The first question that comes to mind is “why?” Why spend the coin on Di2 only to run an antiquated derailleur. Turns out, it was sort of an accident, but it showed just how versatile Shimano’s Di2 system can be, even if it was unintentional.
“A customer of ours is training for RAAM and wanted Di2 but has to run a mountain cassette,” said Jason at Cycles Unlimited. “So, we started playing around with derailleurs, and the older XTR M971 has the same cage design as the Ultegra Di2. So, we could just pop it out and mount it to the road derailleur.”
“The funny thing is, as we were playing with the set up, I accidentally stuck a 9-speed cassette on there and was able to use their micro adjust feature on the Di2 to get it shifting perfectly. Now, though, he’s running a new 10-speed cassette on the bike. Basically, we just used Shimano’s built in adjustments and did some heavy adjusting of the B-knuckle and it works just fine.”
“It doesn’t work on all bikes. We tried it on a Scott Foil and it wouldn’t shift right. But on his Lynskey R420 ‘Green Monster’ it shifts just fine. Now he’s got push button shifting with an 11-34 XTR 10-speed mountain bike cassette. And we didn’t have to go with the K-Edge system.”
More pics below, including the complete bike with their weight saving switch to Revelate Designs frame bags for his 10+ hour training rides…