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    dura-ace 11 speed – easy way to easy gears?

    hey gear-tinkering folks, i moved to a hilly region and the 30t sprocket limit on r9150 is no fun. i already tried 32t, which works fine, but obviously, 34 would be nicer! also, 52/34 chainrings work, but you can feel the front derailleur does not like it. 😉 (i do not want to downsize the big ring for the occasional fast days.)
    now i think there are two viable options:
    1. get a Ultegra GS RD (€250-300): should solve any problems, more expensive.
    2. get just the GS pulley cage (€50 or less): should solve the chain length problem and i can turn the B-screw to clear even 36t, but shifting might be shit at the hard end of the cassette (Afaik, Ultegra GS and SS differ in the parallelogram geometry and not just in the pulley length).

    Pictured is my gravel rear wheel with the largest gears being 28-32-36t. (large-large on the 28t; then chain all the way to the left; then chain all the way to the right; b-screw at the same spot in all three.)

    can you recommend one of my remedies or suggest any other ideas? (Besides a good training plan, i am onto that 😅) thanks a lot!

    by 97080

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    11 Comments

    1. crotchpolice on

      I feel like 1 tooth isn’t going to make a huge difference in your riding. That said, you likely need a longer RD cage

    2. Bike_and_coffee on

      Same here. I bought after market cage from bike-discount, brand Moquai. It was 100€ at the time and its up to 34t. It worked without any problems, just mind that you might have problems getting rear wheel off. New RD for 34z was too expensive, Wolftooth extender was ugly and because I had Shimano Dura Ace crankset with Power meter, I was not able to get smaller chairings for easier gear.

    4. Easy-Passage-6701 on

      maybewolftooth goat link or whatever theyre called? puts the rd in a position further away to make room for the bigger sprockets on the cassette. maybe there are also just bigger pulley wheels from garbaruk (11-14 imstead of 11-11) that may help with chainlength accommodation?

    5. whitefacespy on

      Get a 105 gs rd, cheaper than ultegra and essentially the same. it will work fine with your shifters and will let you go up to 34t on the back

    6. whitefacespy on

      Also, this is the perfect opportunity for n+1 . . . Gotta have a climbing bike!

    7. metdr0id on

      I’m not sure what the difference is between Dura Ace and Ultegra RDs, but my r8000 works perfectly with a SRAM 11-36. No hanger extension needed. Just had to add a bit of b-tension.

      Also went with 52-34 chainrings. I really just wanted to try it, thinking it would not work at all. Turns out it works well enough that I kept it. Shifting down has never dropped a chain, but shifting up needs a lighter push on the lever to give it an extra second to shift otherwise it sounds crunchy.

      I can climb walls with that bike now, even when I’m tired. Highly recommend.

    9. Johnny12679 on

      You thought this through pretty well.

      best option is indeed an ultegra GS derailleur, but Yes that’s pricey.

      Personally I’d put the ultegra GS cage on the Dura-Ace derailleur. The B tension should be able to handle it and it gives the derailleur enough capacity.

      Yes, shifting in the 2 of 3 lowest gears will be compromised but it should still be acceptable.

      Or you could get a wolftooth roadlink. But that’s still a compromise.

    11. Wineandbikes on

      I am running an 11-34 cassette on Dura ace 9100 (also with a 52/34 chainset).

      It works. Chain length would be an issue if the Di2 allowed a 34/11 selection (but it doesn’t allow access to the two smallest sprockets from the small chainring).

      You will need to tinker with the b-screw position to get it to shift cleanly.

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