Which Groupset?

How much are the 785 levers going for? (I see a pair on ebay for £99). I very well used pair sitting in a drawer here that I replaced with GRX on the Tripster.

I also have a short cage RD and potentially the scraps of a couple of other Di2 RDs that met with cars, etc. I salvaged one Di2 TT shifter by stripping it out of its case and taping it up but the other one's cable broke right up near the buttons and I've not bothered to crack it open to rejoin cables - you're welcome to that @swedeee but it's probably more trouble than it's worth. It really depends on how 'budget' is budget.

I've probably binned/donated more 11spd chains and cassettes than most people get through in their lives.

I got a pair on FB marketplace brand new in box for £75 /csb

During pandemic? Bargain I guess. I can only see one side on ebay for £99 new, but I'm not hunting them down.

Pair of Di2 new ones going for £237 on PB, Single on Wiggle at £99

after the big-box-roll-of-chains chat earlier this year, I just picture hippy coming in after every ride, breaking his chain and dumping it in the bin, then unspooling a box fresh chain from the big roll to put on his bike for the next ride. 1 chain per ride will give you a nice smooth drivetrain

Anyone know what the deal is with sram cranks? Was thinking of picking some rival cranks, but the chainring is 42t which I'm thinking will probably leave my granny gear a bit high (apx 27 gear inches), as it's a cross/tourer ratty thing, so I'd have to swap it out for a 38 or something. A feel like I never see people running alternative brand chainrings with sram cranks though? Are sram spider cranks compatible with other chainrings or would I have to get a sram one? Cheers

If you are using the same lube as me at the moment (ooh nurse, see chain lube thread) then that's probably gonna happen soon.

fry.jpg:
Can't tell if lubing...
or just wetting chain.

If you get a 110bcd spider on the cranks you can use other chainrings

I think the rivals are 110bcd but I've got a feeling they aren't compatible with other 110 BCD rings because of the hidden bolt thing. I may be wrong.

I think you may be able to press out the nut from the chainring and press it into the new one to work with the hidden bolt but I haven’t tried it.
Are they the rival cranks with a removable spider? You could get a direct mount ring from the likes of garbaruk

Just use 4 bolts instead of 5. Wont kill you

Quick question about 105 (R7000): is there a way to slacken the brake cable that widens the calipers enough to remove a wheel without having to deflate the tyre?

I'm used to Campag 10 speed where there's that little sliding button at the top of the lever.

Shimano calipers tend to have a lever on them, near the barrel adjuster.

Thanks for replying @hippy
Even with the little lever all the way up the tyres are too fat to pass between the pads.... but I guess that's as good as it gets - I'll just have to live with it : )

You can either deflate the tyre a bit to get it out or set the brakes up such that you can wind in the barrel adjust + flip the lever up to get a greater opening at the pads for bigger tyres.
I tend to only be taking wheels out when the p_nct_re fairy has visited so they tend to be flat already. Also, force helps get past brake pads :)

If it's a regular thing, you could add another inline adjuster or QR lever to the cable to allow this to work. The grrls bike has an inline cable releaser thingie as well as the DA caliper one.

thanks for this! issue with AXS is need for freehub to accomodate the 12sp... is that avoidable?

Do you set your brakes with the smallest amount of travel or a generous amount?

It all depend on tyres too, the narrower the rims, the less room to remove wheels.

no. axs needs new freehub body.

Well if you want it all to be SRAM AXS matchy then no, if you just want to run 12 speed then go aftermarket.

Just outta curiosity, I was under the impression that the AXS rear der can only take a 33t cassette. Which third party 12 speed cassette is there that isn't a mountain bike cassette, that will fit on a Shimano 11sp freehub body?

I thought AXS was so expensive because it requires total system integration. E.g. SRAM everything, including the AXS freehub body, 12 speed flat top chain etc.

Edit: guess you can buy an Eagle der and use a Shimano 12 speed cassette?
Anyway, I doubt in any world that AXS will be cheaper than Di2.

You can fit a longer cage to the AXS derailleur and then save some dollars in the long run on non-SRAM cassettes and chains.

Agree I can't see how AXS would ever be cheaper but assuming @swedeee is being tempted by the extra gear rather than any savings.

Small amount of travel... Also, I think you have a good point about rims / tyre combination; I'm running 28mm 4seasons on previous generation Open Pros so the tyre bulges like a party balloon.

I was (very optimistically) thinking I might bother washing my bike properly every now and then... it's exactly this kind of barely-noticeable hindrance that will ruin my resolve!

guess you can buy an Eagle der and use a Shimano 12 speed cassette?

Apparently there’s a slight difference between Shimano and SRAM with 12 speed compare to the 11 speed stuff (currently have AXS with Eagle derailleur and Force shifters).

https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/1348391359636529153?s=19