Ultegra 6700 rear derailleur w/ 6600 shifters?

queequeg

I'm building a commuter bike and have Ultegra 6600 shifters, front derailleur and crank. If I use a 6700 rear derailleur, is it going to reduce the drive train performance in any way compared to finding the matching 6600 rear derailleur?

Shimano puts a scary-sounding disclaimer on the 6700 spec that suggests you need to use other 6700 shifters and parts. Is that just marketing hype to get you to buy everything again, or is there anything to that? Should I try and find a 6600 RD just to be safe?

JohnnyAllez

Mechs will work fine with any shifters, the mech doesn`t "know" which shifter is operating it. I`ve been using a mix of various 6600 and 6700 and 5600 parts with absolutely no probs.

It`s only 6700 FRONT mech shifters that pull more cable than the older 6600 version, as the 6700 chainset has the chainrings set 1mm further apart. In practice, you can use older (narrower by 1mm) chainsets with no worries, just adjust the H and L screws correctly and you have 0.5mm extra at the top and bottom end of the stroke of the mech, which can be handy for trimming. Been using this method last year without any grief.