XTR on a Road Frame?

Bepster

Hi guys,

Not quite sure if this is the right forum. Should this be in the cyclecross forum? Please do move the threat in that case.

I have a question that might be a little out there. So please bare with me.

I got a bunch of Shimano XTR components such as a rear derailleur ( XTR RD-M950), brake leavers, rapid fire shifers and am looking to incorporate them into a road frame.
What I am thinking is to only have gear options in the back as I will mostly just use it to zip around town and to/from work.

What I still have to get are wheels, cassette, crankset.

It would be awesome if you guys had some advice as to what to look out for and what wheels, cassette and crank to get.
...or this is a stupid idea?

dj58

I assume you will be using a flat handle bar? What speed group is it 10/11, what type of BB shell does your bike have? Manc33 may be along soon to advise you soon.

Bepster

Thanks DJ for the reply.
The speed group is 8/9 and yes, I am planing to use a riser/flat bar.

In terms of the BB shell I am not quite sure and will have to check.
I would guess this is import when I have to decide what bottom bracket and crank set to buy?

It would be great to hear if this type of build is at all possible or makes sense. Especially because I was thinking of using more sturdy road wheels with this.

ugo.santalucia

I use some MTB components and yes, if you use flat bars, by all means use your MTB parts

dj58

If you are thinking about using a single front chainring, have a read though these guides, they refer to an MTB conversion to a single chainring, though the principle is the same.

You will need to decide on what number of teeth you want to use 34, 36, 38, 40, 42T and which ratios on the cassette you require.

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/artic ... ain-37451/

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/w ... ing-29342/

ravey1981

I used a mixture of road and mtb parts to build a 9 speed cyclocross bike. Shimano parts below 10 speed work fine together regardless of whether they are road or mtb based. A Mtb crank will give you a wider choice of front rings although you may not need the low chainring if just doing town riding. Road based single rings are available in 42 tooth where as mtb generally only go up to 38.

Wheels: Any that take an 8/9/10 speed cassette will work fine. If for a road frame then you need road hubs (on the rear) with 130mm spacing. On a cx based frame you need 135mm (same as mtb qr hubs)

Cassette: You can definitely use up to a 32t low gear, possibly lower depending on the exact rear mech you use (modern mtb stuff will take 36t)

my build:
viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=13026134

imatfaal

You can mix - but once you get out of the norm you gotta be really careful with measuring and double checking everything is compatible.

Just as an example ravey1981 shows his frankly beautiful looking build above and mentions that CX bikes like his have 135mm rear hubs because they use MTB qr hubs. My CX is just three years old and uses canti.s rather than discs - so it uses 130mm rear hubs; thus I would say the difference isn't between CX vs Road - it's Disc Brake vs Rim Brake (and I will be honest I am not really sure what the truth of the matter is). Not having a dig ravey :-) and it really is a cracking looking bike

As the vast majority of CX now come with discs then maybe it is a moot point - but it would really be annoying if you got on the wrong end of a bad assumption. What I am trying to get at is that if you go vanilla and boring then everything tends to match and work - but when you start picking and mixing you need to really pay attention. However there is a lot to be gained by it - and you get a one-off bike which is always sweet

imatfaal

Here is my CX (in commuter mode) - it has Shimano CX Brakes and Chainset, standard ultegra shifters and mechs, 105 cassette, XTR pedals, and dura-ace hubs; so a bit of everything that Shimano produces.

IMG_20150425_160305 by Imatfaal, on Flickr

gaffer_slow

nice orange paint job

ravey1981

imatfaal wrote:

You can mix - but once you get out of the norm you gotta be really careful with measuring and double checking everything is compatible.

Just as an example ravey1981 shows his frankly beautiful looking build above and mentions that CX bikes like his have 135mm rear hubs because they use MTB qr hubs. My CX is just three years old and uses canti.s rather than discs - so it uses 130mm rear hubs; thus I would say the difference isn't between CX vs Road - it's Disc Brake vs Rim Brake (and I will be honest I am not really sure what the truth of the matter is). Not having a dig ravey :-) and it really is a cracking looking bike

As the vast majority of CX now come with discs then maybe it is a moot point - but it would really be annoying if you got on the wrong end of a bad assumption. What I am trying to get at is that if you go vanilla and boring then everything tends to match and work - but when you start picking and mixing you need to really pay attention. However there is a lot to be gained by it - and you get a one-off bike which is always sweet

You are correct. It is indeed important to consider in detail each component. Just the mention of the word cyclocross got me thinking down the disc brake line and I completely forgot to mention that non disc hubs are different.

Bepster

Thanks guys for all the great responses!
I'll post some picks when I am done with the build.

Bepster

hey guys,

So there is some development!
I am wondering if a Shimano XTR M951 groupe would fit on a LOOK KG381 Team frame?

Some insight would be super helpful!
Thanks a lot!

ugo.santalucia

Bepster wrote:

hey guys,

So there is some development!
I am wondering if a Shimano XTR M951 groupe would fit on a LOOK KG381 Team frame?

Some insight would be super helpful!
Thanks a lot!

Are you going to use XTR shifters too?