Gravel cassette and Ratio Technology

[DoctorWeir]

Greetings,

I ran into a plethora of issues during my new gravel build. In short I'm running the following components:
Yoeleo G2 Frameset
Force 1 Shifters and brakes
Force 1 one rear derailleur with Garbaruk Pulley and Cage
Sram Red crankset with Alugear chainring 42t
Wipperman Connex 11s chain
Zipp 303s XDR
Garbaruk 10-46 XD cassette

My first issue is with the driver of the cassette. XDR calls for 1.85mm spacer, which fitted and torqued to 40nm would result in chain rubbing the frame in the largest cog. I have it installed without and there is some noticable wobble, but this way the cassette fits and doesn't touch the spokes nor the frame. I haven't rulled out cross threading yet, it's likely that could very well be the cause. Secondly, I have been having an absolutely horrid time trying to get the damn thing to shift properly. 3 new cables pulled through, housings all new, chain will skip between second to largest and largest cog, and skip under load when in lowest cog. The gravel race season has already started, and I'm starting to run thin patience on this project.

My thought process is as follows:
1. get an XDR specific cassette (Sram XPLR Rival or Force are the only available ones to my knowledge)
2. get 12 speed upgrade ratchet from Ratiotechnology
3. get 12 speed chain (Flattop?) Sram claims XPLR cassettes only work with flattop chains. I know the chainring is compatible and the Garbaruk pulleys are the same as on AXS upgrade kits. In theory this should work?
4. Throw everything in the garbage bin

I've though about many alternatives, including running an XTR cassette and chain, but no one makes Microspline freehub gravel wheelsets. I don't wish to tempt luck with XD driver again, as the frame already took a nice scratch on the dropout so I'm rulling out Garbaruk and Eagle cassettes. I know this is a cluster of information but I sincerely hope, someone can point me in the right direction. I feel that XPLR would be the cheapest, simplest solution and retain the current gear range without the need to alter my freehub standard and or wheelset. Total cost of this is something shy of 300€. Much less if I can sucessfully refund the garbaruk cassette, which even though looks and feels like a work of art, I simply can not continue using.

Included is a picture of the bike, I think it looks dope, especially considering the cost/weight. So problems asside, I'm genuinely happy with how it came out, and hope I can find closure for this build in the next few weeks.

[img][https://imgur.com/a/PsdH8BW]

[PoorCyclist]

Can you measure the freehub and then measure the cassette and make sure it is in spec.

May be the chain go for sram on and sram cassette

Maybe go back to simpler stuff. Shimano hub and sun race 11-46. You don't need 10t for gravel rides imo.

I installed sroad cassette XD on Boyd XDR hub used the 1.85 spacer it worked perfectly. Red 11 shifter, rival 1 type 3, red 22 chain. Needed every link of that chain tho.

[warthog101]

2x would be alot better imo
Running grx with 48/32 and 36-11 or 34-11.
It's great, and usable on the road with road wheels too.

[CampagYOLO]

Interesting, I installed a e*thirteen 9-39 cassette on my gravel bike with an XDR freehub and used the spacer. No issues so far and it's a nice combo with a 36t chainring.

Also got it shifting great with an Ultegra RX rear mech which I was pleased about.

I'm with Poor Cyclist though, 42/10 is a pretty big gear for gravel. How about a regular 10-42 SRAM cassette and match it with a smaller chainring? Either a 38 or 40 tooth one. That'd be a cheaper way of doing things.

[DoctorWeir]

Can you measure the freehub and then measure the cassette and make sure it is in spec.

May be the chain go for sram on and sram cassette

Maybe go back to simpler stuff. Shimano hub and sun race 11-46. You don't need 10t for gravel rides imo.

I installed sroad cassette XD on Boyd XDR hub used the 1.85 spacer it worked perfectly. Red 11 shifter, rival 1 type 3, red 22 chain. Needed every link of that chain tho.

I agree, I should measure it asap, could also try mounting my 12s MTB XD cassette over to this wheelset just to see if it fits.

To touch on the 10 tooth: My old gravel bike ran 39t ultegra chainring with 11-42 MTB sunrace in the back with Sram Apex RD and KNC chain. By far the quietest configuration I've ever ran. A weird combination, but it was the components I had lying around at the time. With the new bike, weighing 2kg less than the old one, more aero, stronger legs, you'd be surprised by how fast that bike moves on tarmac. And 42x10 has been a perfect gear for the few times the chain actually stayed in it so I don't feel like going back to an 11 tooth smallest cog.

To expand on this thought process, I purchased a Canyon Exceed Hardtail last summer and immediately replaced the stock NX 11-50 cassette with ZTTO 9-50 chinese masterpiece. 120€ and less than 400g. It's been absolutely fantastic and if I was to continue with XD cassette on this gravel bike, that would likely be the one I would buy again for its range and price/weight performance.

[DoctorWeir]

2x would be alot better imo
Running grx with 48/32 and 36-11 or 34-11.
It's great, and usable on the road with road wheels too.

After some 3 years of Ultegra r6800 on my road bike, I've come to absolutely hate the idea of a Front Derailleur. Constantly rubbing, hard to pull, dropped chains ect. I wholeheartedly agree that there are many advantagesy chainline and gear range being the leading reasons one would pick up a 2x, and GRX is actually priced quite reasonably well. If I went with GRX I'd have to choose Di2 and look for an expanded cassette, or just take the king of gravel for 1x range atm: Campagnolo Ekar

[DoctorWeir]

Interesting, I installed a e*thirteen 9-39 cassette on my gravel bike with an XDR freehub and used the spacer. No issues so far and it's a nice combo with a 36t chainring.

Also got it shifting great with an Ultegra RX rear mech which I was pleased about.

I'm with Poor Cyclist though, 42/10 is a pretty big gear for gravel. How about a regular 10-42 SRAM cassette and match it with a smaller chainring? Either a 38 or 40 tooth one. That'd be a cheaper way of doing things.

Interesting combination. Alternative to Ekar! 10-42 from Sram was the first option, but I wanted extra range due to several gravel events this year requiring 2.000+ meters of climbing and still having many fast segments where you quickly spin out. And since weight was a goal in the beginning the sram cassettes in question were also XD only, but 100 or so € more expensive than the Garbaruk offering.

[warthog101]

2x would be alot better imo
Running grx with 48/32 and 36-11 or 34-11.
It's great, and usable on the road with road wheels too.

After some 3 years of Ultegra r6800 on my road bike, I've come to absolutely hate the idea of a Front Derailleur. Constantly rubbing, hard to pull, dropped chains ect. I wholeheartedly agree that there are many advantagesy chainline and gear range being the leading reasons one would pick up a 2x, and GRX is actually priced quite reasonably well. If I went with GRX I'd have to choose Di2 and look for an expanded cassette, or just take the king of gravel for 1x range atm: Campagnolo Ekar

I have 6800 on my S5.
It has over 30k km on it.
None of those issues you specify.
Mine is adjusted correctly and works reliably and smoothly

[DoctorWeir]

2x would be alot better imo
Running grx with 48/32 and 36-11 or 34-11.
It's great, and usable on the road with road wheels too.

After some 3 years of Ultegra r6800 on my road bike, I've come to absolutely hate the idea of a Front Derailleur. Constantly rubbing, hard to pull, dropped chains ect. I wholeheartedly agree that there are many advantagesy chainline and gear range being the leading reasons one would pick up a 2x, and GRX is actually priced quite reasonably well. If I went with GRX I'd have to choose Di2 and look for an expanded cassette, or just take the king of gravel for 1x range atm: Campagnolo Ekar

I have 6800 on my S5.
It has over 30k km on it.
None of those issues you specify.
Mine is adjusted correctly and works reliably and smoothly

Can't say I had the same luck. Also around 30-35k km on mine. Levers ate the cable in half twice already, front derailleur has never been reliable for me. More dropped chains with it then with my old gravel bike, and that thing was running a crash bent Ultegra crank that LBS said had to be replaced and was unrideable.. I'd only go back to a FD with electronic groupset. Maybe on a future road bike..

[PoorCyclist]

I used this to check my stuff.
Maybe just the Garbaruk stuff out of tolerance.
When everything fits, you really should use the spacer because without it, the chain angle in the largest cog is too much. When I bought my bike they forgot the spacer and I had all kinds of noise and back pedal drops.

[takolino]

@doctoewir, there’s no reason why this setup shouldn’t work unless there’s an incompatibility with perhaps the frame. When you have it installed and adjusted with the spacer, does it shift accurately except for the chain rub? I’ll bet the skipping is due to the wobble caused by not having the spacer. I would check with Yoeleo first about the chain rub. Some frames are not compatible with smaller than 11t because it puts the chain too close to the chainstays so find this out first before you spend more money. Good luck!


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[DoctorWeir]

@doctoewir, there’s no reason why this setup shouldn’t work unless there’s an incompatibility with perhaps the frame. When you have it installed and adjusted with the spacer, does it shift accurately except for the chain rub? I’ll bet the skipping is due to the wobble caused by not having the spacer. I would check with Yoeleo first about the chain rub. Some frames are not compatible with smaller than 11t because it puts the chain too close to the chainstays so find this out first before you spend more money. Good luck!


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Thank you for the response. Level headed thinking, I think the wobble is caused exactly by the lack of spacer. And If I recall correctly, It did in fact shift better when it was mounted. Albeit I still have a hard time understanding why it couldn't fit a 10 tooth 11 speed cassette, if it can fit a 9 tooth 13 speed cassette.. Thank you for the response. I've already reached out to both Yoeleo and Garbaruk. Will try mounting my 9-50 MTB cassette on here just to see if it could be cassette tolerance issue..

[manystyles]

I hate to say it, but just take it to a professional to get it built. Once it’s running well, race/ride it and maintain it yourself.

All the time, money and headache just isn’t worth it.


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[DoctorWeir]

Update. Installed my ZTTO 12s 9-50 cassette and there's a considerable difference from the frame rub I got with the Garbaruk cassette. With the 12s chain, there's probably a 1-2mm of space, this gives me hope that an eagle cassette or XDR XPLR should be possible to achieve without frame rub..

[DoctorWeir]

Update 2:

Tried a friends wheelset with Force 10-33 12s AXS cassette and the result was even worse. Chain is absolutely flush with the frame. At the moment the closest to ridable has been the 9-50 from ZTTO. I'll consider running it with xRatio eagle upgrade kit and hope it doesn't rub too much. I've contacted the frame manufacturer and will seek a solution. If not, I'll probably wetsand a millimeter or two from the dropout..

[img][https://imgur.com/a/scenP5H]