Q45 Upgrade time!

[Flying Dutchman]

Spring is in the air so time for some upgrades!
Got myself some lovely Mavic Allroad 700C gravel wheels with tubeless Schwalbe G1 tyres and as I mentioned in a different thread I was trying to get this to work with 12-speed.
I found a 'good' deal of what looked like genuine Shimano Deore XT M8100 shifter and RD but as the wheel came with SRAM XD freehub, I got a SRAM Eagle 10-50 cassette.
Well the Shimano RD did not reach the smallest cog, nor the largest cog even with the stoppers completely out. And tbh I think the shifter did only 10 or 11 shifts. Shows how good a deal it was.... (AliExpress - never again...)
Back to the drawing board. Luckily I found proper SRAM GX Eagle RD, shifters and chain for a reasonable price from a proper bike shop and with the excellent SRAM installation manual, managed to fit it all this morning. So out for a ride this afternoon - oh WOW - shifts like butter - not a single mis-shift. Right from biggest to smallest and back to biggest. What a difference.
Wheels and tyres run beautifully, so let the summer come. Can't wait for a longer ride!
I had to remove the front fender as that didn't fit anymore with the 700C wheels and 35mm tyres but hey

 

[Gofer]

Looks like a nice setup .Thats what I am planning on doing .Is there a major size difference from your 27.5 tires to your 700c?

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Hi Gofer, The 700C with 35mm tyres are slightly bigger hence the front fender not fitting anymore.
I do have Schwalbe tyres on my 650 wheels as well so profile wise they're very similar. But the new wheels are tubeless which makes for a smoother ride. Also the wheels are a good bit lighter which of course helps with speed. As they say, the best upgrade to any bike are the wheels.

 

[Black Hawk Down]

This bike is way too clean. It's burning my eyes.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

This bike is way too clean. It's burning my eyes.

haha not anymore. Very wet and muddy roads around here. It's been raining since October...