I will be going on a tour across Sweden next month, and part of my prep has been a search for easier climbing gear to my humble Claris groupset that stops at 1:1 ratio.
New Acera rear derailleur and its accompanying 11-40 cassette is like a godsent! These 8/9 speed mtb cassettes are 100% compatible with road shifters in their respective speeds. There's no trickery involved, and the parts are dirt cheap and readily available too. If you're riding on a Claris groupset and don't feel the need to "upgrade" to more speeds outside of wanting an easier climbing gear, consider this setup.
by Tiemuuu
1 Comment
I bought one of these. They are kind of a scam. Shimano says they support a larger cassette, but on close examination the cage design is actually identical to the 34t max cog mega 9s, and all they did was rebrand it and include a slightly longer B screw. I did a back to back comparison and a Deore with a RoadLink shifts **much** better out of spec with an 11-40 compared to this supposedly in spec one, and has less shitty construction.