to 23 gear inches, no cross chaining allowed though.

I would be interest in seeing what Sram came up with. Unless they've done something radical that's going to have to be a LONG cage on that derailleur. The problem is that mfg are only going to build a product that can be ran in all gear combinations large/large, small/small. Which runs us up into the same problem that we currently face. I took a look at Srams website and their 1x11 system rear derailleur pretty much has a 32T range. While Shimano's Ultegra 2x11 road group has a max of 37T. If Sram comes out with a 2x11 with only a 10T difference in the front chain rings that means their rear derailleur will have to have a 42T capacity.

In my search rather than going a triple and dual Di2 systems, I finally decided to bit the bullet and go with the Sclumpf on the new touring frame. Don't get me wrong the Schlumpf is expensive but when I decided to build up my "Ultimate Touring" bike I decided that absolute lowest gear range was a top priority. I'm not a strong climber so I finally got tired of always looking for one lower gear and instead drop in 8 lower gears. My gearing is so low that I've only successfully ridden down to 14". Will have to wait and see for the three below that as they're going to take so major balancing practice. On the other hand my knees aren't screaming on 8%+ grades anymore. Haven't quite gotten my balance down good enough to tackle the 10%+ going that slow but I'm working on it.

My other reasoning for the Schlumpf was when I wear out the two rear cassettes, two sets of wheels winter/summer, I already have if I can't use 12,11,9 gear inches I'll just swap out with a normal road cassette, remove the road link, remove the 4 links from my chain and be right back to a stock Shimano Ultegra gear setup but still have a 12" low gear.

I posted a picture to "Pictures of your loaded rig" for anyone that wants to get a laugh and a reason for my quest for the ultimate low gear.

Gadgets

My new RD came in today, the one that might solve all of my shifting problems on my SRAM XX1 10-42 coupled with two chain rings in front.
https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/p...ear-derailleur
It looks like it's gonna work, but dang! The SRAM Rival shifter for the RD doesn't match the new Mountain RD, because the Rival is a road RD shifter. So I need a new set of mtb shifters, which means a different set of handlebars, since mtb shifters are not made to work on drop handlebars. Luckily, I happen to have a set of trekking bars and a matching aluminum stem from a dead bike that should transfer and make a nice solution to my hands going numb from being on the brake/shifter hoods all the time. Yes, this has been an expensive gearing conversion. Apparently one of my skills is finding the most expensive way to modify a bike. OTOH, it saved me from buying a whole brand new bike to get the gearing I need, and guess what bike my mechanic was going to suggest? A Trek 920. As a bonus, the mechanic offered to buy my used Rival RD and Shifters, and his buddy might be interested in my old Bridgestone RB-1. Hopefully I may recoup a bit of my costs.

No, there is a dirt drop that is compatible with MTB levers and shifters. It is the Soma Gator. The diameter of the grip area is 22.2mm and forward of the grip area 23.8mm so that it is also compatible with road integrated shifters.

Speaking of the Soma Gator, I asked about experiences with them ages ago and a guy posted some pics of a gator with Rohloff twist shifter and ergon grips to another forum the other day. I can't see why regular old MTB brake levers and trigger shifters wouldn't work just as well.



The original sauce:

Jeff's Bike Blog

MTB levers and triggers would work very well on the Gator.

Will one of these work?
Shiftmate Compatibility | Jtek Engineering

Perhaps, but it doesn't matter. I had already decided that my almost constant hand position on the hoods of the drop handlebars were causing my right hand to go numb, so I was looking for an excuse to convert from drop to trekking bars.

just as an aside, re numbness etc, changing hand positions regularly has always been the ticket for me. I change so often I dont even think of doing it anymore, and I would reckon that I change up every few minutes, no matter the bar type.
Trekking bars look like they should give a good set of diff positions, I've yet to try some, but did see some at a store last week for $26 Can. and I will most likely try them out on my mtn bike sometime, just to see how they are. Fairly easy switchover as everything will transfer over, trigger shifters and brake levers.

good luck with them

Your hands would not be on the hoods with the Gator, they'd be in the drops. There would be no hoods since you would be using MTB levers and triggers. One attraction of such a setup is that you could use hydraulic MTB brakes.

Ah, I see. But I don't use the drops; I maintain a more upright riding position because bending over that far isn't fun for me anymore. Also, the disc brakes on my Jamis are TRP cable actuated hydraulic, which I prefer over full hydraulic, due to leak potential. Before those, I had Avid BB-7's (previous bike, now deceased) and like the simplicity of cables. But thanks for the info.

The final part arrived today. Installed and took a test ride around the neighborhood. Shifts perfectly. I'll try it out more in the coming days, but for now, it looks like a great solution. Here are a couple photos, showing the large-large and small-small. Plenty of capacity in the RD to handle the extremes.

Excellent. I hope it works out. : )

Pay attention to your RD cable - I think you'll see fraying at the Jtek adapter.

I used a Jtek Campy10/Shim9 adapter for a short time. RD cables that typically lasted >10,000 miles would last only 1,000 miles before they'd start fraying inside the adapter. I believe these adapters simply exceed the minimum safe bending radius for gear cable. I had two cables fray right at the adapter in very short time, then I eliminated the Jtek adapter and normal RD cable life resumed.

Actually I never had RD cables fail at 10K miles - I'd just change them as insurance. I've had top-pull MTB FDs that would regularly destroy cables at ~3,000-5,000 mile intervals. The cables were bent too much at the FD cable clamp from normal shifting action, and would fray right at the clamp and break soon after the first frayed wire.

This experience occurred with Jagwire cables - the more (2x) expensive Shimano cables might take this abuse better, but I suspect not.

Appreciate the advice. This is not a Jtek product, so perhaps that issue will not occur here. One big difference with the Tanpan is the pulley is made of Delrin, rather than metal, so perhaps that will lessen cable wear. Time will tell. For now, the bike will be used for commuting, so even if the product fails or the cable breaks, it's no big deal.

Happy to report absolutely no issues with the Tanpan after a couple weeks of use. Other than a couple quarter turns on the barrel adjuster due to cable stretch or the housing settling in, the shifting has been stable and flawless. I'm able to spin up hills that used to be pretty hard to get up. Not using the lowest gear very often around here, but the 2nd to lowest gear is lower than my previous setup, and that gets plenty of use. Not sure I would tour with it at this point, but if it holds up in the next couple months, it wouldn't be a concern. For anyone thinking of trying an MTB setup on their road bike, .