Wanting to change from bar end to road shifters

Question

Just purchased a Co-op ADV 3.1 and the gearing is great, problem is I am hating the bar end shifters and would like to apply road bike shifters while maintaining the MTB gearing. It came with Deore mechs front and rear (assuming 10 spd specific) and figure I'll have to replace both as well, has anyone here had good success with something like this, and if so could you give which mechs and shifters work well? Seeing as I'll most likely have to replace both mechs and new brifters I don't really have a problem switching over to Sram if they have the best solution without having to add a shiftmate into the equation. Please help.

Well thank you for the info and such quick responses. Think I’m going to attempt a Tiagra setup with Deore (rd-m591)rear mech (research shows no such luck with the front mech). I’ll update the page as I try with my results in case someone else finds this page looking to do something similar, I know jtek makes adapter that would work (Shiftmate 6 on the rear and Shiftmate 7 front) but at around $60 apiece (not to mention additional components to fail) its still $10 more than the rear mech and almost $40 more than the front. I know it can be done, for example check out the specialized AWOL expert. Emailed them to see if they’d give me the specifics but not expecting an answer unless I actually buy the thing lol. Also I’m considering a 105 setup (other than the rear mech)...anyone have experience?

Just an update, got an email from specialized about the setup on the AWOL expert... “Front shifter: Tiagra ST-4703 Rear shifter: Tiagra ST-4700 Front derailleur: Tiagra FD-4703 Rear derailleur: RD-4700 GS

The rear derailleur for the 2018 AWOL is a Tiagra rear derailleur, so you won't have to worry about any adapters.”.

Looks pretty close to what I’ve been looking for, but using the road components means I’d also need to change my cassette and chainrings as well as still deal with a bottom pull front mech....looks like I’ll be going with the Shiftmate 7 for my existing front derailleur just for ease of installation, oh well.

Answer 1

According to answers to this question, Shimano road and MTB had the same cable pull ratios up to 9 speed, but MTB 10 speed cable pull ratios were changed, which means that Shimano 10 speed road and MTB shifter and derailleurs are not compatible. I think that means that the pull ratio was changed for both front and rear derailleurs.

As you suspected you will need to replace front and rear shifters and derailleurs. If you want to keep the triple ring cranks you need a groupset that works with the 48/36/26 triple chainring and the 11-34 cassette. After a bit of searching around I'm sorry to say I think that will not be possible without changing gear ratios.

The only 3x10 Shimano road groupset is the 3x10 Tiagra, but the rear derailleur will accommodate only 20 chainring tooth difference, you need 22; largest rear cassette sprocket size is 32, you need 34. Total capacity is 41, you need at least 45.

If you swapped the smallest chainring to a 30 tooth it might work. I have heard that Shimano derailleurs will work with a large cassette sprocket 2 teeth larger than the specified max. Swapping the cassette and rings to Tiagra native 11-32 50/39/30 will of course work just fine.

Answers to this question indicate that Sram uses the same 1:1 pull ratio for a range of road and MTB groupsets. This page lists the 1:1 pull groupsets and it seems that Apex shifters are compatible with GX, X9, X7 etc. derailleurs. The X9 and X7 groupsets have 3x10 options but unfortunately SRAM offers no 3x road shifter.

If you can replace the crank and chainrings to 2x then you will of course be able to combine Sram Apex shifters with GX or X9 2x10 derailleurs. You would probably want to replace the cassette with an 11-38 or lower to preserve the low gearing.

You are looking at replacing a significant chunk of the bike which you will have to figure out if you want to spend money on. Another possible cheaper option that occurs to me would be to go to a flat bar and fit Deore MTB shifters.