Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

There is a Rohloff electric shifter, but sadly only for e-bikes atm

https://www.rohloff.de/en/products/speedhub/e-14

Alfine 11 are dog shit.

Buy a cheap road link copy off eBay and see if it works. If not by then I’ll hopefully have fitted my new GRX 30/46 x 11-46 setup and can confirm it works.

I still don't fully understand capacity. It implies you're going to cross chain big-big and small-small, right? What if you just don't do that, and shift your chainring at the 'right' time? Then you can get away with a lot more (range)?

I guess the downside is you have shift your chainring at the right time, otherwise you're screwed.

You could have a chain shorter than recommended, and never use big-big or even big-slightly-big. The trouble with that is that if you accidentally go into too big a cog at the back, the whole drivetrain locks solid and you have to dissassemble your bike to undo the unholy mess. Not recommended.

If you set your chain length to permit (just) big-big combo for those moments of foregetfulness then if you exceed the RD's capacity on small-small then the cage will rotate backwards so far the chain will rub on itself as it goes past the upper jockey wheel and on its way from the lower jockey wheel to the chainring. Sounds unpleasant, but not the end of the world. Changing into the big ring at the front or a bigger cog at the back solves the issue easily.

cheap road link copy off eBay

Link?

Wait, nah, I hate buying ripoffs. I'll get a Roadlink from somewhere.

Last time I saw they were £3

Do they all buy tandem chains or something. I guess I've just not seen longer chains while looking around.

Nah, there's chain that are 123 links long instead of 116ish long.

Also, don't shops buy chains in bobins?

If it's just to test the setup I am more than happy to lend you mine, not planning on using it for the foreseeable future

I see KMC e11 e-bike chains have 122 links. I reckon with a new chain and a Wolfie, we're golden.

Nope, it’s not as easy as it sound, sometime we ran out of quick links/pin before we ran out of chains.

Or waste a load of time trying to measure it to an old chain or count the links.

I almost always re-do the big-big thing unless I'm sure I've run the combo before and can remember how many links I cut.

Yeah, obviously, but I'm on about taking the right amount of chain off a big stupid reel in a shop, more effort than they're worth.

Yeah, just checked this out.

My advice to you-
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

what's your budget?

there's a pricey one on the bay ...

I started with just one on the right hand shifter, which worked fine, but I found that in the heat of a cx race in the depths of winter whilst wearing gloves, I'd frequently hit the wrong button and change into the wrong gear. A friend was talking to me about it and said he was going to fit the same system but with buttons on both sides and set it up like the etap shifting system (which I have on a road bike). I thought this sounded good, so did the same thing and am really pleased I did as it works really well (and I don't fluff gear changes any more).

The cost implication isn't much, just the button itself plus the fitting kit from TRP.

Also, don't shops buy chains in bobins?

We have the option to buy Sram on a spool, it’s cheaper for some reason to buy a big box of loose precut chains.

And quicker to do service, not much time taken to break the chain to correct length but it does add up.

big stupid reel in a shop

They exist? I've never seen one. I want one.

And we can make Christmas stars out of the cut off bits that we sell at the front counter for beer money.

They're stupid and I think even you'd struggle to get through enough chains to warrant one for personal use before everything is 12 or 14 speed or whatever.

Or keep them for making a whole new chain for free...

That only really works for the cheaper 8 speed stuff.

There you go, sleep tight.

5 bucks for 5 links is better then the price of a whole chain.