[Tupelo]

We put together this bike for the wife. She races women's Cat1/A and has used a Jamis cross bike for the past 4-5 seasons. She also writes for crossbikereview.com. This bike is her personal bike.

Parts List:
S-Works Crux 52
SRAM XX1 crank and chainring
SRAM X9 Clutched Rear Der w 11-32 Deore XT cassette 10speed
SRAM Red Shifters
XTR chain
Stan's 340s wheelset
TRP EuroX Carbon brakes
Clement PDX tires
Thompson Katie Compton bars 44s
Rotor S3x Stem 90mm
Time Atac pedals

Total wt with pedals 15.9lbs

The cassette and chain are temporary until she decides on the gearing. She runs a 36 chainring, but may add a 38 to the mix. The rings are very expensive. Thanks to Brandon at and the crew at RCB for all the help!

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[Local Hero]

Awesome. I love the 1X10 for cross.

and 36T up front is enough for me.

 

[mudrock]

The X9 RD will work w the XX1 crank? When you say cammed you mean it has the clutch in the jockey cage to prevent chain bounce? (not familiar w the mountain groups myself)

 

[Tupelo]

Yeah, I meant clutched. Yes it works with no chain bounce. It's rock solid. The big issue is getting the cable to route properly as it exits the chainstay. The X9 der has it feed into the top and not the rear like a normal road der, so there is a funny bend in the short cable. She already switched to the 38 front and Shimano XTR chain and cassette. Removed the guts from the left shifter. Shaved 1/2 a pound. Now it is at 15.5lbs. Crazy.

 

[[email protected]]

Very Nice!

 

[RRRoubaix]

The cassette and chain are temporary until she decides on the gearing. She runs a 36 chainring, but may add a 38 to the mix. The rings are very expensive. Thanks to Brandon at and the crew at RCB for all the help!

Brandon at River City? Best damn mechanic in Stumptown!
Man, I miss Portland...

 

[Tupelo]

Yep, Brandon at River City. He/they did some cool stuff and really helped her dial it in. She raced at Sea Otter with it and had a 3rd place going with 1 lap to go and went down. Lost 2 positions and ended up 5th. She says the bike is fast. She also got a 5th place in Cat 1 women only a minute back to 4th. Her best result in cross country at this event.

 

[tiflow_21]

Yeah, I meant clutched. Yes it works with no chain bounce. It's rock solid. The big issue is getting the cable to route properly as it exits the chainstay. The X9 der has it feed into the top and not the rear like a normal road der, so there is a funny bend in the short cable. She already switched to the 38 front and Shimano XTR chain and cassette. Removed the guts from the left shifter. Shaved 1/2 a pound. Now it is at 15.5lbs. Crazy.

Is she still using the X9 rear derailleur? I'm planning to do the same and am curious on how you routed the rear derailleur cable. If there's any chance you could post a picture of the rear der cable routing I'd greatly appreciate it.

Anyone else try an X9 type 2 on a newer specialized carbon crux and have any feedback on how the setup is working?

 

[Tupelo]

Here is the routing. She is still using the same set-up. This year she won the Cross race at Sea Otter. Proud of her. I hope this helps you out. Best of luck.

 

[tiflow_21]

Thanks Tupelo! I've installed the X9 type 2 short cage on my crux, running 42x11-32 (race face nw ring, XT cassette) with the original force levers. The low ratio is nearly the same as the 36x28 that I previously had with a double, hoping the 42t will keep me closer to the middle of the cassette through races. The slightly larger ratio jumps seem like they shouldn't be much if any disadvantage in cx.

The cable routing is a bit funky, but after some fiddling I was able to get it to work. I was originally having trouble with getting it to shift into the 11t cog, but after dialing out the b-tension more than I'm used to everything is working well. I would consider the CX1 rear der strictly due to the cable routing if something happens to this derailleur, but at less than half the price and the same functionality the X9 seems like a solid option.

 

[Tupelo]

Glad to hear you got it to work. I'm glad they created the CX1. She's in the same boat as you: if she trashes this der she'll upgrade to the new version with proper routing. In the meantime it has worked flawless, so why change?

 

[warx]

Not to get techy on this cool thread - but wouldn't the CX1 RD need a 11spd SRAM shifter? The CX1 shifter (Force) is like $435. Seems better to stick with the X.9

 

[Peter_E]

Here is the routing. She is still using the same set-up. This year she won the Cross race at Sea Otter. Proud of her. I hope this helps you out. Best of luck.

I am building a Crux with an X0 type2-derailleur. Do you have a pic from the back too? Hope this works out for me too. I have som iLink to play with and it would be great not having to buy a CX1-derailleur.

 

[warx]

Here's a Zee on my Crux. Routing is easy. Dealing with dyna-sys not so (but can handle the 12-36T easily).

 

[Tupelo]

I don't think so, if they want to keep it 10 speed. Just need to set the High and Low setting and let the shifter tell it how far to move. But, yes, if you want to go to 11spd then a new shifter is needed.

 

[tiflow_21]

Just got done with two races on my crux with 10 speed force levers/X9 type 2 short cage/Race Face narrow wide. So far everything has worked perfectly. One race was fairly muddy, which didn't cause any problems. 42tx11-32 seemed to be nearly perfect. Never felt like I needed a lower or higher gear and was near the middle of the cassette for a majority of the race. Far better than feeling like you're stuck in too big of a ring (46) or too small of a ring (36) for an entire race. The slightly larger gear ratio jumps almost seemed to be a benefit in some situations. It never felt like the ratio jumps were too big during the race, the ratios seem well matched for CX where 1 tooth jumps aren't always a good thing. Also really nice to get rid of the chain slap when jumping over things and/or setting bike down after barriers. So far I'm completely sold on 1x for cx racing!

To anyone else setting up an X9 type 2 on a carbon crux with the rear routing from behind the drop out, just experiment with housing length and make sure you have the b-screw dialed so you have ~6mm of a gap from the pulley to the large cog. The housing loop is a bit awkward, but functions perfectly. I used normal jagwire housing and likely have more of a loop than I need. Eventually I'll shorten it a bit, but for now it works. Make sure you have an inline barrel adjuster somewhere in the system, I have mine near the bars.

Parts List:
2013 Specialized Crux Expert Frameset - 61cm
FSA SL-K Crankset w/42t Race Face Narrow Wide Chainring (stock crank)
SRAM X9 Type 2 w/XT 10 speed 11-32 cassette
SRAM Force Shifters
Ultegra 6701 Chain
Stans Crest Front/355 rear w/King ISO Disc Hubset (prior seasion's MTB Race wheelset)
Clement PDX tires - Setup Tubeless
Avid BB7 Road Calipers
Stock Handlebars
Syntace F109 Stem 100mm
Shimano XTR m970 Pedals

 

[warx]

Interesting about the bigger jumps between gears. When I was putting my 12-36T back on my Crux I thought about putting a spare 11-26 instead but had similar thinking that bigger jumps mean less shifting. For road the best thing about close gears is if you're on a constant speed/climb you can really dial in the cadence. In cross it's always about accelerating and I've been used to just one gear for the last year so even two gears will seem massive! Looking forward to trying it tomorrow in a hot-laps practice.

For details-sake:
2013 E5 Crux disc frame (56cm)
Zee RD
Zee MTB thumb shifter custom mount
Yokozuna cable
TRP Hylex hydraulic brakes (hence no shifters!)
12-36 1071 cassette
1070 chain KMC link
RED crank GXP
Beer Eccentric BB (for single-speed tensioning) BB30 - takes 24mm GXP
RaceFace wide-narrow chainring 130bcd 42T, single chainring bolts
Stans Iron Cross wheels
Stans Ravens tires
XT SPD pedals

 

[Peter_E]

I did not get my type2 derailleur to work on my Crux. Shifting was crap. Got the cx1 instead.

 

[warx]

I rode my Zee conversion this morning on some hot laps in Golden Gate Park. Worked pretty nicely and the shifting triggers are actually usable in that position. What I need to get used to is having to shift! I think I prefer not thinking while riding. Anyways, I know I've got it as an option. I will say the Zee is a very compact derailleur - even though it has the clutch it must be a short cage designed for 1x and DH I think. Sucks it's Shimano dynasys though. Retroshift is supposedly working on a dynasys shifter (or is it SRAM - or both?!).

Each gear shifted cleanly and doing the 3 downshifts in one press was nice. Totally silent drivetrain - no clatter on the bumps (although no long sections of big bumps in the park).

I felt it was good enough to consider using it for geared races and making me think about sticking with one cross bike again this season for both category races. I was looking at the 2015 Redline Conquest Pro w/ CX1, hydro and tubeless.

 

[x-wrench]

Another option for cable routing...

Sorry I don't have a pic of this, but the way I got around mounting my x-9 derailleur was to use brake cable housing and to make a sort of figure 9, going up from the exit point out of the frame then down to the derailleur. To keep it tidy I simply zip tie the middle of it to the chainstay. It works, but i may just try the Nokon housing method shown here-that uses much less cable.