SRAM road cassette/XDR freehub on MTB setup

[Ivan]

Hi all,

I've tried searching but didn't find any definitive answer. I just bought a new full suspension MTB (Scott Spark RC Team Issue 2024) and it came with a full MTB shifting setup including SRAM GX eagle 1x12 and a 10-52 cassette. Living in Belgium, i don't need wide range so I thought of changing the rear freehub, they are DT Swiss wheels (actually Syncros Silverton but I've checked they are DT Swiss internals), so it's an easy job, and fitting an XDR freehub together with a 10-36 or 10-44 cassette. Is this possible? Will I encounter any problems? Thanks.

[fatpinarellorider]

I run road cassettes on all my bikes. I like closer-spaced cassettes.
But where I do they are 9 and 10 speed where things are a bit more compatible.
More important is rear derailleur cable pull ratio, which is different between road and mtb, meaning you can't interchange road/mtb derailleurs and shifters.

I don't see why it wouldn't work. The XDR freehub is 1.85mm longer, so you may need different endcaps perhaps?
I'd ask around on a few different forums just to be sure before investing money in a new road cassette.

[Dan88]

I have recently removed SRAM X0 Eagle from my Trek Procalibre, and replaced it with a SRAM Red cassette (10-32) SRAM Force AXS rear derailleur and AXS Shifter. Wheels have DT Swiss 350 Hubs.

All I needed to do was replace the XD freehub and endcap with an XDR freehub and endcap. Everything works perfectly fine so you shouldnt have any issues.

[prebsy]

the mechanical eagle RD might not shift great on the smaller cassette. If you are down to tinker a bit replacing the shifter, RD, chain and Cassette to 11s can unlock some pretty big weight savings. most of these parts are cheap used and you can leave your crank/ring as is.
XTR GS RD - 225g
Sram 1199/1195 10-42 - 265g

[Hexsense]

Sram MTB RD shift very well with small range cassette too.

MTB RD use horizontal parallelogram design with offset top pulley.
This is in contrast to slant parallelogram design with top pulley in-line with the cage rotation point on road RD.

Road RD design make it shift consistently with 2x front rings but its slant parallelogram assume a cassette size. So, while it is insensitive to chainring sizes, it is sensitive to cassette size.

MTB RD simply won't work consistently with more than one chainring (due to the offset pulley). But it doesn't really care the cassette size as long as it has enough capacity.

[Ivan]

So, I went ahead and bought a SRAM 10-36 cassette, installed it on my XD freehub. I read on several sites in internet that a SRAM road cassettes fits on a XD freehub, and indeed it does. This setup works without problems. I did adjust my rear derailleur with the SRAM app (I think it is called Microadjust), first aligning the top pulley with the cog in the setup cog but afterwards making small adjustments according to "feel" during test rides. Now after a couple of training rides I can confirm this setup works without any problems:
- Original setup was full SRAM GX eagle including 10-52 cassette, SRAM GX eagle cranks with single 34T chainring and flat top chain. Cassette changed to SRAM Rival XG-1250 10-36.

Thanks for all the advice.
Cheers

[eucalyptus]

So, I went ahead and bought a SRAM 10-36 cassette, installed it on my XD freehub. I read on several sites in internet that a SRAM road cassettes fits on a XD freehub, and indeed it does. This setup works without problems. I did adjust my rear derailleur with the SRAM app (I think it is called Microadjust), first aligning the top pulley with the cog in the setup cog but afterwards making small adjustments according to "feel" during test rides. Now after a couple of training rides I can confirm this setup works without any problems:
- Original setup was full SRAM GX eagle including 10-52 cassette, SRAM GX eagle cranks with single 34T chainring and flat top chain. Cassette changed to SRAM Rival XG-1250 10-36.

Thanks for all the advice.
Cheers

Could you share any of these websites stating this information?

I am sceptical of this statement.

[Dan88]

So, I went ahead and bought a SRAM 10-36 cassette, installed it on my XD freehub. I read on several sites in internet that a SRAM road cassettes fits on a XD freehub, and indeed it does. This setup works without problems. I did adjust my rear derailleur with the SRAM app (I think it is called Microadjust), first aligning the top pulley with the cog in the setup cog but afterwards making small adjustments according to "feel" during test rides. Now after a couple of training rides I can confirm this setup works without any problems:
- Original setup was full SRAM GX eagle including 10-52 cassette, SRAM GX eagle cranks with single 34T chainring and flat top chain. Cassette changed to SRAM Rival XG-1250 10-36.

Thanks for all the advice.
Cheers

Could you share any of these websites stating this information?

I am sceptical of this statement.

I'd be interested in this, as I replaced a HD free hub with HDR in order to fit a SRAM Red cassette to my hardtail.

Maybe I should have tried to fit the Red cassette to the XD free hub, before paying out for an XDR free hub

[Ivan]

Could you share any of these websites stating this information?

I am sceptical of this statement.

https://www.mountainbike.nl/forum/viewt ... p?t=149381
It's in Dutch -> Google translate

[whyamihere]

It might work on some setups but not universally. My anecdote: I've just changed my gravel bike from running an Eagle AXS rear mech/cassette to XPLR. The wheels have an XDR driver, and I was running the 1.85mm spacer to fit the Eagle cassette, making it the same as an XD body. I forgot to remove this spacer initially. The XPLR cassette went onto the wheel fine, but when the wheel was installed the cassette touched the dropout and prevented the wheel turning. On a different frame with more space around the dropout it's possible this would have worked, and I have plenty of adjustment room left on the limit screws so I can see how it could work. You have to get lucky though.