Originally Posted by KLabs .
... can you clarify "don't see why the 11-36t cassette & XT/XTR derailleur + DA shifter combination wouldn't work"
I have an 11-34T XT 10spd cassette that I can try this with. Excluding cost, which do you think would work best, an XT 10spd RD or XTR 10spd RD, with the 7800 STI road shifter?
If the cog spacing is the
same for the 10-speed Shimano/-compatible ROAD & 10-speed MTB cassettes, then[COLOR= #0000ff]
I believe that the reason [/COLOR]-- and, probably the only reason -- [COLOR= #0000ff]
that Shimano says that the 10-speed MTB rear derailleur is not compatible is because it uses the RAPID RISE (reverse pull
) design ... [/COLOR][COLOR= #000000]on the road, that means that the small shift paddle would be used for down shifting to larger cogs and the brake lever's assembly would be used for up shifting to smaller cogs ... would THAT be a real world problem? I don't think so.[/COLOR]
- As I said 2-or-3 years ago, I thought the most recent iteration of the Shimano's Road shifters & derailleurs would switch to the Rapid Rise design and thereby eliminate the downshifting "dwell" which was designed into the original Shimano Road shifters ...
- I was wrong ...
- But I think the reason I was wrong was due to the belated release of the Di2 & the necessity to have the DA 7900 rear derailleur more-or-less look the same as the Di2 rear derailleur, and vice-versa ([COLOR= #808080]that's my story, and I'm sticking to it ... after all, look at the comparatively retro-look of the Di2 shifters[/COLOR])
While 'I' don't think that the geometry of the 9-and-10-speed rear derailleurs is the same, others say they are ...
- as I have demonstrated to MY satisfaction, a hubbub'd 9-speed Shimano rear derailleur & a 10-speed Shimano rear derailleur result in the SAME INDEXING, so the out-of-the-box geometry cannot be the same ... at least, IMO ... or, as they might have said a generation-or-two ago, QED.
However, if
those people are correct and/or you believe
them, then I would choose the last iteration of the 9-speed XTR Shadow rear derailleur because it looks better to me ... worst case scenario, you could
hubbub the connection to achieve 10-speed indexing UNLESS Shimano has gone-off-the-reservation with regard to mult-generational component continuity ...
XT & XTR rear derailleurs have always been interchangeable in the past, so I don't know why they wouldn't be in the 10-speed generation of components.
Consequently, FWIW, if I were opting for a 10-speed Shimano MTB rear derailleur, I would just choose
XT components because the picture of the 10-speed XTR which I saw was unattractive ([COLOR= #808080]to me[/COLOR]) ...
- that is, when in doubt, choose XT because it is much less expensive than XTR ([COLOR= #808080]more so, now, than a dozen years ago ... or, so it seems to me[/COLOR]) & slightly more robust (not an issue for most-if-not-all Road applications) ... that is, I don't think the XTR's carbon fiber pulley cage warrants the price difference ([COLOR= #808080]I presume the 10-speed XTR rear derailleur has a carbon fiber pulley cage[/COLOR])
- While there is a weight difference between the XT & XTR rear derailleurs, the difference seems to be less with each iteration, so the choice is probably mostly cosmetic -- NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.
Of course, just to sound like a
broken record, you could always switch to 10-or-11-speed [COLOR= #ff0000]
Campagnolo shifters[/COLOR] ...
- you can get a set of 11-speed Campagnolo Athena shifters with carbon fiber levers on eBay for about $200US, Chorus shifters are $50-or-so more ... even more for Record & Super Record shifters.
BTW. 10-speed Campagnolo shifters + a 10 speed SRAM Road rear derailleur == 10-speed Shimano indexing
- I don't know ([COLOR= #808080]i.e., I have already forgotten!?![/COLOR]) what the compatibility is with the SRAM Apex (?) rear derailleur & other SRAM Road derailleurs, but if it is compatible, then you can plug it into the equation with 10-speed Campagnolo shifters.
