Ok to slowly transition to 11 speed?

Triathlon Forum
1

Is it ok to slowly switch to an 11 speed drivetrain, or will I run into compatibility issues?

I currently have an 11 speed wheel set (with spacers for my 10 speed group set now), and an 11 speed Ultegra 6800 compact crank. Everything else is 10 speed and has run great!

My old dura ace rear derailleur is looking pretty dead and it’s time for an upgrade. Can I go with an 11 speed rear derailleur and keep the cassette, chain, front derailleur and bar end shifters 10 speed? I don’t have the funds to make the full upgrade now but would love to slowly upgrade if that works.

2

Yes, I believe that should work. The RD doesn’t control how many gears it shifts through, just the upper and lower limits of its travel.

The shifters control how far the derailleur moves between shifts and how many shifts it can accomplish.

The one thing I don’t know is how well an 11 spd RD will work with a 10 spd chain.

3

Can I go with an 11 speed rear derailleur and keep the cassette, chain, front derailleur and bar end shifters 10 speed?

no

4

I dug around a bit more…it appears that the cable pull ratio is different between 10 and 11 speed. So it does not appear that you can use an 11 spd RD w/ a 10 speed system.

You could try the old trick of routing the cable to the outside of the fixing bolt…some have said it works, but it seems like a pretty big gamble.

http://sheldonbrown.com/images/dura-ace-cable-anchor.gif

Image from Sheldon Brown

5

So what are the least amount of upgrades I have to make? My front deralleur is new and I don’t want to replace, so is my cassette and chain. Would rear deralleur and bar end shifters (knowing I couldn’t shift all 11 gears) be enough for now?