I bought the new XT wireless mid cage rear derailleur and plan to use it on my road bike to set it up 1x. Looking at cassette options I want to keep it to HG freehub so I don’t have to mess with wheels and the turbo. The only cassette that really has the ratios I want is the SRAM 11-44 Apex cassette. It has the range I am after but also has single tooth jumps in the first three sprockets (11-12-13). I am guessing this should work providing I use a flat top chain and pulley wheels that are not narrow wide as I have read the flat top chains don’t get on with these? I also read on forums the spacing between sprockets is slightly different between Shimano and SRAM AXS cassettes. Does anyone know if this is actually the case?
I have read a few times that it works the other way around - SRAM rear derailleur with Shimano cassette and chain. So the sprocket spacing must be the same?
It should be ok, or at least, close enough.
It’s Shimano’s 12-speed chain that doesn’t play nice with narrow-wide pulley wheels. In this scenario you should be OK with the stock Shimano pulley wheels, although I’d expect them to be a bit noisy given SRAM’s larger chain rollers.
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Sunrace do an 11-46 Cassette if that is any use to you.
https://sunrace.com/product/csrz800-waz/
No information though on the sprocket spacing.
I actually have one of the Sunrace cassettes on the bike, 11-42 one, which has almost identical spacing to the SRAM other than the last two sprockets. However the shifting on it is not the best. It won’t shift from the 42 to 36 and going up it skips from the 28 to 32. It’s a shame Shimano don’t offer an 11-40/42 option for GRX as I think that would bridge the gap between the 11-36 and the 10-45.
I was hoping you would come to the rescue Dave. I am first going to try an 11-39 Ztto cassette as that means I don’t have to change anything on the bike. If that’s a flop I will go the SRAM cassette route.
I am running a Sunrace 11-51T and the shifting is good. Probably not as smooth as a Shimano cassette but the only issue I have had with it is that wax gets clogged between the 11 and 13T sprockets when I rewax the chain. Chain and derailleur are both shimano.
Maybe the shifting performance is impacted by the tighter spacing?
@ Mark: Is 11-39 a typo?!? If not, do you have a link please?
Made by Ztto:
They also do an 11-40 and 11-42 but they don’t have the 12t sprocket, which I am not keen on. Seems to be shifting okay on the stand but I will give it a good test over the next two weeks whilst on holiday in France.
I don’t know where you are based but Prestacycle have just released an 11-40 cassette and that has a 12t sprocket. It’s not in stock yet but should be in a few weeks. It is quite pricey though.
