Guide to Mullet Drivetrains: Pairing Road Shifters with MTB Derailleurs/Cassettes

Originally published April 2020; updated Jan 2021

First off, what exactly is a mullet? That endearing term—made famous by the 90s Beastie Boys song “Mullet Head”—was recently reappropriated to describe a hybrid road/mountain drivetrain. To clarify, the mullet drivetrain configuration uses a road shifter (business in the front) to control a mountain bike derailleur/cassette (party in the back). Makes sense, right?

So, why the mullet? For those unaware, there’s been a lot of demand for wide-range 1x drivetrains on drop-bar bikes. Gravel cyclists simply want more range, and bikepackers often need a granny gear that’s low enough to tackle steep climbs with loaded bikes, which is where the mullet comes in. For reasons I’ll explain, most road 2x systems don’t quite cut it. And as of right now, there aren’t too many wide-range 1x drivetrains on the market, either. Most road one-bys (such as the popular SRAM Rival 1 and Apex 1) are limited*** by SRAM’s 10-42-tooth cassette and provide a slim 420% range. The newer GRX 1×11 can operate a bigger 11-46t cassette, but it still maxes out at 418%. Furthermore, when paired with a 38t chainring up front (the GRX, Apex, and Rival crankset minimum chainring) and 700c x 45mm tires, the net result is a 25 gear inch granny gear (23 for the 46t GRX combo). That’s often a little too high for pedaling a loaded bike up super-steep hills for most of us mortals.

Yes, we know there are great 2×10 and 2×11 road drivetrains out there, but most still don’t achieve a really good, climbing-friendly bailout gear. For example, Shimano’s most compact GRX gravel double crankset (30/46T) paired with an 11-34T cassette and the same 700c x 45mm tires still only gets you a bailout gear with about 25 gear inches.

Enter the mullet. Theoretically, pairing a road shifter with a semi-standard mountain 1x (a 34t chainring and a 50t cassette cog), you’ll have a bailout gear that nets about 19 gear inches using the same tire size (a 36t ring will achieve 20 gear inches).

The Great Mullet Quandary is that most road drivetrain components don’t work with mountain components. They have different cable pull ratios and other such discrepancies, though there are exceptions. One is the brilliant SRAM AXS system (full review here), which allows the AXS Force wireless shifters to communicate with the AXS Eagle rear derailleur—“business” (Force 1 road shifters) in the front, and “party” (MTB Eagle derailleur and cassette) in the back. It works extraordinarily well, but it’s also quite expensive—starting at about $1,450 for just the Force shifters and AXS derailleur. The price tag alone makes it a non-starter for many of us. And the fact that it’s electronic makes it a no-go for anyone who has even the faintest whiff of luddite blood.

But don’t fret! There are several options out there, some of which are better than others. We’ve compiled a list below with notes, pricing, testing and install notes, and pros and cons for each. They are listed in the order of range, from widest to most narrow. We’ve also included some additional mix and match options to expand the range or reduce the price tag. Plus find a wrap up with comparisons of some of our favorite options.

500-520%1×12

SRAM Road Shifters with 10-50 or 10-52T Cassette

Rival 1 / Ratio Upgrade Kit + Eagle

Brake compatibility: Mechanical or Hydraulic Disc
Hub driver: SRAM XD (or HG with NX Cassette)

As most of you know, neither SRAM nor Shimano allow their DoubleTap or STI road shifters to interface with their 12-speed MTB drivetrains. SRAM uses two different pull ratios on their mechanical groupsets. Exact Actuation is used on road and older mountain bike components, and X Actuation is employed on the newer 1x mountain bike components. X Actuation derailleurs require more cable to move across the cassette. The difference isn’t huge, but it’s enough that road shifters don’t have the capacity to pull that much cable. That means in order to use a road shifter, you have to drop the pull ratio down to Exact Actuation for it to be able to operate an Eagle derailleur. By adjusting this pull ratio at the derailleur and adding another speed to the shifter ratchet, the wizards at Ratio Technology in Cambridge, UK, was able to make this work with a variety of SRAM components.

The Ratio 1×12 Wide Upgrade Kit comes with all the parts necessary to modify Red, Force, Rival, Apex, and S Series shifters (with both mechanical and hydraulic brakes) to operate Eagle X01, GX, or XX1 derailleurs. The kit includes a Ratio 12-speed ratchet, Ratio cable fin, Ratio cable adjuster, Spare cable fin circlip, M2.5 screw for shifter ratchet replacement (for use only on hydraulic brake levers), an emergency piece of mint candy, a couple of stickers, and a well-done, detailed instruction sheet that is written with both pro and home mechanics in mind.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

The two main components are the shifter ratchet and the derailleur cable fin. The cable fin is what transforms the Eagle derailleur to work via Exact Actuation. And the other main component is the shifter ratchet, which is the crux of the kit and replaces the 11-speed ratchet at the heart of the DoubleTap shifter mechanism.

From the full review: “this is about as good as it gets, in my opinion. It’s pretty easy to install, works flawlessly, and you get the quick, crisp shifting and excellent gear progression that Eagle is known for, as well as the reliability that comes with it. In addition, if you prefer SRAM’s DoubleTap lever mechanism to STI shifters, as I do, this solution is the bee’s knees.” Note that we reviewed this with some used X01 components but specced it here with GX, for the sake of price. Also, note that you can shave off a few dollars by using Apex 1 levers. And if you have an HG hub driver, you could use an Eagle NX cassette, that would result in a lesser gear range. Find the full review of the Ratio 1×12 Upgrade Kit here, complete with pros and cons.

511%1×11

SRAM Road Shifters with 9-46T Cassette

Rival 1 + e*Thirteen

Brake compatibility: Mechanical or Hydraulic Disc
Hub driver: SRAM XD

The second widest drivetrain in this bunch is also probably the least mullet, or MTB. In fact, aside from a different crankset, the only change from a standard SRAM Rival 1 road drivetrain is the addition of the e*Thirteen TRS+ 11-46t cassette. However, this makes a very big difference. The magic of the eThirteen cassettes comes from its 9-tooth cog. Most other cassette manufacturers use an 11-tooth cog (the minimum allowed on a standard Shimano HG hub driver). However, smaller cogs became possible with the advent of SRAM’s threaded XD Driver. SRAM uses this to offer a minimum 10-tooth cog on their cassettes, which alone gains about 42% more range when comparing an 11-42 cassette vs 10-42.

• 
• 
• 

What exactly will a 9-tooth cassette cog get you? Well, when comparing the range between a 10-42 cassette and a 9-42, there’s a difference of about 47%! The 10-42 has a range of 420% and the 9-42 has about 467%. That’s a big difference. With that, e*thirteen’s 12-speed 556% 9-50t TRS+ cassette is the widest on the mainstream market. That’s massive for a single cassette. There’s one other that’s a little wider: KCNC’s 9-52T 12-speed cassette boasts a whopping 578%. Of course, KCNC isn’t a well known company and the cassette is a little hard to find, and it’s perhaps not as compelling as the offerings from e*thirteen.

However, the one shown here is the 9-46T TRS+ 11-speed model. And even though it has four fewer teeth on the big cog than the aforementioned cluster, it makes the widest range option for an 11-speed drop-bar drivetrain at 511%. That said, one could easily use the 9-50 with one of the 12-speed configurations listed below, but we think this is a good place to start.

• 
• 

This drivetrain is not only the widest range option listed here, it’s also the one we’ve put the most miles on—and is my personal favorite. I’ve put well over 1,000 miles on this drivetrain and it’s still going strong. The SRAM Rival 1 derailleur works flawlessly, and even though SRAM specifies the max capacity at 42-tooth cassette cogs, it has no issues with a 46. It’s fairly smooth and has the perfect range. I’ve been using it with a 32t chainring on a 29er, which does very well while pedaling a loaded bike on steep climbs—well enough for Colombia’s insanely steep dirt roads—and doesn’t spin out too quickly when going downhill.

500%1×11

SRAM Road Shifters with 10-50T Cassette

Rival 1 + Garbaruk

Brake compatibility: Mechanical or Hydraulic Disc
Hub driver: SRAM XD

This Mullet is based on a derailleur cage and cassette made by Garbaruk, a Ukrainian company that’s been making bike components for about a decade. We actually took a look at this system in our wide-range 11-speed article back in 2018. They offer several wide-range “precisely crafted lightweight 11-speed MTB cassettes,” including an 11-50T Shimano/HG compatible cassette and the 10-50T XD-specific model shown here. The smaller 10 cogs (10-12-14-16-19-22-26-30-36-42) are made of a single piece of machined chromoly steel, and the 50T, 7075-T651 aluminum alloy cog is secured to the cluster with three Torx screws. It’s available in multiple anodized colors.

Alongside these cassettes, Garbaruk also offers anodized alloy derailleur cages for both SRAM and Shimano that replace the standard rear derailleur cage and allow it to work with the massive 50T cog on their cassettes. By repositioning the upper derailleur pulley closer to the small cassette cog and farther from the largest cog, Garbaruk cages allow rear derailleurs designed to be used with 11-42T cassettes work with 10-50T cassettes.

• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

The machining and construction of the cassette is impressive, and considering that it’s mostly steel, it’s incredibly lightweight. Having tried it with multiple drivetrains in this roundup, I also think it shifts fairly smoothly. Perhaps not as quite as smooth as high-end cassettes by SRAM or Shimano, but it holds its own.

As mentioned, the design of the Garbaruk Read Derailleur Cage changes the cage the derailleur to work with their cassettes’ large 50T cogs, so I was happy to see that it was possible to use on one of my favorite road derailleurs, Rival 1. The Garbaruk cage was pretty straightforward to install, although getting the system in tune was a little finicky as it seemed extra sensitive to clicks of the barrel adjuster and cable tension. It’s worth noting that you can technically use the same pulleys from the old cage, so using their wild looking, large anodized cages aren’t necessary. But they sent them along to test, so I thought they were worth trying as well.

• 
• 

On first ride, I felt like this system didn’t shift as crisply as some others. However, after a couple rides, it started to come into its own and actually get smoother, crisper and more accurate feeling. In the end, I’m quite impressed with what Garbaruk is doing and feel like their cassettes are one of the few I’d trust on a big ride, in addition to e*Thirteen, SRAM, and Shimano.

500%1×12

Bar-end Shifters with Eagle 12-speed

MicroShift + Eagle

Brake compatibility: Mechanical or Hydraulic Disc
Hub driver: SRAM XD

*Doesn’t include the weight of your choice brake levers

Microshift’s BS-M12-R simple-yet-effective bar-end shifter allows either friction or indexed shifting for MTB 1×12 gearing, and is a great solution for those interested in running a 1×12 SRAM Eagle drivetrain on a drop-bar bike, without breaking the bank. Aside from running a thumb shifter at the stem position, this is actually the only other shifter that can currently enable Eagle on a drop-bar bike. Another great perk is the ability to run the BS-M12-R in either indexed or friction mode. This means that if your derailleur hanger gets bent, you can switch to friction mode to dial in the chain-to-cassette interface and keep riding until you get the derailleur repaired.

• 
• 
• 

If you’ve never used a bar-end shifter, it can take some time to get accustomed to. The need to change hand positions to shift could be daunting to some, especially while pedaling on rougher terrain. Also, the shifter is a bit more susceptible to damage if the bike falls over or is involved in a crash. And, some folks who use narrower handlebars might complain about knee interference.

Bar-end shifter install is pretty straightforward, requiring a re-wrap of the handlebars and slightly longer derailleur cable and housing. One thing to note is that an in-line barrel adjuster will have to be installed with the new cable housing to allow fine tuning of shifting. Most mountain derailleurs these days don’t come with barrel adjusters due to the fact that MTB shifters have built-in barrel adjusters, whereas road shifters do not.

Overall, the Microshift BS-M12-R bar-end 1×12 shifter performed great. Set up was easy and the shifting works fairly well. This is a great product for those who want to have SRAM 1×12 group on a drop-bar bike without shelling out the cash for SRAMs AXS group. – TJ Kearns

500%1×12

Gevenalle Shifters with Eagle 12-speed

Gevenalle + Eagle Derailleur/Cassette

Brake compatibility: Mechanical or Hydraulic Disc
Hub driver: SRAM XD

Gevenalle—Dutch for “Give All”—is a Portland, Oregon-based business that makes cylcocross-specific derailleurs, brakes, and shifters. The company offers a line of unique shifter lever sets designed to accomplish two things: 1. Allow you to shift through multiple gears with a single lever rotation (instead of the 2-3 clicks at a time to go lower, or one click per advance toward the bottom of the cassette), and 2. Eliminate lever rotation while braking (most common on Shimano STI shifters). While these two features were conceived with CX in mind, another benefit is that Genevalle shifters offer a range of options to work with MTB-specific derailleurs. These include Shimano Dyna-Sys 11-speed (XT/SLX/XTR) and SRAM 1×12 Eagle. And the versatility doesn’t stop there. They are also configurable to work with hydraulic or mechanical brakes, and if you pick the latter, they can be further configured to operate short-pull mechanical calipers (MTB) or long-pull road calipers. Find the full compatibility chart here

• 
• 

The pair we tested was the Gevenalle GX 1×12 shifter/brake levers configured for SRAM 1×12 and short-pull MTB mechanical brakes. In a nutshell, this enabled a full 12-speed Eagle drivetrain on a drop-bar setup without dropping the serious cash needed for AXS. The levers consist of two Tektro mechanical brake levers with the right lever modified to house a MicroShift index shifter at its top with some clever machining to make it fit and operate. A new shift cable is included in the kit, but you’ll have to supply your own cable housing, brake cables, and inline barrel adjuster to dial in your shifting. We chose the short-pull option to work with the TRP Spyre mountain brake calipers, which worked perfectly.

• 
• 
• 

Installation was straightforward, although the brake cables can be a little tricky to fish through the lever and into the housing. The overall shifting performance was pretty good once we got used to the semi-awkward placement of the shifter. But after a while, it became pretty natural. The hoods are comfortable, with my only complaint being that they could be a bit taller for when the gravel gets rough and the terrain gets steep.

Overall, I came away pretty impressed with the Gevenalle 1×12 GX levers. They’re a simple and effective solution to enable a wide-range 1×12 Eagle drivetrain with drop bars. Although the shifter placement is awkward at first, its performance has been flawless. – TJ Kearns

Budget Alternatives

If you’re using a standard/HG hub driver, you could substitute a SX Eagle 11-50T cassette, which would save a little money, although it’s also a bit heavier and you would lose about 46% in the overall gear range.

454%1×11

Shimano STI Shifters with Dynasys 11-spd Derailleur

Shimano 105 + SLX + TanPan + Sunrace

Brake compatibility: Mechanical Disc
Hub driver: Standard (Shimano HG)

Despite the fact that it looks idiosyncratic, this drivetrain has two proven and reliable Shimano components at its core: the venerable SLX mountain derailleur, and the reasonably priced 105 road 2×11 shifter set. Note that the left 2x shifter is useless as this is a 1×11 drivetrain. You could also substitute a single shifterless left brake lever, but the $200 price tag for the set is still more approachable than other Shimano levers, and it has mechanical brake pulls, which is likely preferable for many long-distance bikepackers. If you’re interested in hydraulic brakes, you could substitute GRX shifter levers, which will set you back about $475.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

To make the road levers pair well with the SLX mountain derailleur, we used the 17g USA-machined Wolf Tooth Tanpan. This interesting, quarter-sized widget installs at the derailleur and uses two pulleys of varying diameters and a ramp between them to wrap the cable and amplify the road shifter cable pull, allowing it to communicate with a mountain derailleur. It was fairly easy to install with the directions from Wolf Tooth, although there are a couple things to note. First, there’s a tiny screw that secures the cable in place so the pulley is properly clocked for the right ratio. You’ll need a jeweler’s Phillips-head screwdriver for this, so be careful not to strip it. Also, if you’re building a large bike, the cable will need to be extra long as it has to wrap the two pulley diameters before connecting at the derailleur.

To complete this drivetrain, we used a Sunrace 11-50T cassette for a proper 454% range. To ensure the SLX derailleur had the reach for the large 50-tooth cog, we employed the Wolf Tooth Goatlink 11. This hanger extension replaces the “B-knuckle” on the derailleur and offsets the derailleur’s position to allow a wide-range cassette. It worked like a charm and the SLX derailleur comfortably shifted to the 50 without having to max out the B-gap screw.

• 
• 

While it appears that there’s a lot of stuff going on with this drivetrain, it’s actually fairly simple. At first, I thought I’d have to worry about having more parts to break, but the Goatlink 11 just replaces another link, and the Tanpan is simple and very well built. In use, it worked remarkably well once tuned properly. Shimano STI shifters are significantly more sensitive to pressure when upshifting than SRAM DoubleTap, but the 105/Tanpan/SLX combo shifted quite well. I only put a few rides in on this system, so if anyone has any long-term experience with the Tanpan, please leave a comment below…

454%1×11

SRAM 11-speed Road Shifters with Eagle (11-speed!)

Rival 1 + Shiftmate 9 + SX Eagle

Brake compatibility: Mechanical or Hydraulic Disc
Hub driver: Standard (Shimano HG)

This is perhaps the second most eclectic drivetrain of the bunch. And not just because it uses another pulley widget to adjust the cable ratio, but for the fact that it’s the only one here to use a 12-speed derailleur with an 11-speed drivetrain. Fortunately for us tinkerers, both the SRAM 1×11 and 1×12 drivetrains use the SRAM “X-ACTUATION” technology, meaning they both have the same cable pull ratio. That allows you to use SRAM 11-speed trigger shifters with 12-speed derailleurs (effectively operating them as 11-speed derailleurs). NOTE: photos show this drivetrain with the Garbaruk cassette, but it’s specced with the Sunrace 11-50T cassette to make it the second-most affordable option in the list.

• 
• 

So, how do we get a SRAM DoubleTap road shifter to speak the same X-ACTUATION pull ratio language as a mountain derailleur? Enter the Jtek shiftmate 9, one of 11 different Shiftmate “bicycle gear shifting adaptors” that allow certain shifters to talk to certain derailleurs. The Shiftmate 9 translates SRAM road to SRAM mountain and allows our favorite Rival 1 shifter to work with an Eagle rear derailleur. This not only opens up several derailleur options, but also enables several wide-range cassettes, such as the 10-50T Garbaruk shown here, or the Sunrace 11-50 if you have a standard/HG driver. In short, the Shiftmate 9 works much like the Wolf Tooth Tanpan. There are two pulley diameters with a ramp between the two to change the pull ratio. It’s worth noting that Jtek is based out of the UK and only sells the Shiftmate through a few online retailers. We recommend SJScycles.co.uk, which is where we bought ours for this test.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

To keep this on the affordable end of the mullet drivetrain spectrum, we opted for the Eagle SX rear derailleur, which also happens to have a better cable entry angle than the GX and X01 derailleurs we had on hand. The Shiftmate 9 installed relatively easily and I’m happy to report that it shifts beautifully with the Garbaruk cassette. As noted, a more affordable option might be the Sunrace 11-50T MX cassette.

454%1×11

Shimano Shifters, GRX Derailleur & 11-50T Cassette

Shimano GRX + Goat Link + Sunrace 11-50T

Brake compatibility: Mechanical or Hydraulic Disc
Hub driver: Standard (Shimano HG)

When Shimano’s gravel-specific GRX drivetrains were released last year, the company touted wider range and more versatility. However, a lot of folks scratched their heads when they realized that the new clutch-based, 1x-specific RX812 derailleur offered similar gearing capacity to SRAM’s Force 1 and Rival 1 derailleurs, with the max cassette cog specced at 42 teeth. Fortunately, it was soon realized that an 11-46-tooth cassette was an option with the RX812.

• 
• 

One little easter egg in the RX812 is that its axle bracket link (“B-knuckle”) shares the same design as Shimano’s mountain derailleurs—namely XT and SLX. When I first heard that, the Wolf Tooth Goatlink 11 immediately came to mind. As mentioned above, the Goatlink 11 hanger extension replaces the link on the SLX and XT 11-speed derailleurs to offset the derailleur’s position and allow a larger cassette. We tried the same approach with the RX812 derailleur and were pleased to find that it worked perfectly and allowed with derailleur to easily shift into the 50T cog on the Sunrace 11-50 cassette. This allows the GRX 1×11 to achieve 36% more range than with the standard 11-46T cassette.

• 
• 
• 

In effect, this is probably one of the simplest “hacks” in this guide, second only to the Rival 1/e*Thirteen drivetrain which only really replaces the cassette. It’s also one of the better options if you prefer Shimano STI shifters over SRAM’s DoubleTap. It was easy to set up and shifted fairly smoothly once tuned. To dial it in and make it a little crisper when shifting to larger cogs, I removed the clutch plate and turned the clutch tension adjustment screw counterclockwise about a quarter to a half turn. I’ve only gotten a couple rides in on this system as it’s the newest one here, but I look forward to putting some miles on the GRX derailleur and reporting back…

418%1×11

MicroShift drop-bar 1×11

MicroShift XLE + XCD

Brake compatibility: Mechanical disc
Hub driver: Standard (Shimano HG)

While the Microshift XLE/XCD hybrid doesn’t quite have the range we are looking for, it was one of the first options I tested and I’ve put a lot miles on it, both loaded and unloaded. In addition, it’s also the least expensive mullet drivetrain listed here, so we thought it was well worth including.

Most of what’s used here is from the Microshift XCD line, which was the company’s high-end drivetrain line until the recently announced Advent X (which we’ll be reviewing soon). The two main components used from this line are the CS-G113 11-46T cassette and the RD-M865M, an on/off clutch 1×11 derailleur, which is specced for a large 46T cog, but I think it could probably squeeze a 48 or 50, even. The cassette features 9 steel (11/13/15/18/21/24/28/32/36) and two aluminum alloy cogs (40 and 46). The larger four cogs are on a spider and the remainder are separate.

• 
• 

• 
• 

At the helm is the SB-M110 shift/brake lever set, with a rather unique brifter controlling the derailleur. The SB-M110 shifter is shares the same pull ratio as a Shimano MTB 1×11-speed shifter, which makes it the perfect candidate for a mullet drivetrain. However, it has a couple other unique features that you might like or dislike. One is the shifter lever’s unique cable routing. Instead of going through the lever to be taped to the bar, it extrudes from the inside of the top of the brake lever. You might think that this could be an issue when mounting a bag, but I found it to be quite the contrary. When running the cables, I left the shifter cable long. When using a 70mm stem, there is plenty of room to mount a large bag (I used a BXB Teardrop mostly) and have the cable route in front of and around the bag. Those running shorter stems or larger bags might have an issue, but I suppose you could use an old metal cable noodle to force route it downward.

• 
• 
• 

The other slightly odd feature on these shifters are the rather bulbous hoods. At first I thought this was an odd feature, but after using them I quite liked the shape. I often rest my hands just behind the hoods and felt like they had a well-conceived ergonomic shape, despite the fact that it’s unlike any other hood I’ve seen.

ALl in all, I’ve been quite impressed by Microshift’s $300 mullet drivetrain. It was easy to set up and tune, it shifts fairly accurately, although maybe a little more clunky than some others, and the odd-shaped hoods and cable routing had some unexpected benefits. The clutch derailleur functioned surprisingly well too, with my only complaint being in the tension screws require a flat-head screwdriver instead of a small hex key. Aside from the very attractive price, perhaps one of the more intriguing aspects of this drivetrain is the fact that the SB-M110 levers can be paired with a Shimano SLX or XT derailleur as well. So if you have one of those lying around your shop, it’s pretty easy to create a wide range mullet with a Goatlink 11 and Sunrace 11-50T cassette.

Wrap Up

Despite the fact that there aren’t too many on the market, there are a lot of solid options for a wide-range, drop-bar drivetrain, most of which are currently in the form of a road/mountain hybrid mullet. With that said, as demand increases, I expect more off-t the-shelf options to spring up over the next couple of years. In closing, here’s a comparison list of the brake/shifter (“brifter”) options featured here, ordered by shifting accuracy and smoothness (rated 1-5 in the “smooth” column). Note that these all shifted quite well, and there are more notes in each mini-review, but for the sake of comparison:

If you have any experience with any of the mods, hacks, or parts listed here, please let us know. And if you have a suggestion for other mullet drivetrains that are worth investigating, drop us a line in the comments below…