Mixing Shimano Road and MTB Drivetrain

[Lovetoclimb]

I have been tasked with building a Soma Wolverine as a bike-packing and monster cross type build. My inclination is to to stick with drop bars and brifters as opposed to DT shifters or flat bars and thumbie mounted shifters or trigger shifters. With that in mind and an attempt to keep this build to a certain budget, I am thinking of doing the following:

(1)
Ultegra/105 (6800/5800) 11s w/ XT 10s:
- 105 brifters
- Ultegra front and rear long cage derailleurs
- 105 cassette 11-32 range
- 105 chain
- Ultegra BB
- XT 2x10 crankset (10 speed 40/28 gearing) <- this is the wildcard as to how well it will work with an otherwise 11s road setup ....

(2)
Ultegra/105 (6700/5700) 10s w/ XT 10s:
Basically same as above only the biggest cassette range I can get is 12-30 and the generally poor aesthetics and feel of Shimano 10s era brifters

(3)
Ultegra/105 (6800/5800) 11s:
- 105 brifters
- Ultegra front and rear long cage derailleurs
- 105 cassette 11-32 range
- 105 chain
- Ultegra BB
- Ultegra CX11 crankset and swap out the 36t ring for a 34t ring

- Brakes TBD, but taking suggestions for favorite mechanical disc options with Shimano brifters

[weisan]

Stick with 9 speed and you will stay happy lovepal, that's all I am gonna say.

I use 9-speed everything except MTB XT rear deraileur, it works splendid with 11-34 cog in the back.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Lovetoclimb

I have been tasked with building a Soma Wolverine as a bike-packing and monster cross type build. My inclination is to to stick with drop bars and brifters as opposed to DT shifters or flat bars and thumbie mounted shifters or trigger shifters. With that in mind and an attempt to keep this build to a certain budget, I am thinking of doing the following:

(1)
Ultegra/105 (6800/5800) 11s w/ XT 10s:
- 105 brifters
- Ultegra front and rear long cage derailleurs
- 105 cassette 11-32 range
- 105 chain
- Ultegra BB
- XT 2x10 crankset (10 speed 40/28 gearing) <- this is the wildcard as to how well it will work with an otherwise 11s road setup ....

(2)
Ultegra/105 (6700/5700) 10s w/ XT 10s:
Basically same as above only the biggest cassette range I can get is 12-30 and the generally poor aesthetics and feel of Shimano 10s era brifters

(3)
Ultegra/105 (6800/5800) 11s:
- 105 brifters
- Ultegra front and rear long cage derailleurs
- 105 cassette 11-32 range
- 105 chain
- Ultegra BB
- Ultegra CX11 crankset and swap out the 36t ring for a 34t ring

- Brakes TBD, but taking suggestions for favorite mechanical disc options with Shimano brifters

I think it depends on how low of gearing you want. A 28t small ring vs a 34t small ring. The CX 11s cranks set will shift the best.

[guido]

I use an IRD 11 speed 11-36 cassette and a VO 50.4 46/30 crank with Ultegra 11 speed chain, 6800 GS RD/CX-70 FD and Ultegra 6800 brifters on my rando/gravel/adventure bikes and it works like a dream...

[kramnnim]

If you want to deal with ye olde 10 speed levers, you could use a 10sp MTB cassette, 11-32 or 11-34 or whatever. Might need a 9sp MTB RD.

[GRAVELBIKE]

Originally Posted by kramnnim

If you want to deal with ye olde 10 speed levers, you could use a 10sp MTB cassette, 11-32 or 11-34 or whatever. Might need a 9sp MTB RD.

Shimano road 10s shifters are not compatible with the company's 10s mtb derailleurs, but will work with a 9s mtb rear mech.

[kramnnim]

Originally Posted by GRAVELBIKE

Shimano road 10s shifters are not compatible with the company's 10s mtb derailleurs, but will work with a 9s mtb rear mech.

Yes, I was meaning that the OP might need a 9sp MTB RD rather than a long cage road RD.

[josephr]

I ran an XT rear derailleur with 9sp Sora on a bike last year and worked great through some tough adventures.

10sp-Currently running a Tiagra 4600 RD (long cage) with 5700 shifters and an 12-32 HG50 non-series cassette and system runs flawless. The 4600 is rated up to 34 and they make non-series HG50 cassette up to 34...just using what I had available. If I was buying, I would've gotten the 34.

[Gummee]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but the nutshell is: anything works with anything 9sp (and 7/8sp too except D/A)

you need a 9sp mtn rear if you want to run big gears on your road 10sp

pretty much nothing crosses over 10sp and 11sp.

M

[Bradford]

Originally Posted by Gummee

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but the nutshell is: anything works with anything 9sp (and 7/8sp too except D/A)...

You have to watch out for the low normal/top normal differences in rear derailleurs. The rapid rise stuff doesn't work with road stuff.

I have settled on XT M750 RDs, which work with all my 10 speed road components.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Bradford

You have to watch out for the low normal/top normal differences in rear derailleurs. The rapid rise stuff doesn't work with road stuff.

I have settled on XT M750 RDs, which work with all my 10 speed road components.

Actually 9s rapid rise rear Ders do work with 10s road shifters, just backwards, 'backfire plus'.

[osu cycling]

You could also do SRAM for a Shimano-compatible setup. Up through 10s, road and mtn were interchangeable WRT shifters and derailleurs. I've got an X9 RD and Dura-Ace FD running with Rival 10s drop bar shifters. Allows me to use an 11-36 cassette on the rear if I really need it, which provides quite the gear when combined with a compact up front.

[Lovetoclimb]

Originally Posted by osu cycling

You could also do SRAM for a Shimano-compatible setup. Up through 10s, road and mtn were interchangeable WRT shifters and derailleurs. I've got an X9 RD and Dura-Ace FD running with Rival 10s drop bar shifters. Allows me to use an 11-36 cassette on the rear if I really need it, which provides quite the gear when combined with a compact up front.

I am just morally opposed to SRAM products.

[jeffwidman]

I run Ultegra 2x8 brifters together with a LX rear derailler and a 34t granny cog on the rear cassette with zero issues.

Very handy to have that bailout gear when towing the kid in the trailer uphill.

[91Bear]

Originally Posted by Lovetoclimb

I am just morally opposed to SRAM products.

Why is that? I've been lusting for the SRAM eTap stuff although it is prohibitively expensive.

I run Dura-Ace 9-speed shifters with 9-speed XP rear mech on my Gunnar CrossHairs.