[bbohr]

10 Speed XT Front Derailleur with 9 speed double crank?

Will it work? I need a new front derailleur for a build.
The rest of my system is 9 speed .
2x9 SLX crank up front.
Thanks!

 

[fcamaro24]

can you use a
slx 9 speed crank
Shimano XT RD-M780 Shadow Rear Derailleur SGS
Shimano XT SL-M780 Shift Levers
not sure what chain or what front derailleur

 

[SalakauEx-Convict]

Hey guys, i'm new to mountain biking and i just want to ask, can my Crank: Shimano Octalink alloy(44x32x22T), BB: Shimano BB ; be converted into a single speed crank? Thnx

 

[trekfueler]

Hey guys, I DID search, couldn't find answer: Where can I find a 26t granny to replace the 24t that came on 10x3 XT Dyna-Sys? I read elsewhere that I can use a 9-spd 26t granny, but shims are needed for chainline??? Doesn't anyone make a Dyna-Sys 3x10 specific 26t granny? Thanks, and sorry if the answer is indeed buried in here somewhere!

 

[Too_Fast_46]

Sharing My Experience

I recently replaced my old crankset leaving me with the following setup:

Front
- Shimano SLX M660-10 Dynan-Sys 3x10 crankset
- Sram X.9 3x9 shifter
- Shimano Deore 3x9 front derailleur

Rear
- Shimano 11-34 9spd cassette
- Sram X.9 9spd rear derailleur
- Sram X.9 9spd shifter

All paired with a Sram PC1031 10spd chain. I was worried about the front derailleur/shifter combo with the crankset, but I have to admit I am very impressed with the shifting- given I do only use the larger two rings (limiter blocking out the granny ring.) In addition, the 10spd chain works beautifully with the rear cassette.

On a side note: the spacing on the larger two rings is identical on the new crankset compared to my old Truvativ Five-D 3x9.

 

[Miker J]

Answer...

Will it work? I need a new front derailleur for a build.
The rest of my system is 9 speed .
2x9 SLX crank up front.
Thanks!

I'm in the same boat, and would like to know this one for sure as well.

 

[Ronnie]

Will it work? I need a new front derailleur for a build.
The rest of my system is 9 speed .
2x9 SLX crank up front.
Thanks!

I've built my Banshee Paradox (which needs a direct mount front derailleur) using a XT 10 speed M786. My crankset is a XT M770 set up with 22/32 and a bash-guard. It took a bit of adjusting but it works fine.

 

[thegoodword]

So if I read this monster long thread correctly, I can keep my 9speed XT M770 22x32x44 crank, front X9 shifter, and my direct mount M771 XT front derailure. This thread mostly talks about Dyna Sys 10 speed rear though. I have a Niner W.F.O. and I would like an extra granny gear at 22 small ring up front and 36 pie plate ring on the rear cassette. It seems like a SRAM 10speed rear derailure long cage has 47T capacity according to the Performancebike website. Is there any reason I could not keep the above listed 9 speed front and get a SRAM X9 10 speed long cage, X9 10 speed shifter, and a 10 speed cassette?
My other question is if it is worth it? Just how flawless is the poor man's 10 speed conversion? I have a bottom bracket that needs replacing on a first generation M952 XTR 9 sp. crank on my hardtail. Replacement rings for those M952 XTR cranks are getting elusive (if not impossible to find) and are still stupid expensive. Would I just be better off getting 10 speed cranks and running an actual 3 x 10 and then putting the XT crank set on as a replacement for the M952? Sure its more money, but eventually I am going to have to replace that M952 crank and I have to replace the bottom bracket now, so I may be spending the dough anyway. Your expert thoughts MTBR community?

 

[satanas]

Whether anything is worth doing is your call and, as always, YMMV...

My general impression is that "x speed cranks/chainrings" don't matter much - unless perhaps you have a triple and shift under heavy load a lot. If you're going to have a double and shift moderately carefully then just about any cranks and rings will work with 7/8/9/10 speed, with the proviso that if the lateral gap between the rings is too wide you might get slow shifting and/or "skating," however this is unlikely unless you have 5/6 speed spaced rings.

Re chainrings: IIRC there was at east one 110/74 spider available for the M95x cranks, which would allow the use of lots of rings from just about everyone. Alternately, maybe TA and/or Middleburn still do rings for the weirdo pattern, or else I'm getting confused with M960.

 

[4Crawler]

I can confirm that the SL-BS78s have both friction and index mode, at least on the rear shifter. Front is friction only. Picked up a used set off of eBay, just waiting on the RetroShift brake levers to mount them on. Oh and a handlebar to put the levers on and the rest of the bike to put the handlebar on

Did get the R/S brake levers today and the SL-BS78s fit on them perfectly, just had to order one extra thin washer to replace the fat one on the rear shifter.

To follow up on this, I finally got the frame and built up the bike around it. The shifters work just fine in index mode, with an HG-62 cassette (11-36) and XT-M770 Rapid Rise RD. Front is SLX M660 crank (20-32-44) and XTR-M971 FD (more or less friction mode):

- Monstercross Bicycle Build

Again this is a set of SL-BS79 bar end shifters on the RetroShift brake levers. The rear shifter is switchable between index and friction mode. The rear shifting is really crisp, just clicks from cog to cog, no hesitation or noise.

 

[darzsiklista]

Will it work? I need a new front derailleur for a build.
The rest of my system is 9 speed .
2x9 SLX crank up front.
Thanks!

it worked fine for me, though it takes a lot of tweaking to get the 10spd fd to work properly.
im running an xt-m771 fd on a 2x9 xt crank. hope this helps!

 

[SteveJfromtheSwitch]

please help, i'm desperate, 11 pages but i am over trawling through pages on the web so hopefully my question is a simple one to those in the know.

the bike, Surly cross check

shifters, new Dura ace 10 speed bar end
10 speed xt cassette
deore 10 speed shadow (dyna sys)

as you can guess, it's not shifter well at all.

how do i fix this?

change the cassette to a road variety?

change the derailleur? if so to what?

i want to keep my 10 speed dura ace bar end shifters

if it matters i'm running a new compact 105 crankset, front 105 DR and a 105 10 speed chain

any help is greatly appreciated.

cheers
Steve

 

[4Crawler]

Easiest fix would be to put in a 9sp. RD. I'm running an XT M770 RD (Rapid Rise) with 10-sp. bar ends and cassette and it works perfect. The DynaSys components have a different cable pull than the 9sp MTB or 10sp road components use.

 

[SteveJfromtheSwitch]

thanks for the reply, is there an issue using a shadow 9 speed rear mech? i've read that it doesn't work but i can't imagine why, 9 speed pull would be the same for both shadow and conventional wouldn't it?

 

[4Crawler]

Sorry, not familiar with that RD model, but maybe someone that has experience with it might chime in.

 

[ljsmith]

thanks for the reply, is there an issue using a shadow 9 speed rear mech? i've read that it doesn't work but i can't imagine why, 9 speed pull would be the same for both shadow and conventional wouldn't it?

The 9 speed shadow rear derailleur will work fine with road 10 speed shifters.

 

[SteveJfromtheSwitch]

i should update this, got a 9 speed shadow deore on my xt cassette running 10 speed retroshift/microshift levers, works great!

 

[turquoise]

I tried running a 10-speed xt crank (m770) on a 9-speed system. It shifts fine but the chain fails off almost all the time on descents. The chain length is correct so it's not a slack issue. To be clear, I'm running a 9 speed chain and I'd guess a 10 speed chain would fix that problem but I'm just sell it and get a 9 speed crank.

 

[Sirrah]

I am planning to use FD M985 front derailleur with 3 speed shifter and truvativ 3 speed crank with small chain ring removed. I only use bike for commuting and dirt road riding so small chain ring never gets used. I am not sure it will work but investment is small so just doing it for a bit of fun. At the moment I use the set screws to stop the small chain ring being used. If it works I may do my own mod on the shifter to turn it into a 2 spd

 

[BarryWind]

And... my bike shifts great with the SRAM 1070 chain, instead of the Shimano directional chain. And I'm breaking all the compatibility rules even more by running a KMC Missing Link instead of the SRAM PowerLock...