Re-Building my MTB

Dog Breath

I'm going nuts trying to find a front mech for my re-build. Have things really changed that much in the last 6 years. I have gone for a Shimano SLX ( 2 x 11) build, but the mech has to be Top Swing (Low Clamp) and Top Pull. I have bought (and returned) various mechs from SLX, XT and XTR which all advertise as being Dual Pull, but when I receive them my hopes are dashed when they are clearly only bottom pull. It seems that it is only the high clamp varieties that are Dual Pull.

But a high clamp will not fit as the swing arm is in the way.

The clamp also has to be the Band-On type. No fancy D or E types.

Does anyone know of any mech I can use. Or can I use a D/E with an adaptor ?

Any help would be much appreciated as my rebuild project has stalled.

Cheers
Dog Breath.

The Rookie

I'm assuming you know the dual pull only have one retaining bolt hole and the cable wraps round a cam? Quite a lot of people get confused by this but the shimano tech docs show you how. Nearly all AM parts are 34.9 and dual pull so with the shims can fit pretty much any bike, its only OE that are size/pull specific.

Bottom image.

I have a top swing XT at home in 34.9 flavour (so can be shimmed to 31.8 or 28.6 fairly easily), really tidy condition and I'm pretty sure it was off a top pull frame, will have a look later when I'm home.

Dog Breath

Thanks Rookie for your reply. My seat tube is 34.9mm so doesn't need the shims. But the mechs I've tried at the moment all have a downward movement to actuate the cage. If they were dual pull, I would expect to see a cable routing/groove around the cam, but these haven't. If I tried routing the cable that way, then I'm sure the cable would slip into the spring on the cam as there would be nothing to hold it in place.

The Rookie

There should be a formed cam with a small lug to stop the cable slipping off, have you got a photo of it?

Dog Breath

Here's a couple of pictures of the cam. The action is a downward pull so the cam rotates clockwise which is fine if the gear cable is routed under the bottom bracket. But there is no cable guide to route the cable from the top and anticlockwise around the cam.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/89lx2vtcmwfwqk4/IMG_20171027_141131675.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ga506efvso5svo/IMG_20171027_141204656.jpg?dl=0

cooldad

Your pictures don't work.

Dog Breath

Hmm. They worked on preview and I can see them above. Let me look into it....

Dog Breath

OK just changed the target pictures to direct links (above)

The Rookie

No, that's certainly not a dual pull!

If you delete everything after the .jpg they will probably show ok.

ChrisMex

You can always go x1 and do away with the front mech.
I was in the same boat, been away from MTBs for 10 years and have an 8 year old SWorks HT hardly used. Every bike shop I visited advised I needed a new bike as mine was dated and 26” wheels and 9mm QR are dead... I tried a pair of 27.5 wheels which fitted great and used some converters from my road bike wheels to convert to QR and bought them, converted my x2 to a x1 using a different cassette, chain ring and longer B screw for the rear mech and the bike is awesome. The bike industry has changed with many different varieties however one thing I’ve learnt is don’t believe in what these bike shop salesman tell you.. if you have the knowledge and prepared to do some research there are ways around everything

CitizenLee

ChrisMex wrote:

You can always go x1 and do away with the front mech.
I was in the same boat, been away from MTBs for 10 years and have an 8 year old SWorks HT hardly used. Every bike shop I visited advised I needed a new bike as mine was dated and 26” wheels and 9mm QR are dead... I tried a pair of 27.5 wheels which fitted great and used some converters from my road bike wheels to convert to QR and bought them, converted my x2 to a x1 using a different cassette, chain ring and longer B screw for the rear mech and the bike is awesome. The bike industry has changed with many different varieties however one thing I’ve learnt is don’t believe in what these bike shop salesman tell you.. if you have the knowledge and prepared to do some research there are ways around everything

A good suggestion, however I think OP has probably got it sorted since October 2017 when the thread was last active