Are you really staying in Zone 2? Dura Ace - XT Setup 

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Peak Torque. A voice of reason in the madness of the fashion industry masquerading with bicycles.

Much to the amusement of the locals, I recently rode a few climbs in the Alps with my 39/28 as lowest gear setup, which was quite a painful experience. Though not recommended by Shimano 52/34 in the front seems to be quite common there. They also fit XT cassettes on their race bikes, so I think it's quite a proven approach.

Another excellent PT video. No BS addressing common technical/mechanical issues not often spoken about. My takeaway after riding both 2x11 GRX and 105 for a few years: 1) Shimano needs to ditch their 110BCD ASAP for road, and 2) 11-34 steps aren't great on the flat. We mere mortals are much better off with =34. Something default in the ranges of 26-30 inner and 44-48 outer is what we amateurs are much better off with, together with 11-28/30 cassette. Comfort is speed in the long run.

wait for the people living in boring pancake flat places telling you they can climb just fine in 39-25

Glad this custom setup worked out for you! I was successful with a similar setup for a 2x 10 speed gravel bike. So, 11-42 Deore 10-speed cassette, 34/50 crankset, Wolf Tooth extender, 9 speed XT rear derailleur, 10 speed 7800 Dura Ace shifters.

This takes me back to the early years of D2R2 in the US. Almost 5,000m climbing over less than 200k, almost exclusively on dirt roads. We bodged lower than 1:1 many ways, back when 39/28 was considered low. It was exactly about riding zone 2 on the climbs, otherwise most wouldn’t make it around the route. The event you cover in the video sounds super fun; that crux climb is bonkers!

It was this channel that taught me about switching my 36t (on my 52/36) chainring for a 34t and got me round my first Fred Whitton two years ago (and up the Hardknott without walking) - cheers!

Thx for this! I live in Central America on a volcano. My daily warm up and warm down is + 20% and + 30% is normal on my loops. I ride 2x GRX but spin out too easily on a few of the longer downhills. Most of the downhills are so steep it’s just tuck and pray though. Love the 180 front! Love this setup altogether and thank you for helping me figure out my next build on the SL8.

Is this agreement I see between Peak Torque and Path Less Pedaled? Never thought I'd see the day.

High value channel. Thank you!

Re your GRX point at 06:30 , for the past 3 years I’ve been running a Grx 810 2x groupset with 48/31 up front with an 11-40 cassette with zero mods (I.e no wolftooth roadlink) other than the b screw dialled in. Chain is cut to the right length. Shifts perfectly and zero issues. This gives me an effective range of 563%.

I bought a wolftooth extender ( pre the new stuff ) and put a 40 on the back a few years ago. It's really a necessity for people over 85-90kg that ride hills with any frequency.

Nice work Pete

Been looking for info like this for a while. Thx so much!

Well done Alex. Thank you.

This is really smart stuff. Thanks for the great content!

Hurray! A cool looking dude who talks sense. Real good stuff. I was thinking about getting GRX but went cheap route like you to upgrade to 11-40 on an old Orbea Ignorre frame that came with Ultegra crankset. Nice work. First time I have seen your channel. I like it. I am 61 years young riding around Barnsley and into Peak District. Only been riding a few years though. But getting there. 😊❤

well done on the Fred, did it a few years ago and yes, I walked up hardknott....now .I have no issue with getting as wide a range of gears as necessary now, partly an age/weight thing, and agree that being comfortable and effective is the goal not how thing look or 'should be'....

I have recently done exactly this and really like the results. I live in a hilly area and it means i can control my ratios better and actually make the higher gradients more manageable.

This is such a great idea. My current road bike has me blowing up on consistent grades over 8% and there're plenty around me.

I've had good results with 11speed Sunrace cassettes. They go as wide as 11-46 on an HG freehub. Shifting is fine even on a muddy MTB ride.

I felt so called out at the end of the video that I almost spat out my Hefeweizen. Touché, Peak Torque. I have subscribed to the channel. Goals are great but beer is good too. Pogacar, himself, has been known to enjoy a beer after a ride (e.g. Amstel Gold 2023).

Some of the best bikes I've ever had were a triple 22/33/44 and an 11-32 or 11-34 8 speed cassette. Mega cheap, unbelievably durable and super smooth shifting across a big range. I've currently got a weird 3x11 setup that isn't recommended by anyone but, like you say, you can get things working with the right know-how.

I live in the Alps, I can hold 5w/kg for 1h power and yet I use a 34/34...if it was simple(r) I would go even smaller (like 34/36 or 34/40) for Z2...thanks indeed for the video, you are spot on! hope more people will listen to this, I find myself suggesting more and more gravel bikes to recreational cyclists due to gearing

This is amazing, thabks for sharing. Have manual Ultegra myself but definitely going to give this a go. Shame it only came up on my feed a few days away from my big sportive 😅😅

Been running GRX 1x long cage with XT cage mod and it works great. 11/50 cassette and it shifts to the 50 as well as the original.

nicely done mods all around. turns that race bike into an interesting long haul machine.

Did similar years ago with Sram. Put a long cage rear mtb mech on my road bike, same pull ratio, and fitted a 42t rear. Run a 48/36 up front. No need for an extender runs like a dream.

Great work! I'm running Eagle X01 Axs and Force brifters with a 10-52 Eagle cassette and a 48t front on my TCR Advanced. Works really well, so simple to ride. The only small caveat I've noted is that there is a slightly bigger jump in gear ratio at one point on the cassette - not really a problem as where I ride is quite hilly and I'm usually shifting a few gears at a time! Also running 160mm rotors fr & rr for more power and thermal capacity, which suits my super middleweight Pogačar 76kg😉

I used this cassette for the 3 peaks cyclocross. With Grx 2 x groupset and no wolf tooth extender, works great with a slightly longer b screw.

Very informative, thanks for sharing.😊

I did the same with my bike going to the dolomites. 11-42 rear and with a medium mec! with 34 52 front and 180 discs. the best combo!!

I have 11-40t with rx810 and 52/34 up front on our tandem. It helps on the climbs as my stoker is not nearly as fit as me but still have the top end for the flats and downhills. Shifts like the 11-34 after fine tuning it.

Great video. Love a bit of hacking, especially as I am a larger roder. And as for the 180mm adapter you do. Gamechanger.

I did the same mod for climbing Jebel Yibir (UAE), around 5years ago. My RD was and still is 6870 di2 ultegra. The mods were pretty much the same as yours, so long cage + WT adaptor and an xt cassette. Worked perfectly!

Thumbs up for 32+30mm GP5000 combo. I have been using this combo with latex tubes for years for absolutely everything and it is just awesome.

Its the rise of the wide range 2x, i have been running grx 2x with a 10-45 for a while. I have run a 11-40 in the past, it is a little bit sloppier than the 11-40 setup but still well within the realms of acceptable. There are things you can to do mitigate this slop. Im currently converting my hybrid into a drop bar gravel, it has flat bars and uses xt 12 speed 2x rear derailluer. Which will fit a 14t jockey wheel for guide and 16 for pulley. Plus a derailluer extender. The 1t more on the guide pulley, also after market so its a bit bigger radius than say a shimano pulley would be. Puts the chain closer to the small sprocket for less slop. The larger tensioner pulley takes more slack. Running grx 2x crankset with a 3x t8000 xt derailluer. This is all going to be substituted for grx 12 speed di2 in the near future. I need to work out if the connection with the cage is same so i can just swap over the cage. If not need to find a road cage that would fit thise pulleys. It requires a bit more care to setup. But you can get it pretty much as well shifting and reliable as 11-40. I think the pulley wheels are a bit more important in this setup. I love it. I bikepack the dales a lot, think hard knock pass carrying half your body weight. (May also over provision a bit too much but better to be prepared.) And then i use my bike for commutes, fast rides. And everything in between. Every single bit of that range is used.

Nice! I did the Fred Whitton this year and had the same realisation in January about staying in Zone 2 - I live in London but even then some of the 8% hills that I was training on, the cadences were impossibly low to stay in the zone. I fitted 11-34 and a super compact 46-30 to my bike, used it for all the training and the Fred, and got up Hardknott in one go while everyone around me was walking! Pleased to see other people coming to the same conclusion. I find there's a lot of dumb bravado about gear ratios, and granny gears...

I had a bike with Ultegra 6870 di2 11 speed with long cage which got me 11-36 on the back and 52/36, though I also added few links into the chain just incase. As a heavier rider it was great to keep in zone 2 on the steep.

I switched to 52-34 with 11-40 in the back last year and it's just phenomenal. Literaly all you need. Shimano should really think about officialy supporting this kind of ranges.

Been working 52/34 for years,best of both Worlds up front.

I'm running 2x GRX on my gravel bike, 46/30 front & 11/42 Shimano XT cassette on the back. No mods, no extenders (despite the stated 34t max cog). Perfect for steep climbs or loaded touring.

I put a wolf tooth extender on my roadie when I was doing lots of hills many years ago.

Been doing this for years with an Ultegra Di2 RX mech, no faff necessary it just works with 11-40 and 11-42

Shimano needs to release a 12 speed 11-40 cassette PRONTO.

This type of setup seems perfect for my gravel bike (aka my only bike) which I use for road riding, gravel riding and bikepacking. The lower gears would be perfect for climbing up steep hills when fully loaded bikepacking, the big gears perfect for fast group rides with my roadie friends. Needs to do more research before committing to buying bigger chainrings and cassettes, but pretty good insight overall from your video. Cheers!

When I was about 60kg and 220w ftp I was using 52/36 11-28 and doing 10% climbs in z2, just easy grinding at 40rpm and 130watts. Now I'm much heavier and less fitter, changed to 46/33 10-28, rarely even use the 48/10, but the 33/28 has been used once in awhile, though I mostly avoid routes that have 15% climbs or steeper lol

Great video! I use the stock mechanical GRX 11 speed mech and it fits an 11/40 with no mods, and a 11/42 with B screw adjustment…..

53/36 front 11-34 rear deffo works on my Canyon Ultimate Rim with Dura Ace R,9100 short cage. Tried the combo out on the Matlock Top 10 route Friday and the easy gear was a revelation even up Sydnope, Bank Road and Riber. For Fred with longer climbs I'd try 11-36 rear (SRAM) which still works on my setup if careful with the chain length to protect from Big-Big drama. YMMV I'm under 70 kgs though!

So true. I'm a 68kg lightweight. 8 to 10% is pretty standard here. We have the odd pinches of 12/13% on usual routes and if I go looking we do have 20 to 25% climbs. Anyway I have a 34x32 gearing and at 180 to 200w's(my Z2) often I find myself doing 55rpms for extended periods. And I'm thinking if I was the average 75 to 80kg guy( who for some reason wouldn't be seen dead on anything under a 36x30 as their lowest gear) I'd be in the 40's!

Rode the struggle today on tired legs and my 31/34 lowest gear was definitely not small enough! Will be looking at getting that xt 11-40 working with my grx 11 speed mechanical.

Chapeu mate !!!

Fascinating video, thank you. Definite food for though there. I missed the head set - what make/model is it?

I almost needed a hot day cassette today!!! I just finished a flat, 2hr "z2" ride at altitude and it was 104F. Z2 is typically 210-230w for me at this altitude with a 130-140hr. Today? 185w and a 145-155hr😂

I participated in the Fred this year, at at 110kg dry weight, I knew I would need gearing assistance. I did find a SRAM 10-44 cassette that I mated to my 45/33 (with an XPLR RD). Made it up all the climbs, with the exception of around 20m on that really steep section on Hardknock due (to bike walkers not keeping off the line). Did run it in sequential mode to remove potential for small/small slack and it worked perfectly.

Link in description goes to SLX cassette but you mentioned XT. I ride XT M8000 11-42 on gravel with GRX812 it's great and light with two alu spiders. Btw smaller cogs wear out faster and they sell new one separately so it's a good way to extend life of the cassette (which I did).

You could even extend your range by using an 10-42t sram x01 cassette. Shifts well with my XT M8050/GRX Di2 Setup. I really like my 12sp Force D2 setup on my road bike, but nothing beats 11sp cross compatibility. My gravel bike runs a X01 cassette with a modded XT Di2 RD (long cage & garbaruk wheels), GRX Di2 shifters on a Force crank with a Garbaruk chainring and an Ultegra/XT chain.

Did the same on my 8 speed Kona gravel bike. Swapped from 11-34 to 11-40 and added an extender, total cost £30 and now have much more range. Also that bike at 11:51 with the tan side walls looks great, shame the bar tape ruins the aesthetic!

It's astonishing that 'back in the day' 42x23 was considered a low gear. Surprised I still have functioning knees. Ridden 'The Fred' twice. Walked Hard Knot both times. >85kg on a 35x33 with 6+ hours in the legs and it's no surprise. I'm currently considering my next road bike purchase and as I approach 50 a major consideration is gear ratios. PT; the voice of sense and reason.

Love the watch

I run a sram mtb rear mech with road shifters on my winter bike , works a treat 👌

Thanks for the video. I‘ve used DI2 RD-RX817 for a while with 1by. With 34/52 was the chain tension too risky. Your setup is better. -- Your old 11sp trick with 34/52 doesn't work on 12sp Di2. I couldn't adjust it properly.

Love this, and finally a solid recommendation for getting a Shimano setup with a decent range of gearing. Still a big SRAM fan as I am running a 48/35 and a 10-44 in the rear with an XPLR rear derailleur and it works flawlessly. The only edge I’ll give to your setup is that Shimano keeps the smallest two cogs from being used with the inner ring where as SRAM defaults at just the smallest. But for any rider that’s even paying the smallest attention to what gear they’re in, this is not an issue.

I'm running SRAM 46/33 with 10-44T but since chain gets slack from 33x15, need to use sequential shift. Or if I don't need 46x44, I can shorten chain to remove the chain slack. If I really want easy gear I can probably fit 43/30 but cannot use Quarq powermeter since BDC gets smaller.

Like yourself unless I enter the Fred Whitton I will probably never need that gearing myself. Done Majorca 312 on a 50/34 11-34 which was the right decision saved the old legs Hear in Blighty I run 54/40 and 11-34 great for top end speed and well being 85kgs perfect for the limps and bumps locally

I love my 3x Ultra Setup with 26/42/52 chain rings and 11-28 cassette! This is such a great option..its a pity they only offer 2x nowadays....

Great vid

Thank you for this, as a full sized 95kg human the industry seems to assume that we all weigh 65kgs and have no biceps. Due to the incline (California) the days with >10k of ascending are Zone 2 impossible, but the gearing helps. Older bike, so I have a 39x28 as my 'easiest' gear. One of the main reasons Im considering an updrade is to get more climbing range

Dylan Johnson upped his cred with that fabulous showing at Unbound!

I’ve been using an 11-42 cassette in these types of events for about 4yrs on the mechanical Dura-Ace and then on the DI2 Dura Ace worked fine with a Wolftooth direct mount roadlink without having to change the cage length. Get a lot of comments but I rather ride everything to the end than walk.

Super interesting!!!

I love my gravel bike with grx di2 48/31 front, 11-40 back. Grx di2 works without any modification! Can climb anything (and I’m not small person, too), 2x11 is decent. This setting is awesome. U won’t find any 12 speed cassettes with an 11-40 option, what an f…king development/evolution.

Funnily enough I’ve done exactly the same setup ahead of the Pan Celtic Race in 2 weeks, which also goes up Hardknott and the other major lakes climbs like the Struggle and Honister, plus Scottish beasts like Baleach Na Ba - but with a fully loaded bike! I have the same Dura Ace 11 Di2 groupset, and fitted the same 8050 GS cage to it. Have been running it with an 11-36 SRAM cassette which was fine, tried to fit the 11-40t XT like yours and it just wouldn’t quite give enough clearance on the 40, it only needs another 5mm but can’t get there without the mech hanger extender

im running the same xt 11-40 cassette on my GRX 810. No mods necessary. Just a longer chain. Shimano says the max is 34 tooth.

That’s a fair point for the zone 2ers

Always liked a wide range of gears, my Audax bike has 53/39/26 chainset with 11-32 cassette.

Great video pal and insight into a nitty gritty of your set up 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 That's sorta puts me in thinking of mine gear choices for upcoming Tour des Stations event later in the year🤔 So far I thought, that 34-34 would do me fine, but after watching this, I'm all in doubts 😂 What event were you on, BTW? Cheers mate

Running 40 teeth with a standard GRX 2 by. Only thing I had to do was fiddling with the b screw.

Running the SRAM 10-36 with a 48/35 is pretty sweet. I can Z2 most of my climbs and definitely haven’t needed a bigger gear, but i don’t race, just ride for fun.

Yes someone after my own heart an 11-42 casette, I got one

If your running mechanical you can do this with an ultegra RX rear derailleur and a hanger extender. I ran that with 11sp 105 for a few years.

Here I already have a GRX-400 (10 speed) with a 11-42 Deore Cassete (yes, outside the specs of the Derailleur, but it works) and now I will put a GRX-600 2x Crankset with a 46-30d. I think for my power it will be the perfect machine for any terrain and climb. Also the parts are relatively cheap, including the cassete and no need for extenders. The only downside will be the impossibilty of get very high speeds on steep downhills, but I dont care.

I've got a shimano 105 11speed 52/34 mated to an 11/42 cassette using the stock 105 long cage rear derailleur without a wolf tooth. Yes, the chain is longer though. I am older & a weakling 😂

Yes, i ride with SLX cassettes with Sram and PT 180…. @peaktorque could you fit a deore XT or xtr (m9000series) cage on your di2 dura ace derailleur to avoid the sunrace extension?

That's exactly what I was thinking about the long cage, too heavy, too many chain links! :) And anything beyond 28 cogs is cheating :) Cool jersey Alex! And nice work going up the pass!

Just rode it with standard setup but my super light (rim brake) Ribble SL Ultimate.

But seriously, bring back the triples already.

would love to get an updated nutrition video. thanks

Great info. Very relatable! I'm 87kg (Fat MVDP?) and am also riding 9170. Currently running an 11-30 cassette with a 52-36 mid-compact. Keen to try an 11-34 for the steeper climbs. Guess I would just need a mech extender?

I recently replaced my 48-35 crankset with a 46-33 version, paired with a 10-33 cassette. Sram AXS software shows you which gears you actually use, and it shows me that I just don’t need the 48-10 ratio.

I run 11-36 (50/34) on a 105 r7000 myself and could definitely see myself using something even easier. I don't see why I would not be able to replicate your setup with that groupset. I can get up most climbs here in upper zone 2 if I want to drop my cadence below 75/70, but usually my long rides include some small efforts as well and I don't prescribe to the notion that everything over zone 2 is poison to the workout, so I don't stress it. Would I be living in an area like yours, I would do the same as you did. Also great for bikepacking.

I love the 11-40 mod and the whole philosophy around gearing. Sort of the quiver killer of hilly roadie gearing. I have some questions about the rear mech however: is it really necessary to change the cage especially since the Sunrace Extended link takes care of the b-adjustment under the 40 cog, and since Di2 blocks out the 11 & 12 cog. From my experience with 1x set ups, the slant of the parallelogram determines the cassette range (hence 1x derailleurs with short or mediumish cages) which can be increased with with a hanger extender, while the tooth difference between the chainrings determines the hanger length. I suppose if you're running a 52/34 that's a bigger jump than the standard 16 tooth one, but not by much. In any case just a nerdy thing to wonder about. I used to swap out to short cage on my Deore rear derailleurs (greatest 8/9/10s derailleur of all time) simply because the slant could handle an 11-36 without any issue, and when run with a double, say 50/34, the long cage was simply excessive. I could swap 105 hangers, and it would be plenty sufficient and a lot more tidy.

I'm still looking for an SGS cage that I can mount on my Ultegra 8000 mech rear derailleur. I've been running a 50-34 front and 11-40 cassette but would like an 11-46 cassette. I've considered changing to a 48-31 GRX crank but I'd prefer not to since I've already got a Stages Ultegra left side crankarm and the GRX crank has a wider chainline maybe necessitating a front derailleur change.

Can confirm 11spd. 105 GS rear derailleur can manage 11-40 cassettes with no rear mech extender. 2 years, no problems.

Being actually fat and in my late 30s, extra low gears are the only way for me to climb the 17-22% climbs in my area. Going downhill on very tight switchbacks you’re simply not gonna pedal, only braking, so top end gears are moot. 34t up front and 10-44 at the back. Love it.

Walking doesn't count IYKYK. Got GRX 810 2x on mine. 31 - 48t and 11-34 on the back. Gets me up anything. Didn't get a spot on the Fred this year and couldn't justify £210 to ride round my home county, so doing the route for the 2nd time on my tod in a couple of weeks for free!

Funny how the £10 shimano megarange freewheels sort of get around the big-range-but-big-jumps-between-gears issue by having a significantly larger low gear then more closely spaced high gears. This might be possible with Miche cassettes as you can buy every sprocket individually and build any cassette you like, compared to a lot of Shimano ones that have 3 gears on a spider etc. Shifting might suck if you DIY with a Miche and the ramps are out of place though.

For the non-mechanical amongst us; you could just get a Di2 Ultegra GS RD and plug it straight in? I use two quick links straddling a standard link on my chain when I want to run an 11-36/52-34 setup (Stronglight chainrings replacing Shimano work ok in this combination) and take the extra link out when I swap back to 11-28/11-30 on the back.

Should the top pulley wheel have any lateral play in it?