which RD would you choose?

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

this all depends on a bike i just bought, which i'm not sure if it'll fit me or not, but if so, it's a gravel typed bike.

Good call, Angry -- keep it out of public view and avoid controversy ;-)

[Hilltopperny]

Nick, I run 10-42 and 11-42 with my Ultegra mid cage derailleur and it works no problem. I just picked up an apex 1x long cage RD for my Stinner that is rated up to a 42 tooth in the rear, but no real life experience yet with it.

I also have a set of NOS micro shift bar ends sitting here if you go that route!

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[CMiller]

I like friction shifting best with 7-9 speed, I'd search for the biggest gear cassette with the least amount of cogs. I feel like someone had tried (or at least considered) friction shifting a clutch derailleur on the iBob or Rivendell google forum, would be worth a look there.

[Burning Pines]

I’ve been able to get 6800 short and long cage derailleurs to shift a 10-42 with a wolf tooth road link and longer b screw. Not quite enough chain wrap as a double but fine as 1x. I had this set up with an old suntour ratcheting friction thumbie for a brief moment and it worked “great.” No chain drops with a narrow wide ring but noisy in the smaller gears off road due to chain slap. No problems shifting though, it was kinda fun!