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Gevenalle adds GX drop-bar shifters for Shimano 10-speed MTB derailleurs – First look & actual weights!

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Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs

Ever dreamt of putting a mountain bike drivetrain on your drop bar bike. You know, to create the ultimate adventure bike with wide range gearing and a fast front end?

Gevenalle has expanded their line of index-or-friction shifter equipped brake lever with the new GX model, which pulls just the right amount of cable to keep an XT rear derailleur in line with your MTB cassette. It’s compatible with Shimano’s modern clutch-equipped DynaSys and Shadow Plus 10-speed rear derailleurs with a cassette capability up to 36T. That’s a big jump from the 28T max of their BURD rear derailleur, putting you in the gearing range of the CX1 group.

Like the CX shifters, which work with Gevenalle’s own rear derailleur and other 10-speed road derailleurs, the GX gets a modified Microshift lever set attached to a Tektro lever bodies…but even those have been heavily customized and improved…

Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs

Ever since Shimano changed the cable pull between their road and mountain offerings, there hasn’t been an elegant way to run a modern road shifter and MTB derailleur. The GX changes all that.

The shifter lever sits out front of the brake lever and runs from one side to the other to effect a full shift from the smallest cog to the largest.

Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs

It can be indexed or free friction shifting. They come preset as an indexed shifter, which is probably where we’ll keep it.

Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs

The shifter is based on Microshift’s newer BS-M10 shifters, then customized in house along with the custom mounting hardware, anodizing and laser engraving in Portland, OR. Because shift lever is physically larger than the CX models, the mount was made larger, too. Mark Dinucci did the design work for them and used the opportunity to improve the exit angle for the cable housing. It’s now 10º lower than the CX models for a sleeker complete appearance. The larger levers mean the GX shifters can’t be retrofitted to the CX units, though.

Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs have dual brake cable mounts

The brake levers are further customized with two distinct cable mounting points. This lets you get the right amount of cable pull for anything from calipers to cantis to mini V-brakes to road or mountain bike disc brakes. Even the lever’s bearings are upgraded!

Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs

The levers are sold as a front and rear set, but the front shifter is removable if you’re running a 1x drivetrain. If you’re running gears it’ll handle both a double and a triple. It’s micro indexed with faint clicks in one direction and free flowing in the other.

Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs

One very nice feature of the Tektro levers on which the GX’s are built is the easy-to-reach mounting bolt. No need to wrestle with the hoods to find the screw, just pull the brake lever open and it’s right there. Of course, you’ll want to get your position dialed before you get the brakes’ setup final.

Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs

We got an early production sample in already and will be building up one heck of an adventure/gravel bike using a 36T max XT cassette and 10-speed XT rear derailleur with Gevenalle’s own front derailleur. Look for a full build out coming soon.

Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs actual weights

Actual weights are 205g (front), 213g (rear) and 85g (derailleur).

Gevenalle GX drop bar shifter levers for Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs

So, if your very old Shimano 9-speed derailleur craps out and time comes when replacements aren’t available, take comfort knowing there’s now a solution for running modern 10-speed versions with a drop bar setup!

Retail is $219 for the pair, and just $34 for a repair/rebuild (including shipping) should you crash them.

Gevenalle.com

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Russell Roca
9 years ago

Nice to have another friction based option. Been doing something similar on our touring bikes. 40/28 up front with a 12-36 10spd in the rear using an X9 rear DR and Apex brifters.

http://youtu.be/q8cF–GX0R0?t=54s

Thinking that Gevenalle option would work well for a SS coupled adventure bike so you don’t have to worry about perfect indexing.

The Goats
9 years ago

@Russel Roca – These are very much index! Unlike other road integrated shifters they can also be swapped to friction in case of a bent derailleur hanger etc. Just want to make sure peole don’t get the wrong idea.

Like your 28/40 & 12/36 – bet that gets you anywhere!

Cheers!

The Goats
http://www.gevenalle.com

PBJoe
PBJoe
9 years ago

I know it’s cost prohibitive at the moment, but this is one of the areas with electronic shifting that I am excited to see, cross-compatible road and MTB systems. Running an XTR rear with up to 36T cogs with drop bars will be nice. Now to save up the small fortune for a down payment.

r3a
r3a
9 years ago

I have been using a “9sp” xt derailleur with retroshift 10 speed shifters, with a 10 speed cassette and it works perfectly, index and friction.

This is cool though, more options I guess but 10 speed shimano 36t cassetes have been working with retroshift for a while

Paul du S&M
Paul du S&M
9 years ago

I’ve been running Gevenalle CX shifters and components on my cyclocross bike for 2 seasons. I’ve yet to break a single piece, completely bomber, never a worry. I’m setting my gravel bike for spring 2015 and will be going GX with 1x giant big ring up front. Great jobs goats!

Matt
Matt
9 years ago

These look pretty sweet! My CX-2s are still going strong after a 7000km cross-Canada tour on my Long haul trucker.

a
a
9 years ago

i suspect 28-36 on skinny wheels spins a little too fast for getting grip 😉
the max im pushing is around 34-32 atm on 33c tires dry terrain, before grip becomes randoms

Hank Hill
Hank Hill
9 years ago

Anybody know where to get the barcon version of these? I saw them in an interbike post, yet cannot find any for sale.

David Best
David Best
9 years ago

I ride a salsa Fargo. Switched to bar end shifters long ago. I could not see enjoying being on the hoods to shift like that. Any rough terrain I like being either up top or in the drops. Seems to me you couldn’t shift these in either of those positions. At least apex brifters can shift from the drops.

craigsj
craigsj
9 years ago

9spd Shimano MTB rear derailleurs have worked with 10spd Shimano road shifters all along. Anyone “dreaming” of combining the two has been able to do so from the start.

Darin M. Topel
Darin M. Topel
9 years ago

Great…another reason to build another bike!! My CX shifters are brilliant on my 1×10! Time to build a 2×10 to access more trails around the bluffs of the Northern Mississippi Region.

a
a
9 years ago

true, on rough terrain i also basically stay in the drops. hoods destroy my hands in minutes.

binks
binks
9 years ago

Are these shifters going to be available with the trp hydros?

The Goats
9 years ago

Where the Feck are these shifters to be FOUND???

Apologies to all but we are having some issues with the web site (GX are not listed on shifter page yet).

This link will deliver you to the right page: http://www.gevenalle.com/store/products/gx-version/

Cheers!

The Goats

s
s
9 years ago

On my touring bike, I’ve been happily running 9spd Shimano bar end shifters on the original Retroshift levers with 9spd XT rear derailleur for some time now. It indexes just perfect.

Is there an issue I’m not aware of with Microshift 10spd or Shimano 10spd bar end shifters not indexing properly with 10spd mountain derailleurs? It seems insane that Shimano would not make their road & mountain shifters/derailleurs swappable when there are so many instances of commuter, cyclocross, touring, gravel, adventure bikes where you’d want or need such combinations.

chasejj
chasejj
9 years ago

I run Shimano 6703 brifters with my TRP Hy/RD brakes and XTR 972 (9 spd rear derailleur) with a Shimano 6703 FD. Shifts great across a 11-36 XTR 10 speed Cassette and XTR 980 Trail crankset 24/32/42. The 9 speed non-Dyna RD works with the brifters lever throw on the 10spped cassette perfectly.

chasejj
chasejj
9 years ago

Wish we could edit posts here……That said. If these were available when I did my build I would have used them as the ability to use the clutch style 10speed XTR/XT RD would be a huge benefit.

r3a
r3a
9 years ago

they changed the pull ratio, dynasys doesnt work with 10 speed road shifters thats why you need a 9sp derailleur and it works fine since the derailleur doesnt care if its 9 or 10

Steevo
Steevo
9 years ago

I love the idea of these shifters, but there is a reason they never send out pictures with the cables. The cable routing out of these shifters is a mess, it makes a the old school Shimano brifter look tidy. I would love a pair of these with a hydraulic set up but man are they fugly.

Ralphy
Ralphy
9 years ago

I’m not sure what Steevo is going on about; the first two pictures I see on the Gevenalle site show cables, and they’re pretty straightforward, hardly a ‘mess’.

The Goats
9 years ago

@Steevo – We make no apologies for aesthetics. Our shifters are designed for cyclocross with an emphasis on performance not prettiness.

so we are not hiding anything – photo of GX with cables here: http://www.gevenalle.com/store/products/gx

Once a bike is covered in mud the exposed brake cables play an important roll providing a more fluid cable routing and smoother shfting. The exposed cables also make for much quicker and easier maintenance.

We love ya!

XOXO

The Goats

the dosser
the dosser
9 years ago

@Steevo @thegoats exactly, the exposed cable makes maintenance so easy during a cross season> If you combined the shifters with a hydraulic disc set up you would have to most easily maintained system going> Never having to take of bar tape to change cables, brake pads auto adjusting and centering, 2min job to change a shifter cable> dreaming of it atm> Make it happen!

Micah
9 years ago

FYI You can achieve a similar set-up, but with bar-ends quite easily if that’s what you’re looking for.

All Shimano 10 speed road shifters are compatible with all Shimano 9 speed mountain bike rear derailleurs. I use Microshift 10 speed shifters with a Deore XT rear derailleur.

the dosser
the dosser
9 years ago

@micah you are of course right but the advantage of this new shifter is that all (am open to correction her) the shimano mtb derailleurs with a clutch are 10speed> So If you wanted a clutched mech you couldnt use road shifters with it unless you used sram

Cheese
Cheese
9 years ago

Two CX seasons with a clutched X9 and zero dropped chains for me. I’m very happy to see the Goats offering a second option. Wasn’t a fan of that Tektro hood shape before I installed Hylex, though. Looking forward to the Genevalle hydraulic version.

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