The Wolf Tooth and Lindares products have been well received by mountain bikers. They’ve refined their goat link to work with SRAM 10-42t cassettes. Details inside for those looking to run a 1×11 setup with SRAM’s 11-speed mountain cassettes with Shimano derailleurs.

Introducing the Lindarets x Wolf Tooth GoatLink 11: Optimizing Shimano 11-speed derailleurs for use with SRAM XD and aftermarket extended-range cassettes.

From the moment we realized that Shimano and SRAM’s 11-speed mountain cassettes shared the spacing, we knew that we wanted to it all. We wanted Shimano’s ergonomics, pricing, and reliability combined with SRAM’s wide-range cassettes. What we found, however, that while we could run XT or XTR shifters and derailleurs with a SRAM 10-42t cassette without modification, performance fell short of what we’d come to expect from each company’s flagship products.

The result of extensive CAD optimization and eight months of field testing, the GoatLink 11 re-positions M8000 XT and M9000 XTR rear derailleurs such that free chain, the primary driver of shifting performance, is within 1% of what Shimano intended while engagement is improved by 27%.

But we didn’t stop there. Knowing that certain situations call for a range beyond that provided by stock 10-42t or 11-42t cassettes, we tweaked the GoatLink 11 to such that it significantly improves Shimano 11s rear derailleur performance with extended-range 10-44t and 11-45t cassettes.

So now you too can have it all: ideal performance from Shimano derailleurs and 10-42t SRAM XD cassettes as well as wide-range capability for bigger days.

Each GoatLink is CNC machined from 6061 aluminum, anodized, and laser etched at Wolf Tooth Components’ Minneapolis facility. Our second-generation design does away with the B-tab pin and comes fitted with our proven stainless steel bolt. The GoatLink 11 weighs 19g with hardware, for an 8g net weight when replacing the stock XTR Direct Mount link.

GoatLink 11s are available now from Lindarets and Wolf Tooth Components online stores for $27.95 and will be available through distributors and shops shortly.

· The GoatLink 11 is compatible with M8000 (XT) and M9000 (XTR) series eleven-speed Shimano rear derailleurs.

· The GoatLink 11 mounts only to standard derailleur hangers.

· Double chainrings are not currently supported

· Triple chainrings are not supported.

· Direct Mount-native frames and SRAM derailleurs are not supported.

· All improvements are based on nominal Shimano-specification derailleur hanger geometry. An unmodified Shimano rear derailleur adjusted for the specified cassette serves as the baseline (0%), and an unmodified rear derailleur adjusted for a 40t top cog as the target (100%).

· Due to variations in derailleur hanger geometry, chainstay length, chainring size, B-screw adjustment, and suspension configuration, individual results will vary.

Q&A

I heard that XXTR works OK without modification- why bother?

In short, we wanted better than just OK.

When you’re spending $845 (XTR/XX1) or even $515 (XT/X01) for a chain, cassette, shifters, and derailleurs, they should work really, really well.

That goes doubly so for shops- no one wants to send a customer out the door with equipment that doesn’t live up to its potential.

Should I use the GoatLink 11 when running an XT 11-42 cassette with an XTR rear derailleur?

No- it doesn’t make enough of a difference for us to recommend the GoatLink 11 for this application.

What’s so special about a 10-42?

The issue isn’t so much clearing the largest cog (though the GoatLink 11 certainly helps when we get up to 44s and 45s)- it’s keeping the top derailleur pulley close to the cassette across the entire range. While Shimano’s system was designed for 11-40t cassettes, SRAM’s XD models are 10-42. By the time you get into the bottom cogs, an XT or XTR top pulley is 10mm (30%) further from the cassette than it was designed to be. Because the chain is engineered to be flexible, this extra difference, or free chain, makes shifting noticeably less precise.

Who makes an 11-46t cassette? That’s huge!

No one… yet. But it sure would be nice to be able to use your existing derailleur and shifter should one hit the market, wouldn’t it?

Why does engagement go down sometimes?

Shimano components are designed to work fantastically within their intended ecosystem. Unfortunately, that makes it really hard to make them do other things. We felt that the minor decrease in engagement was an acceptable tradeoff for improved shifting- but wanted consumers to be able to come to their own conclusions.

Can I use this to run a double with my 11s cassette?

That’s something we are continuing to test. We hope to have more information by the time M8000 SGS (long cage) rear derailleurs are widely available.