1x11 gravel bike conversion

[fair weather cyclist]

Just for funzies, to pass the time and to throw away some of my disposable income, I'm thinking about converting my gravel bike from the current 2x9 setup to a 1x11.

My probably silly question is: can I mix road and mtb components? MTB rear derailleurs like shimano SLX or XT look cool and there are plenty of cheap-ish shimano 105 shifters on the market. I think I do know the answer but would like confirmation before I start clicking 'buy now' buttons like there's no tomorrow.

For people who may be tempted to ask the question, no, there's nothing wrong with my current 2x9 sora setup. As I said, I've got time and money to spend so don't try to change to my mind.

 

[T4tomo]

Road and MTB derailleurs / shifters don't mix at 11 speed. 10 & below speed is fine

 

[chriswoody]

As @T4tomo says, with both SRAM and Shimano, road and MTB don't play nicely. This is one of the big problems with 1x on gravel bikes and limits the overall gear range available. With Shimano the best option is the GRX series, where the capacity of the derailleur is 11-42. With SRAM you have the option of using an XD driver on the hub to widen your options slightly and a Gaburuk 9-46 cassette, paired to a 32 tooth chainring and Rival 1 derailleur will give you a quite wide range 1x11 speed set up. I'm currently running a stock SRAM 10-42 cassette paired to a 32 tooth Raceface chainring. The shifting is taken care of by Rival one hydraulic shifters and derailleur.

Now for the good news, there are ways to create a mullet drive train of road shifters and MTB derailleur if your prepared to fiddle and have deep pockets.

https://bikepacking.com/gear/guide-to-mullet-drivetrains/

Last point, SRAM use exact actuation to shift their MTB derailleurs, which is too much for the Road shifters to deal with. It turns out the cable fin on Rival one derailleurs are removable. The fins from SRAM GX Eagle MTB and above derailleurs are also removable. You just need to remove them and swap them over and voila your MTB derailleurs play nicely with road shifters. Sadly SRAM don't sell these cheap little bits of plastic separately, so you need two very expensive derailleurs to perform this trick.

 

[Blue Hills]

why?
and I thought you mainly rode inside?

edit - just seen the last bit of your post - question still stands anyway.
(and have you considered rearranging your sock drawer)

 

[fair weather cyclist]

As @T4tomo says, with both SRAM and Shimano, road and MTB don't play nicely. This is one of the big problems with 1x on gravel bikes and limits the overall gear range available. With Shimano the best option is the GRX series, where the capacity of the derailleur is 11-42. With SRAM you have the option of using an XD driver on the hub to widen your options slightly and a Gaburuk 9-46 cassette, paired to a 32 tooth chainring and Rival 1 derailleur will give you a quite wide range 1x11 speed set up. I'm currently running a stock SRAM 10-42 cassette paired to a 32 tooth Raceface chainring. The shifting is taken care of by Rival one hydraulic shifters and derailleur.

Now for the good news, there are ways to create a mullet drive train of road shifters and MTB derailleur if your prepared to fiddle and have deep pockets.

https://bikepacking.com/gear/guide-to-mullet-drivetrains/

Last point, SRAM use exact actuation to shift their MTB derailleurs, which is too much for the Road shifters to deal with. It turns out the cable fin on Rival one derailleurs are removable. The fins from SRAM GX Eagle MTB and above derailleurs are also removable. You just need to remove them and swap them over and voila your MTB derailleurs play nicely with road shifters. Sadly SRAM don't sell these cheap little bits of plastic separately, so you need two very expensive derailleurs to perform this trick.

OK thanks for the explanation and the link.

So the choice would be between a mullet groupset or a grx.

Both will probably be expensive: mullet groupset would be more fun and you'd have something kind of "unique" but would also be more challenging to set up. Grx would be a safer bet a more straightforward option but maybe a slightly bit less fun.

Interesting conundrum

 

[fair weather cyclist]

and I thought you mainly rode inside?

I ride indoors from beginning of October to end of February.
I ride both indoors and outdoors from beginning of March to end of September

 

[fair weather cyclist]

Now that I've seen how much a full grx groupset costs, I'm starting to consider a third option: selling my current gravel bike with 2x9 setup and buy a new one that already has a 1x11

 

[chriswoody]

Now that I've seen how much a full grx groupset costs, I'm starting to consider a third option: selling my current gravel bike with 2x9 setup and buy a new one that already has a 1x11

Could well be the best solution in fairness.

In order to make the switch, you would be looking at new shifters, new derailleur, cassette, chain and a crankset as well as a new set of wheels, or rebuild your current wheel with an 11 speed hub. So all in, quite an expensive exercise really.

Adding to my post above as well, I've been looking at this in some detail because I'm finding my current 10 - 42 too narrow for my current needs. With both Shimano and SRAM, maxing out at 42 tooth capacity (Officially), even new bikes fitted with 1x are going to be a bit limited in there gear range. For some folk though, it may well be enough.

One option I'm looking at is to go down the route of buying a secondhand Eagle GX derailleur and swapping the fin as outlined above. Another route is to buy a conversion kit from Ratio Technology and convert my existing shifters to 12 speed and a 10 - 50 cassette. Ratio parts sell a good range of parts for SRAM road shifters in order to help them play nicely with SRAM Eagle MTB Derailleurs, it's just a shame SRAM stuff is on the pricey side.

 

[T4tomo]

Now that I've seen how much a full grx groupset costs, I'm starting to consider a third option: selling my current gravel bike with 2x9 setup and buy a new one that already has a 1x11

option 4: go 1x10, mix road and mtb shimano, way cheaper, indexing is less sensitive and will you really notice that extra 2 tooth jump in the mid cassette range? (answer is no!) You also (with 10 spd) have the option of indexed bar end shifter so can keep your Sora levers in place & just cable up the brakes and that way its dead easy to put back to 2x9 if you so desire.

 

[Elybazza61]

Road and MTB derailleurs / shifters don't mix at 11 speed. 10 & below speed is fine

Not current Tiagra 10 speed though.

 

[T4tomo]

Not current Tiagra 10 speed though.

no that's not "proper" 10 speed. 4600 Tiagra is fine, 4700 for some stupid reason has the 11 speed shifter pull ratio.

 

[Dogtrousers]

For people who may be tempted to ask the question, no, there's nothing wrong with my current 2x9 sora setup. As I said, I've got time and money to spend so don't try to change to my mind.

Good luck with that.

 

[figbat]

I have successfully mixed Tiagra 4600 shifters with MTB derailleurs of both 9- and 10-speed varieties. One thing about 4600 is that the shift cable is side-exit - I’d like to have a hidden shift cable, which 105 10-speed (5700) will do but not gone there yet.