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I'd like to get the Shimano Deore 610 Groupset 3x10 but want to run drop handlebars with brifters (brakes & shifters combined) but it seems like this is almost impossible...

I've been told by one support person from the online site I'm buying from that I can use 105 brifters and front deraileur and this might be compatible. I've been told by another support person to just go Tiagra 4703 but I really would prefer V-Brakes (descending the Alps), the lower gear ratios (climbing the Alps) and the €100 saving of the Deore.

I know I've got two issues, gear indexing and brake cable pull ratio but is there any brifters that will allow me to use Deore successfully without huge amounts of faff?

Thanks...

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  • Maybe something like an SRAM 2 x 11 groupset would help, The offer up to 42 tooth cassettes now so are great for climbing.. Brifters are all based around double chain rings. Triple chain rigs are at less common now, as doulbes can almost do the same job..
    – Kim Ryan
    Jul 12, 2015 at 23:34
  • Welcome to Bicycles @David. This is the kind of situation where a good relationship with your LBS is priceless :-)
    – andy256
    Jul 13, 2015 at 12:40
  • Not an answer, but I'm quite impressed with the triple on my road bike.... 26 front and 24 rear. That works out at 2.1 metres per rev. To get the same on a 32 front you'd need 29-30 rear, and a 36 front chainring would need ~33 on the back for the same ratio. If you separated your brakes and your gears, you have to separate problems to solve. Otherwise its one single problem with many details, where the solutions are going to be uncommon/expensive.
    – Criggie ♦
    Jan 10, 2016 at 1:17
  • You may want to have a look at Microshift XLE 10. Comparable to Deore with a drop bar shifter in the range.
    – mattnz
    Jan 27, 2020 at 22:29

4 Answers 4

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Unfortunately, you can't use 10-speed Shimano road brifters with 10-speed Dyna-Sys mountain bike drivetrains. They just have different cable pull ratios.

You're limited to a few options if you want to run drop bars with 10-speed Shimano:

  • Mount your existing MTB trigger shift on your drop bars. This means you have to take your hands off the hoods and drops to shift.
  • Get 10-speed Dyna-Sys compatible thumb shifters from Microshift. You must take your hands off the hoods and drops to shift.
  • Get 10-speed Dyna-Sys compatible bar end shifters from Microshift. You must shift from the drops.
  • Get Gevanalle GX brake/shifter kit, you must shift from the hoods using indexed bar end shifters mounted on front of brake levers.
  • You could try road brifters and a long cage road derailleur with a 10-speed mountain cassette. Definitely unsupported by Shimano. May be limited to 11–32 cassette instead of 11–34 or 11–36. YMMV.

However, you can mix and match road and mountain components with most SRAM 10-speed drivetrains. So you could use something like force shifters with X9 derailleurs with less trouble.

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  • Also, a new option is to try something like the wolf-tooth road link with a road shifter which changes the derailleur position a bit allowing for a wider range of shifting on a mid-cage / long-cage derailleur for larger range cassettes.
    – Benzo
    Oct 19, 2018 at 20:44
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No -- You've got several problems here. 10 speed mountain Shimano has different cable pull than 10 speed road Shimano (which is the same cable pull as 9 speed mountain Shimano, I believe, so if you double check this, you can drop a 9 speed Deore in). Then, you have the mountain vs road FD, which if you're using brifters, you need to use a road FD. Front derailleurs are cheap anyway, so I don't see why you'd want to save money here.

The V-brakes are pretty easy to deal with with a travel agent (a pulley to let you use short pull levers with V-brakes) or you can use mini-V brakes and not use a travel agent.

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  • What about 10 speed Shimano Brifters with a 9-speed Shimano mountain derailleur and a 10 speed mountain cassette (Shimano or SRAM)?
    – Rider_X
    Jan 28, 2020 at 23:28
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The newer brifters (such as the Tiagra 4703) are "Super SLR" on the brake pull amounts. This means they work even better with Mini-V brakes than older brifters that had the gear cable coming out the side.

You can get Tektro and TRP's in several arm lenghts -- depending on what you are looking for in your setup. 80mm (926AL), 84mm (TRP8.4), 85mm (BX3V,BX1V,RX1,RX3,RX5), 90mm (TRP9.0,RX6). Typical Shimano MTB V-brakes are 107mm.

The longer the brake arms the less force you have to apply to the levers, but they also require you to put the pads closer to the rim so you don't run out of brake lever travel. Shorter arms give you more rim clearance, at the expense of mechanical advantage.

I highly suggest using V-brake noodles with an adjusting barrel to make releasing the straddle cable much easier for wheel changes.

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  • Welcome to Bicycles @DeO. We recommend that new members take the tour to make best use of the site. Nice first post; good to see you here
    – andy256
    Nov 27, 2016 at 1:46
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I've got an old (once upon a time high-end) triple butted cro-mo 26" MTB which came with Deore XT (1995 - first of the 8s, 3x of course). I've just fitted 2x10 Ultegra 6700 brifters and it's a perfect match - except for the loss of access to the granny ring. I have cantilever brakes and they seem rock solid - perfect pull ratio.I can't speak for V-brakes. I'm not sure about the clearance for large cassettes yet - they used to use small front rings and closer ratios at the rear for MTB back in the early days. I've got a 10s 11-28 on it and that's ok with the 32-42 chainrings I have access to. However I've ordered a HG500 10s 11-36. If that proves too big for the RD I'll fit a GRX 400 RD, which will work (I'd rather save AU$90 and stay a little more true to the Mullet philosophy, but in the end I need to get up and down some pretty steep tracks). Once I have the 36 cassette I can switch to the 50/34 Ultegra chainset and not carry a, extra ring. I'm bummed I couldn't find a 3x, but beggars can't be choosers; parts availability ain't what it was pre-Covid and Brexit. So I'm stating that the advice above that MTB and road aren't compatible is not true with some of the older MTB derailleurs. That's what happened in my shed.

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  • Losing the granny isn't really desirable, based on the question, so you really should be talking about how to make a 3x work.
    – DavidW
    Nov 8, 2021 at 23:14
  • Why so condescending DavidW? I refer to my experience with road/MTB compatibility. OP includes suggestion to use 10s 105, which never came in 3x10. Another that Microshift brifters might work. I’m saying that I have proven 10s road shifting works with older MTB derailleurs (8s in my case). Given the modern trend towards bigger cassettes and fewer front rings losing the granny ring might be irrelevant. I once rode this old bike of mine with 22-32-44 rings on 11-28. I’m pretty sure I’ll get up most of the same roads with 32-44 with a 11-36 cassette. It’s not quite as low, but close.
    – Sheems
    Nov 10, 2021 at 2:21
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    Hey, sorry. I wasn't trying to be condescending, though I'm recently learning that my bare-bones writing style can be a bit... direct, and may come across as a bit hard. Review also isn't really the best forum for chattiness, so I try to concentrate on what suggestions I can make for the largest improvement in the answer. I didn't mean to say anything you said was wrong, I was just trying to point out something I thought you'd missed that, to make this the best possible answer, should be addressed.
    – DavidW
    Nov 10, 2021 at 2:36
  • Thanks David. I appreciate your response.
    – Sheems
    Nov 11, 2021 at 11:44

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