Will my RD Work with the HG61 9 speed 12-36 Cassette?

[MacB]

Why did you go for bar end levers as opposed to the more obvious option of 9-speed Tiagra STIs...?

already had a set of dura Ace 9 speed bar end shifters from putting drop bars on the Giant - it had v-brakes so it just made life easier. I wasn't in a position to splurge whatever I wanted on the Burls so focussed the big dosh on frame, forks, headset and wheelset. Most of the rest I already had or picked up second hand. I did intend to spend £50 on a pair of Pauls Thumbies to mount the bar end shifters up on the tops. But I have 31.8mm bars and the thumbies still only come in a 26mm size. They had told me a 31.8mm version was planned for this Spring but apparently that has now been deferred indefinitely . So if I'm talking new stem, bars and the 26mm thumbies just to move my bar end shifters then I might as well be looking at STIs.

I always planned some STIs but as time has passed my options around 9 speed have dwindled and I had some concerns with getting STI front shifting to work with my version of a super compact. I genuinely don't see any need for 10 speed for my riding it was more a case of parts availability. To be honest 8 speed would be plenty with a super compact 2x8. But 8 speed STIs are only available in one flavour, that I can find, and cost more than Tiagra 9 speed....I tried and didn't like some Sora ones. I can still find 9 speed Ultegras but at over £200....I actually like the 9 speed 105s in black but they seemed to vanish from the shelves almost overnight.

It even crossed my mind that, due to lack of front shifting envisaged, I could just buy a right hand STI and leave the bar end front shifter. But I would rather have both my hoods matching, I still live in hope of someone flogging a set of 9 speed STIs with the left hand one not working

 

[MacB]

Well, I got the front shifting working with the MTB mech but it wasn't satisfactory, in order to stop any rubbing in small big I had to slightly angle the mech. This meant I needed to do a lot of trimming when in the big ring to move across the cassette. I worked out that this was due to using a road triple and the MTB mech expects the inner ring to be further out. I also didn't like the way the FD sat behind the seat tube, would have made a full mudguard tricky, for example.

So bought a Sora road double, all my LBS had in, and that works fine and was much easier to setup, though some trimming(a lot less) still needed in big ring. I suspect that the slightly wider triple version would alleviate this as well, so may buy a Tiagra triple, 4503, front mech. As I have some Tiagra Triple STIs en route, found some for £136 on Ribble and decided that was as good as I wasn't going to get. Next cheapest I found was about £160 and prices rose to £194