Hey everyone, welcome!
It was last year at the Sea Otter bike festival here, north of Toronto where I had the chance to try some entry-level e-bikes from Norco
and to my surprise none of those e-bikes were running the e-bike specific drivetrains.
Shimano has the LINKGLIDE, SRAM has the EX1.
They were all running the DEORE drivetrains whether they were 12 speed
but more often than not they were the M5100 11 speed and some of them were running the M4100, the 10 speed from Shimano.
I have the shifting bits from M4100 with me today, let's check them out!
Both of the 10 and 11 speed options offer a 2x version of the drivetrain
but today I'm going to focus specifically on the 1x components.
To figure out what component works with what drivetrain Shimano has this table online that should clarify things quite nicely
and if that looks quite complicated, yes it is, and that's probably one of the reasons why
Shimano just introduced their Shimano CUES drivetrain
that's supposed to actually replace this M4100, M5100 for that mid and low price point bikes in the near future.
But for now let's focus on this and if you stick around I'm gonna have something special for you folks at the end of this video.
So what I have is the cassette, shifter, and the derailleur and I'm going to put them side by side with M5100.
And first of all, just like the M5100 11 speed this cassette can use the good old Shimano HG freehub
so if you have older bikes like this one with 135mm QR
you can very easily upgrade this to either 1x10 or 1x11.
But if the M5100 uses this aluminum carrier with the largest cogs bolted onto it
and then a whole bunch of loose cogs,
and by the way I have a video I'm going to link it up in the corner with all the details of this cassette.
This 10 speed M4100 cassette is all steel. What you see here on the back looks like an aluminum carrier
but if I take a magnet to it, this is all made out of steel
and on a closer look you see this big cluster at the end
and then all the other loose cogs, all of them being riveted together, 3 big rivets right here clearly visible.
M5100 uses the same plastic tube that the 12-speed drivetrains use, this makes it very easy to install
and as you pull this out, here goes, all the loose cogs.
This 10 speed M4100 uses this little plastic cap
so you just pull that out and here we go, the only loose cogs that you see here are the 11T and 13T
Steel lock ring, you're gonna have 40Nm here and the product number, made in Indonesia.
Both the 11 and 12 speed provide you with an 11-42 tooth cassette that I don't think anybody uses
but if you're looking at this 11-51T versus 11-46T the big difference here it's going to be at the end of the cassette
where you see a big jump here from 37T to 46T.
The 11-51T has 39-45-51T which is pretty much what their 12 speed cassettes use.
So this 46 tooth feels more like a bailout gear but Shimano is well known for doing this.
Look at their older M8000 11 speed cassette for instance.
Most of the time you buy these cassettes for durability, made all out of steel
and here's the weight, 623 grams for M5100.
Here's the 10 speed, 11-46T, 522 grams, so 100 grams lighter.
Shimano has always used that the riveted design on their more entry-level cassettes, this one is no different.
They usually last for ever and they were built like a tank, all steel construction, weight might not really matter
especially if you're using this on an e-bike or a very entry-level hardtail.
So overall great bang for your buck on this M4100 cassette but I would argue that the M5100, the 11-51T
is a lot more popular because of the wider range.
What about their little shifter, how is this any different from the 5100 shifter?
I have the 4100 on the left, I have the 5100 on the right, how can you tell?
Well... you can't really tell because these two shifters are absolutely identical.
Interestingly both of these are manufactured in Japan, and they provide you with 3 maximum gear shifts, that would be downshifts.
Up-shifts are one at a time and you can shift these, the Shimano 2-way release, so either by pushing or by pulling on that lever.
Shimano has them available with a bar clamp or with an I-SPEC EV adapter like this one.
Also the M4100 exists with a gear indicator in case that's something that you're interested in.
Weight of the 10 speed shifter is 138 grams and that is pretty much the same with the 135g provided by the M5100
so same technology, same weight, same shifters different number of clicks.
And right next to the front shifters they're gonna also list this: the MT500, this is the seat post remote from Shimano
I have reviewed it a couple of times, I'm going to link it up in the corner,
this is a very nicely integrated, cheap dropper remote I would highly recommend.
But where things get interesting is if we're looking at their new derailleurs.
They offer two, the M4120 and the M5120, this 5120 that integrates a clutch, being the one recommended for the 11-46T cassette.
And this is where I said that I don't think there's a lot of innovation in this groupset, just borrowed design from the past.
What I have here is the M5120 Deore
and on the right this is an XT M8000 so that's previous generation 11 speed.
The design is absolutely the same: you have the B-link here, you have the clutch
and if you look at the shape and the offset of the cage it's absolutely the same,
the only difference from this being a GS, or medium cage, the M5120 - this seems to be a long cage, so SGS type of derailleur.
Other than that there is no difference and you can install these on a standard derailleur hanger mount.
Remove that B-link and you can also install it on a direct mount derailleur hanger
something that the new 12 speed and M5100 derailleurs cannot do because again they don't have that B-link anymore.
I have this all documented in a video I'm going to link it up in the corner
Their even cheaper M4120 derailleur does not have a clutch anymore so I don't think it's even worth mentioning
and by the way, this M5120 derailleur weight is 334 grams and maximum capacity for it is the 46 tooth.
This cassette is just like the 11 speed, it is not HYPERGLIDE+ compatible
and that means that you can use it with any chain you like.
Shimano recommends this, CN-HG54 I think it is,
but you can use any 10 speed chain that you like to use whether that's KMC, YBN, SRAM, you name it
they're all going to work fine with this cassette.
What about their cranksets? For 1x drivetrains they list the same M5100 crankset that I have reviewed on my channel not too long ago,
I'm going to link it up in the corner for all the details and that leaves us with their brakes
and I think the M4100/MT420 brakes that they offer, the 4-piston brakes in this lineup
are probably the most popular. Not only that they work ok but they are a good fit for something like an e-bike
just like the ones that I tried at the Sea Otter festival.
This drivetrain, maybe with the exception of their brakes, can only be found on new bikes
and especially in 2023, chances are you're gonna see a lot of this
definitely not the Shimano CUES that they just introduced.
And by-the-way, shout out to bikecomponents.ca, they provided me these parts to review
and they also provided me with a discount code for you folks, watching my channel, make sure you check it out in the description below!
So have you guys ever used the M4100?
Have used this on an entry level bike or have you used it on an e-bike?
Let us know in the comments below, hope you found this useful
and if you did don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment,
and until next time hope to see you folks on the trails.
Cheers guys, cheers!