If you look at the Shimano product line, there is still something missing. Ask many cyclocross racers, adventure tourers, etc., and you’ll probably find a number who wish they could run a clutched Shimano rear derailleur with Shimano road shifters. Unless a new group is right around the corner, Shimano doesn’t have a Shadow+ option for the drop bar crowd.
That, paired with the desire to run wide range cassettes gave the Lidarets x Wolftooth duo their next idea. As with the Goat Link and Road Link, the Tanpan was designed by Marc at Lindarets and manufactured in Minneapolis by Wolf Tooth Components at their brand new facility…
Roughly translated from Mandarin as negotiate or negotiator, the Tanpan isn’t exactly a new concept. For years, Jtek Engineering has been making their ShiftMate which changes the pull ratio of the shifter utilizing a pulley. Putting their own spin on the concept, the Tanpan is meant to allow for the use of 10 speed road Shimano shifters with a 10 speed Shimano mountain derailleur, or an 11 speed Shimano road shifter with Shimano 11 speed mountain derailleur. It also adds a barrel adjuster to make dialing it in easier, and uses a delrin self lubricating pulley for a total weight of just 17g.
Brendan with WTC mentions this was mostly done to allow for the use of clutched derailleurs for CX racing applications or off road touring rigs. The ability to run wide range cassettes with their Goat Link or Road Link is an added bonus.
After making a prototype Goatotype with a 3D printed metal body, it apparently took a bit of adjustment to get it dialed in since the math for the pull ratio didn’t work out perfectly in the real world.
We had originally stopped by Wolf Tooth Components yesterday to check out their new facility. You’ll see a much more in depth tour in the near future, but in addition to the two local machine shops they have been using to create their products, WTC took possession of a new 4,000 square foot space to call their headquarters. In addition to product development, finishing, and packaging/shipping, WTC is starting to bring some production in house and just purchased two brand new machines. Between the Y axis lathe with live tooling and a 3 axis vertical machining center with a pallet changer, WTC is able to make products like the Tanpan without leaving their building. Tan pan bodies start as a large sheet of 6061 aluminum and are then machined on each side, popped out of the sheet one by one, and then loaded into the mill for finishing. The lathe is used to turn out the pulleys from large rods of delrin.
Another option in the Lidarets x Wolftooth derailleur optimization category, the Tanpan is available for preorder at wolf tooth and lindarets for $39.95 and they’ll start shipping March 25th.
* GoatLink 10 Recommended for 10s Derailleurs
§ Achievable with Wolf Tooth GC40 or GC42 cog and compatible 11-36t cassette
† 11s Rear Derailleur Only
‡ GoatLink 11 Recommended for 11s Derailleurs
- The Tanpan SH10 is compatible with 10s shifters and derailleurs and up to 11-36t cassettes (11-42t with a Wolf Tooth Giant Cog and GoatLink).
- The Tanpan SH11 is compatible with 11s shifters and derailleurs and up to 11-42t cassettes (10-44 with a Wolf Tooth Giant Cog and GoatLink 11).
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Always adhere to manufacturer’s published derailleur tooth capacity specifications.
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1.1mm diameter shift cable required- and a fresh cable is always a good idea.
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The Tanpan SH10 is compatible with ten-speed Shimano road shifters and optimized for ten-speed Shimano mountain derailleurs.
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Eleven-speed Shimano mountain derailleurs may be used with only a slight decrease in shifting performance
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The Tanpan SH11 is compatible with eleven-speed Shimano road shifters and optimized for eleven-speed Shimano mountain derailleurs.
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Ten-speed Shimano mountain derailleurs may be used with only a slight decrease in shifting performance
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