# Lemond Nevda City upgrades for newby



## Phillip J. Fry (Apr 8, 2005)

Hello all...my first post on this forum. I'm a die hard MTBer who's riding more and more road these days. I have 3 MTB's and ride 3 X's a week. I've built my past several MTB's myself with no problems. So I know my way around a MTB but roadie's seem like a different world. Basic set up is the same and I shouldn't have a problem with that but I do have a few questions and was curious if you guys (and gals) would be kind enough to answer them.

Last year I bought a Nevada City just to do some training for MTB races. Now I find myself in it's saddle more and more and I'm looking to upgrade some stuff. I already have a new bar and I just ordered a stem, post and Ultegra cranks. One thing I don't understand is the rear derailler saying double or triple in the description. Why is that? On MTB's the rear derailler doesn't care if you're running 3x9 or 2x9 so why would a roadie?

Which Ultegra (or SRAM) rear derailler will fit the Lemond's? How about the front derailler? I'm just not sure about sizing and stuff.

Thanks for all the help.


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## rriddle3 (Aug 5, 2004)

If you have a triple crankset on your bike be safe and get a RD designed for a triple. Chain wrap capacity might not be enough in a RD designed for a double crank. Same story for the FD, it has to be able to handle the tooth count difference between your largest chainring and the smallest. You can upgrade to any of the Shimano models designed for road bikes (Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, Dura Ace) assuming you have Sora components on the Nevada City.


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## boris the blade (Aug 5, 2004)

if you have a triple crank coming you will need a long cage rear der if it is a double you can use a long cage but will get better shifting out of a short cage rear der. the reason you need a long cage on a triple is for the chain wrap, that is the cage is longer to take up more chain slack between the bigger difference of the front 3 rings.


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## Phillip J. Fry (Apr 8, 2005)

boris the blade said:


> if you have a triple crank coming you will need a long cage rear der if it is a double you can use a long cage but will get better shifting out of a short cage rear der. the reason you need a long cage on a triple is for the chain wrap, that is the cage is longer to take up more chain slack between the bigger difference of the front 3 rings.



Thanks for the info fellas. That helps some. I now know I will need a long cage RD. 

Why is there such a price difference b/w Ultegra 6500 and 6600? What's the difference b/w the two?

Thanks again!


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## mness (Feb 9, 2005)

Phillip J. Fry said:


> Hello all...my first post on this forum. I'm a die hard MTBer who's riding more and more road these days. I have 3 MTB's and ride 3 X's a week. I've built my past several MTB's myself with no problems. So I know my way around a MTB but roadie's seem like a different world. Basic set up is the same and I shouldn't have a problem with that but I do have a few questions and was curious if you guys (and gals) would be kind enough to answer them.
> 
> Last year I bought a Nevada City just to do some training for MTB races. Now I find myself in it's saddle more and more and I'm looking to upgrade some stuff. I already have a new bar and I just ordered a stem, post and Ultegra cranks. One thing I don't understand is the rear derailler saying double or triple in the description. Why is that? On MTB's the rear derailler doesn't care if you're running 3x9 or 2x9 so why would a roadie?
> 
> ...


Fellow MTB-roadie convert here too, recently went through the same thing.

Rear derailleur: The double/triple for the rear is like GS/SGS in the MTB world. "Triple" version is long-cage (SGS), as someone else said to handle chain-wrap if you shifted to the small-small combination. If you're aware of cross-chaining situations and habitually don't do it, you could use your existing "double" rear derailleur. Size your chain as you normally would by putting it through the big-big combination and adding two links. But if you shift to the small-small combination the cage won't be able to hold all the extra chain and the cage will rub against the chain.

Front derailleur: You definitely need to get the "triple" version, as the double version's cage won't reach down to where the little chainring will be. Another road-specific feature of front derailleurs is they can either be "clamp-on" (like an MTB, where you'd need to know your seat tube size either 1-1/8 or 1-1/4), or "braze-on" (where there's no clamp - it bolts directly to a threaded hole brazed on your seat tube). Look closely at yours - on my LeMond Zurich the front derailleur is the braze-on type, but it bolts to a clamp adapter on the seat tube, not the seat tube itself. If you have this type you can get either a braze-on (and bolt it to your existing clamp), or a clamp-on (replacing the whole thing). So you could get whichever version is cheaper.

Here's a Double:
<img src="https://www.performancebike.com/product_images/150/50_2830.jpg">

And here's a triple (note the cage shape):
<img src="https://www.performancebike.com/product_images/150/50_2841.jpg">

When you get your Triple crankset, you need to also get the Triple bottom bracket, which has a longer spindle to put the rings in the right position. The triple's length is 118, the double's is 109.5.

Lastly, 6500 is the 9-speed versions that have been out for the last few years. 6600 is the new 10-speed version that just came out. Yes the price jump is unreal. But since you've got a nine-speed cogset and shifters, be sure you get the 6500 versions of your crank/derailleur/BB.


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## Phillip J. Fry (Apr 8, 2005)

Thanks mness! That explains a lot. Now I just have to figure out which size FD clamp I need and I can grab one of those pretty cheap. The biggest challenge is going to be finding a good price on some Ultegra shifters. My Sora's feel really crappy when shifting. I took a spin on my buddy;s new bike with DA shifters and Ultegra Deraillers and it was a huge difference. So nice and smooth compared to mine. I still mostly mtn bike but I can see myself riding more and more road as I get older. 

Thanks again for all the explaining. Since I do all of my own work on my MTB, I'm pretty handy when it comes to working on bikes. So this shouldn't be too hard to learn at all. Same basic mechanics, just little tweaks to learn about.


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