Replacing Ultegra Rear Derailleur With XT

Quoted message said:

I'll be attempting to ride in the mountains in a few months. My
current ride is equipped with Ultegra 9-speed front and rear
derailleurs. A buddy says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a
Shimano XT and replace the cassette with an XT 11-34, I'll be able to
climb just about anything. As a flat-land Floridian, I need all the
help I can get. Will this work?
Thanks.
Art

It will operate as you intend.. Cable pull and sprocket spacing are
identical among all 9-speed Shimano systems.

As to "work", well... what kind of mountains are we talking about? 10%
slope? 20% slope% 30% slope:
http://www.lawheelmen.org/fargo/000dw1.jpg
???

Jeff

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'll be attempting to ride in the mountains in a few months. My
current ride is equipped with Ultegra 9-speed front and rear
derailleurs. A buddy says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a
Shimano XT and replace the cassette with an XT 11-34, I'll be able to
climb just about anything. As a flat-land Floridian, I need all the
help I can get. Will this work?

That's what I have on my bike (along with an Ultegra triple in front). I
can't climb "anything," but I think the limitation is in the engine, not the
transmission.

RichC

It will work just fine. If you find you don't need to go quite so low,
you can use an 11-32 or 11-28 cassette.

I have the same setup with a compact FSA crank on the front, 50x34. The
combination has a range greater than a triple (50x11 to 34x32), with
the Q-factor and shifting performance of a double. FSA now has a
special compact front DR on the market, but the 105 I have on shifts
between the rings fine.

Sheldon Brown has quite a bit about cassette variations on his website.
He says a 29 or 30 cog will fit under a standard Ultegra rear
derailleur; anything bigger will rub against the pulleys (if I'm
recalling correctly).--Shayana Kadidal

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Quoted message said:

I'll be attempting to ride in the mountains in a few months. My
current ride is equipped with Ultegra 9-speed front and rear
derailleurs. A buddy says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a
Shimano XT and replace the cassette with an XT 11-34, I'll be able to
climb just about anything. As a flat-land Floridian, I need all the
help I can get. Will this work?
Thanks.
Art

You may have to add a few links to the chain.

Quoted message said:

I'll be attempting to ride in the mountains in a few months. My
current ride is equipped with Ultegra 9-speed front and rear
derailleurs. A buddy says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a
Shimano XT and replace the cassette with an XT 11-34, I'll be able to
climb just about anything. As a flat-land Floridian, I need all the
help I can get. Will this work?
Thanks.
Art

Yep, w/o problem...great idea for those that don't want a triple or a
compact.

Make sure you get the 'normal' XT rear derailleur, not the 'low normal'
or 'rapid rise' rear derailleur.

SDK said:

I have the same setup with a compact FSA crank on the front, 50x34. The
combination has a range greater than a triple (50x11 to 34x32)

Nonsense. My road triple crankset came from the factory with a 30
tooth inner chainring. That is lower than the 34 tooth inner chainring
on your compact. So a triple has much lower gearing than a compact can
ever give. You can also easily put a 24 tooth inner chainring on a
triple crankset. Much, much, much lower than a compact crankset can
ever give you.

At the high end my triple crankset came from the factory with a 52
tooth outer chainring. That is higher than the 50 tooth outer
chainring on your compact. So a triple has higher gearing than a
compact too.

The gear range on a triple crankset is greater than a compact crankset
if both use the same rear cogset.

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Quoted message said:

SDK said:

I have the same setup with a compact FSA crank on the front, 50x34. The
combination has a range greater than a triple (50x11 to 34x32)

Nonsense. My road triple crankset came from the factory with a 30
tooth inner chainring. That is lower than the 34 tooth inner chainring
on your compact. So a triple has much lower gearing than a compact can
ever give. You can also easily put a 24 tooth inner chainring on a
triple crankset. Much, much, much lower than a compact crankset can
ever give you.

I think that he is saying that a standard triple is usually 52 - 40 - 30 in
front and 12-25 in the rear. He has 50 - 34 in front and 11-32 in rear.
That said if you swapped the rear cassette on the triple to an 11-32, or
course you would have a larger range.

JeffWills said:

Quoted message said:

I'll be attempting to ride in the mountains in a few months. My
current ride is equipped with Ultegra 9-speed front and rear
derailleurs. A buddy says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a
Shimano XT and replace the cassette with an XT 11-34, I'll be able to
climb just about anything. As a flat-land Floridian, I need all the
help I can get. Will this work?
Thanks.
Art

It will operate as you intend.. Cable pull and sprocket spacing are
identical among all 9-speed Shimano systems.

As to "work", well... what kind of mountains are we talking about? 10%
slope? 20% slope% 30% slope:
http://www.lawheelmen.org/fargo/000dw1.jpg
???

Jeff

We're talking 7% over 7 miles. Which is 6.99% more than anything
around here.
Thanks to all for your advice and help.

Art

JeffWills said:

Quoted message said:

I'll be attempting to ride in the mountains in a few months. My
current ride is equipped with Ultegra 9-speed front and rear
derailleurs. A buddy says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a
Shimano XT and replace the cassette with an XT 11-34, I'll be able to
climb just about anything. As a flat-land Floridian, I need all the
help I can get. Will this work?
Thanks.
Art

It will operate as you intend.. Cable pull and sprocket spacing are
identical among all 9-speed Shimano systems.

As to "work", well... what kind of mountains are we talking about? 10%
slope? 20% slope% 30% slope:
http://www.lawheelmen.org/fargo/000dw1.jpg
???

Jeff

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I'll be attempting to ride in the mountains in a few months. My
current ride is equipped with Ultegra 9-speed front and rear
derailleurs. A buddy says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a
Shimano XT and replace the cassette with an XT 11-34, I'll be able to
climb just about anything. As a flat-land Floridian, I need all the
help I can get. Will this work?

Sure. Just keep in mind you will need to get a longer chain to go with your
new derailleur and cassette.
----------------
Alex

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'll be attempting to ride in the mountains in a few months. My
current ride is equipped with Ultegra 9-speed front and rear
derailleurs. A buddy says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a
Shimano XT and replace the cassette with an XT 11-34, I'll be able to
climb just about anything. As a flat-land Floridian, I need all the
help I can get. Will this work?
Thanks.
Art

Yep, w/o problem...great idea for those that don't want a triple or a
compact.

Make sure you get the 'normal' XT rear derailleur, not the 'low normal'
or 'rapid rise' rear derailleur.

what would be the problem with the "low normal", will it not function with
Ultegra shifters or is a personal thing?

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Make sure you get the 'normal' XT rear derailleur, not the 'low normal'
or 'rapid rise' rear derailleur.

di said:

what would be the problem with the "low normal", will it not function with
Ultegra shifters or is a personal thing?

It's a personal thing with Peter, probably related to his general
dislike of Shimano. (I'm the same way about Canon cameras, for no very
good reason...)

It will shift in the opposite direction, which will take a bit of
getting used to. However it will also give improved downshifting
performance, so it may well be worth the inconvenience of re-training
yourself for the opposited-direction shifting.

Sheldon "Nikons Rule!" Brown
+--------------------------------------------------+
| Pohl's law: Nothing is so good that somebody, |
| somewhere, will not hate it. |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

"Sheldon Brown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

It will shift in the opposite direction, which will take a bit of getting
used to. However it will also give improved downshifting performance, so
it may well be worth the inconvenience of re-training yourself for the
opposited-direction shifting.

Sheldon "Nikons Rule!" Brown

Thanks, I have "low normal" on two of my 3 mountain bikes and like their
performance, at the time I have no plans to convert any road bike to
mountain bike components, but was just curious.

di wrote:

The low normal will work, but backwards to what you are used to. The
big lever will move the chain to a smaller cog, the small lever to a
bigger cog, one at a time.

I think, when coming around a corner, suddenly facing a big hill, a
sweep of the big lever, to a bigger cog, three at a time, is much more
useful than stabbing the small lever numerous times to get into a
bigger cog. I know Sheldon disagrees, but I don't like the low normal.

Sheldon Brown said:

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Make sure you get the 'normal' XT rear derailleur, not the 'low normal'
or 'rapid rise' rear derailleur.

di said:

what would be the problem with the "low normal", will it not function with
Ultegra shifters or is a personal thing?

It's a personal thing with Peter, probably related to his general
dislike of Shimano. (I'm the same way about Canon cameras, for no very
good reason...)

Well, altho I have not owned a MTB for over a decade, I have talked to
a few guys that do ride the things, even those that don't ride a road
bike and few say they like the low normal. Most say they like the old
der or Sram triggers. Most do not like the new lever sets from shimano,
w/o the add on trigger to get the cog down the cogset...But anecdotal
from me. WE sell MOOTs mtbs, a dozen or so a year and none have had the
new shimano shifters or low normal rear der. It is interesting that
shimano, once commited to ending their production, continue to make the
non-backfire plus rear derailleur.

Quoted message said:

It will shift in the opposite direction, which will take a bit of
getting used to. However it will also give improved downshifting
performance, so it may well be worth the inconvenience of re-training
yourself for the opposited-direction shifting.

Sheldon "Nikons Rule!" Brown
+--------------------------------------------------+
| Pohl's law: Nothing is so good that somebody, |
| somewhere, will not hate it. |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

di wrote:

The low normal will work, but backwards to what you are used to. The
big lever will move the chain to a smaller cog, the small lever to a
bigger cog, one at a time.

I think, when coming around a corner, suddenly facing a big hill, a
sweep of the big lever, to a bigger cog, three at a time, is much more
useful than stabbing the small lever numerous times to get into a
bigger cog. I know Sheldon disagrees, but I don't like the low normal.

I can see that with a road bike the "low normal" would be undesirable,
however I really like having them on mountain bikes. The ability to shift
to a lower gear with just a single pull with your forefinger is a real
benefit to me. But, that's just my style of riding, I guess there are many
different opinions

agonzz328 said:

A buddy
says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a Shimano XT

Or a 105 long cage...I'd just get what was cheaper of the two if you're
not making the change permanent.

Might want to switch ring(s) up front too to add lower gearing.

maxo said:

agonzz328 said:

A buddy
says that if I swap the Ultegra rear unit with a Shimano XT

Or a 105 long cage...I'd just get what was cheaper of the two if you're
not making the change permanent.

Ultegra and 105 long cage rear derailleurs do not clear 32 or 34 rear
cogs. They also have shorter cages to wrap up the chain. Compared to
a mountain bike long cage rear derailleur such as the XT, LX, Deore,
etc. His best option is to get a cheap $30 Deore long cage rear
derailleur if he gets a new rear derailleur. Not one of the road long
cage rear derailleurs.

Quoted message said:

Might want to switch ring(s) up front too to add lower gearing.