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10 speed shifters have a complete shifter ring instead of the half moon in 11 speed shifters. And they are interchangeable between left and right, one half of the ring has 10 teeth (for 10 speed) and the other half 2 teeth (for a double front).
Theoretically you could add a tooth on both sides, creating SRAM 3X11 groupset. Which is very unique.
Jaap-
Yeah, ideally I would additively add a tooth or two at the bottom end, but that's way beyond my (non-existent) welding/machining/whatever abilities. Easier option might be to file down the ring at the top end to add an 11th gear but I think the plastic cable retainer bit interferes with the shifter then. So I'd have to bodge something up to solve that issue. Initial idea is to completely remove the cable head retainer bit, drill a hole through in the same place and put the cable head inside the plastic bit, which would allow me to put as many teeth on as I like. The only problem then is that I'd have to completely dismantle the shifter every time I want to change the cable, but replacing cables on these shifters is already a nightmare so that's not that big a deal.
What would be best would be to have a new ring 3D printed or machined out of a block of steel as that would allow me to slightly reduce the cable pull per shift to match an 11-speed cassette and also solve the problem of the weak aluminium teeth which break constantly. But I think that'd be prohibitively expensive. Might be worth getting a plastic one printed to try it out though.
frankenbike
Super cool, love the colour. You've inspired me to investigate a 11/12 speed bodge on a 10 speed shifter. The mechanism is really simple though not quite as simple as the 11 speed shifter.
Really interested to see 12 speed in action!