I currently have an 11-40 rear cassette with my Ultegra group set. I’m struggling with some climbs and would love to put on an 11-46. Has anyone tried 11-46 with a long cage derailleur and a Wolftooth Road link?
I haven't tried the Wolftooth Road Link but there are two potential issues I would consider. Your existing derailleur might not have the capacity to handle the extra chain. Shifting the smaller cogs might be affected by the increased pullet-to-cog distance.
I would look at a different derailleur, e.g. some MTB derailleurs can handle 50+ T cogs. Also when cogs get this big it might be easier to change a chainring.
I was thinking it might be easier to change the chain ring down to a 30, but I ride a trek checkpoint and the tolerances seem very tight to the frame, So I’m not sure how to figure out if that would work
A 30 tooth chainring with an 11 tooth cog would really suck on anything other than going uphill. You’d be spinning out on flat ground. Unless you have a 2x, but then I’m not sure how you’re going to get a 30t on a compact crank.
ljsmith wrote:A 30 tooth chainring with an 11 tooth cog would really suck on anything other than going uphill. You’d be spinning out on flat ground. Unless you have a 2x, but then I’m not sure how you’re going to get a 30t on a compact crank.
I have a Shimano ST-R785 Di2 setup with an 11-40 cassette, a 46/30 Sugino crank, and a Wolf Tooth road link. It works OK for me. The front shifting can be a bit wonky. By that I mean that shifting up to the 46 is not as smooth as I would like it but I'm not racing so it's acceptable. Most of the time I'm in the big ring unless climbing so I don't shift the front very often. The rear shifts very well, no complaints there. Basically it's an Ultegra long cage derailleur with a Wolf Tooth road link. Hope that helps.
jkauffman wrote:I currently have an 11-40 rear cassette with my Ultegra group set. I’m struggling with some climbs and would love to put on an 11-46. Has anyone tried 11-46 with a long cage derailleur and a Wolftooth Road link?
That 11-40 already pushes the specs from stock Ultegra. If you want to preserve the narrower splits between gears and shifter compatibility you can also consider a GRX crank and GRX front derailleur for the different chainring diameter.
I wanted to go mechanical, and we have 20% grades on every ride. I ended up going eThirteen 9/50 Helix on an XDR hub with a 38t Praxis crank with XTR long cage and Gevenalle shifters. Lightest option available for my carbon warbird.
stu wrote:If I had 20% grades I'd be looking for shoes with lugged soles. 🙂
20% instantaneous grades are not uncommon here either.... it sucks when you look at a Strava segment and it says 9%.... what it doesn't day is that it is 5, 8, 13, 12, 6, 21, 15, 19, 9, 17, 4 within 250 yds. Life in the gravel.
You are looking for riders that have tried it, and I haven't, but for what it's worth I would at least guess from the behaviour of my setup (46/32x11-40) that it's too far over-capacity. If you have a 46/30, then the total would be 16+35=51T. For a derailleur with capacity of 39T this would 12T over and the chain would be very slack on the smaller half of the cassette when in the small ring.
If you decide to try, it would not imagine that it's a risk for the derailleur, as you'd size the chain for the large-large combination. More experienced home mechanics can perhaps confirm this. It will be interesting to hear your experience if you do try.
I thought I'd add something to the discussion. Last year a forum member advised that the RD-RX400 (marketed with 10s setups) has the same cable pull as 11s 105 and Ultegra shifters. This proves true, and I've been using it with a Roadlink DM for about 3000km so far. This setup was cheap and it shifts reasonably well. The RX400 derailleur adds 2T to both capacity and max chainring (increasing them to 41T and 36T respectively). It could help you get marginally lower gearing (eg 30x42) but I still don't imagine a full +10T associated with your 30T chainring and an 11-46 cassette will be feasible...
@jkauffman I commented above on what I *have* gotten to work.... and that with Di2... this is a pic of GRX 46/30 with 11-51. This drivetrain operates flawlessly. You never stated what your front gearing is. Need to know that before moving forward.
My wife had mechanical Ultegra on her bike (6800 series) and I had to change out the RD for a GRX to use a Roadlink to go over 11-40 with 46/30. It works perfectly well with 11-42, but I have not tried to run a 11-46 or larger with her setup.
A couple comments:
First, Shimano is EXTREMELY conservative with their capacities... the FD in that photo is rated at 10t and shifts 16t like butter. So we can't necessarily look at their numbers and know anything. Each bike/drivetrain is a custom setup and you really just have to try the right things and it will either work or it wont.
Based on my experience with hacking drivetrains, I would say this might work.... but at a minimum you will need:
GRX RD-RX810 rear derailleur (it has the longest cage)
larger pulleys (I would guess a 16t bottom (you may have to cut the tab off at the bottom of the cage to get this to fit) and possibly a 12 or 13t top *IF* they will clear the RD body.
The long cage and larger pulleys are needed to take up the chain droop caused by the longer chain needed to make big/big work and not break your chain.
Like I said..... no guarantees. Use an old chain and some quicklinks to mock up your chain length. Big/big sets that, but the B-screw adjustment to clear the 46 will affect it as well..... this is a bit of a dance, hence the old chain. Once you can clear the 46 *and* have enough slack (*just*) to shift into it in the big ring, the rest is figuring how to mitigate all that extra chain in the small/small.
Should you decide to wade into this and have question, you can DM me... but again. I make no guarantees that it will work in the end. All you can do is begin the journey to see where it ends.
My bike came with an Ultegra 50/34 crankset(pre-GRX)and I wanted lower gearing but didn't want to replace the whole crankset and bottom bracket. I ended up with the Absolute Black 46/30 chainring set. Been very happy with it. 46/30 front, 11-34 rear, Ultegra 8000 derailleurs front and rear.
If the OP has a 50/34 then a change of chainrings would likely make more sense than going beyond an 11-40.
@Angstrom for your interest, an 11-40 might still be attractive, though you are strong enough for the 34. I changed to an 11-40 to get even lower gearing, as I needed this myself, but there has been a surprise benefit of greatly reduced front shifting.
I'm probably needing the small chainring one-third as much as I did with the 11-34... I notice the larger gaps on the flats but even if I was strong enough to cope with the 34 on steep climbs, I'd still prefer the 11-40 to reduce the need for the small chainring on rolling terrain.
@jkauffman I commented above on what I *have* gotten to work.... and that with Di2... this is a pic of GRX 46/30 with 11-51. This drivetrain operates flawlessly. You never stated what your front gearing is. Need to know that before moving forward.
My wife had mechanical Ultegra on her bike (6800 series) and I had to change out the RD for a GRX to use a Roadlink to go over 11-40 with 46/30. It works perfectly well with 11-42, but I have not tried to run a 11-46 or larger with her setup.
A couple comments:
First, Shimano is EXTREMELY conservative with their capacities... the FD in that photo is rated at 10t and shifts 16t like butter. So we can't necessarily look at their numbers and know anything. Each bike/drivetrain is a custom setup and you really just have to try the right things and it will either work or it wont.
Based on my experience with hacking drivetrains, I would say this might work.... but at a minimum you will need:
GRX RD-RX810 rear derailleur (it has the longest cage)
larger pulleys (I would guess a 16t bottom (you may have to cut the tab off at the bottom of the cage to get this to fit) and possibly a 12 or 13t top *IF* they will clear the RD body.
The long cage and larger pulleys are needed to take up the chain droop caused by the longer chain needed to make big/big work and not break your chain.
Like I said..... no guarantees. Use an old chain and some quicklinks to mock up your chain length. Big/big sets that, but the B-screw adjustment to clear the 46 will affect it as well..... this is a bit of a dance, hence the old chain. Once you can clear the 46 *and* have enough slack (*just*) to shift into it in the big ring, the rest is figuring how to mitigate all that extra chain in the small/small.
Should you decide to wade into this and have question, you can DM me... but again. I make no guarantees that it will work in the end. All you can do is begin the journey to see where it ends.
Then @Angstrom has likely spotted your best solution. A 46/30 paired with an 11-40 is a great solution for me, and you get the same low ratio you were after. The AB chainrings sound like a good option or it might be that FSA offers a crankset that would replace what you have at reasonable cost.
