Shimano Ultegra 10-speed to 11-speed conversion

DubaiNeil

Hi All,

Pondering upgrading one of my bikes from Ultegra 10 speed to 11 speed, and am unsure what requires replacement.

The most obvious one is the shifters & cassette, other than that I am unclear!

The rear derailleur just moves where the shifter tells it to, so does this need replacement? I have both the SS & GS versions available. The only issue I can see is the chains internal width & the jockey wheels. If necessary I could swap the jockey wheels for 11 speed versions...

The front derailleur is even simpler than the rear, so not sure if this needs changing.

Crankset - happy with the current compact, so the only issue would be the width of the chainring teeth in relation to the chain.

Chain - happy to buy a new one

Brakes - can see no reason to change

Bottom bracket - as above

One of the reasons to change, is it will allow me (as I understand it) to then share wheels between my 11-speed Campag equipped bike and my newly-upgraded 11-speed Shimano bike

Replacing only the shifters, cassette and chain would save over £200 - compared with the full groupset...

I did a search, but saw nothing immediately relevant - happy to be referred to any website/blog/google search as appropriate

Thanks

Neil

Bozman

Shifters, FD, RD, Cassette and chain. That'll set you back just under £250.

DubaiNeil

Thanks Bozman - I'm still unsure as to "why" for the FD (and possibly RD). I have more time now, so will be Googling for answers, which I will post back for reference...

Bozman

The FD is a completely new design, I'm unsure about the RD compatibility but for the price of the gear kit for Merlin you might as well buy new.
I use a ten speed chainset and calipers with 11 speed so I know that there's no issue there, if you shop around for a cassette and 11 speed KMC a chain you'll pick them up pretty cheep.

arlowood

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19733952#p19733952]DubaiNeil[/url] wrote:

Thanks Bozman - I'm still unsure as to "why" for the FD (and possibly RD). I have more time now, so will be Googling for answers, which I will post back for reference...

It's down to cable pull differences. The 11-speed FD is a new design with a longer actuator arm so I'm presuming the cable pull required for shifting is shorter.

See these pics

FD6800



FD6700


That means your 10-speed FD would not work optimally. It may still work but my guess is you would struggle to get the set up running sweetly.




I'm less certain about the RD situation so you may be able to get your 10-speed RD to work.


From my experience with 105, the improved shifting of the 11-speed 105 FD5800 over the previous 10-speed FD5700 was worth the investment in 11-speed alone.

So my advice would be to bite the bullet and upgrade shifters, FD, RD and cassette. If you're not fussed about hybrid set-ups then you could save a bit and buy the 5800 FD and RD. From what I've read they work as well as the Ultegra units but may weigh a few grams more.

DubaiNeil

Thanks all for the time taken to respond. Based on the insane shipping costs I will face if I need to add something small later, I may as well go with the shifters, RD, FD, cassette and chain to ensure I have a "known" working solution...

Anyone want a relatively large quantity of various 10 speed 105/Ultegra cassettes? All barely used... The wifes bike may get a "free" upgrade to 10 speed Ultegra to replace her 105 stuff...

k-dog

Have you mentioned rear wheel? The freehub needs to be slightly wider for the wider cassette.

I'm just rebuilding a wheel that had a broken spoke and a slightly grinchy freehub - not much more to replace the whole hub so next year I can keep the wheels and just do what you're doing.

DubaiNeil

I have one set of 11 speed compatible Shimano wheels already & 11-speed Campag wheels. Just need to replace a Shimano RS80 back wheel with an RS81 - which will be done later...

Anonymous

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19733965#p19733965]arlowood[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19733952#p19733952]DubaiNeil[/url] wrote:

Thanks Bozman - I'm still unsure as to "why" for the FD (and possibly RD). I have more time now, so will be Googling for answers, which I will post back for reference...

It's down to cable pull differences. The 11-speed FD is a new design with a longer actuator arm so I'm presuming the cable pull required for shifting is shorter.

See these pics

FD6800



FD6700


That means your 10-speed FD would not work optimally. It may still work but my guess is you would struggle to get the set up running sweetly.




I'm less certain about the RD situation so you may be able to get your 10-speed RD to work.


From my experience with 105, the improved shifting of the 11-speed 105 FD5800 over the previous 10-speed FD5700 was worth the investment in 11-speed alone.

So my advice would be to bite the bullet and upgrade shifters, FD, RD and cassette. If you're not fussed about hybrid set-ups then you could save a bit and buy the 5800 FD and RD. From what I've read they work as well as the Ultegra units but may weigh a few grams more.

The pull of the front derailleur is set by the limit screws. So you can set it regardless on the speed of the rest of the groupset. It's only pulling once with one push and resetting with the other lever. Its just a spring under tension. I could see issues with a triple but not a double. One pull and you set that as far as you like. The only issue would to be with chain guage but that is so tiny that its hardly going to make a difference.