Hey guys welcome or welcome back!
When I last talked about M5100 it was about the 5100 wide range 11-51T cassette
and I mentioned to you that is not really compatible with the previous generation 11 speed derailleurs.
And that is the reason why Shimano introduced this, a new derailleur for that 11 to 51 tooth cassette,
also a shifter to go along with it,
and in the next few minutes I'm going to take a look at this shifting bits of the 5100
and see how they compare to the Deore 12-speed equivalent.
Let's do it!
On this M5100 cassette wide range the second last cog is 45 teeth
and that's pretty much the maximum that the old 11 speed derailleurs could swallow
these would work just fine up to about 46T, so 11-46T
and that's why this new derailleur was needed.
And while I'm not planning to spend much time comparing this derailleur with the old 11 speed one
I'm just gonna say that because of the lack of this B-link on the new derailleur
this 5100 derailleur cannot be installed on bikes that require a (Shimano ) Direct Mount drailleur.
These would be the only types that you could install which kind of limits you to that 46 tooth maximum Cog on the cassette.
The 5100 is only SGS so long cage, it moved from 11T jockeys to 13T jockeys on the new derailleur
and also you see the this huge offset here on the Guide pulley
as opposed to the tiny offset that you have on this 11 speed M8000 or XT derailleur.
The more interesting comparison though is between Dior M5100 on the left and Deore M6100 here on the right.
This is a 12 speed derailleur for that 10-51 tooth cassette,
this is the 11 speed derailleur for this 11-51 tooth cassette.
And you don't even have to stare at these for a while to see that they look pretty much identical,
the only major difference being the color of the Deore logo here
on the 11 speed is just gray,
on the 12 speed you have this rainbow color that is visible on an angle.
Turn the derailleur on the side and you're gonna see 12s here written on the Deore M6100
you don't have that on the M5100.
I bet my money that this is for people in some factories so they don't confuse the 12 speed with the 11 speed derailleur.
You can also identify these derailleurs by looking at the product code, RD-M5100,
that is the 11 speed, obviously this would be M6100,
they both use 13 tooth jockey wheels, if you look at the offset here it is identical between the two,
you have that 51T mark here on the derailleur cage so you can adjust your B-gap
B-Gap adjustment being right here,
looks like even the adjustment screws are identical between these two derailleurs.
These are both SGS or long cage, made in Japan,
and the jockey wheels use the bushings that are common with the SLX derailleurs
XT and XTR will have bearings inside.
Both derailleurs use a clutch, you can see the ON-OFF lever here
you have the cover without the adjustment port that you find on XT and XTR
but this would be very very similar to SLX, unfortunately I don't have one to show you right now.
My rainbow logo Deore, so the 12 speed Deore comes up to 321 grams or 320 g.
The silver logo Diore so 11 speed comes up to 320g so identical.
The difference between these Diore derailleurs and the more expensive ones comes down to materials used.
For instance this bolt that's used for installing it, this is made out of steel versus aluminum on the more expensive ones.
This outer cage here is made out of aluminum
however the internal cage, so this one, is made out of steel.
That might make it stronger but it definitely makes it a bit heavier,
you're looking at probably 40-50 grams difference between these
and the more expensive derailleurs.
My conclusion is that the Diore 11 speed and the Deore 12 speed are one and the same product
so you can use this on a 12 speed drivetrain
and you can use this on an 11 speed 11-51T drivetrain no problem whatsoever.
It also means that the little hack that I mentioned to you guys in the past
using this XTR what's called nose,
this little plastic or Teflon part that goes right in here to reduce the friction between the cable and the derailleur body
you can use this one on either one of the two Deore, no problem,
that is if you can find them, part number is here (Y5PV48000) from Shimano.
And one last note about this Dior derailleurs:
if the Deore M5100 and the M6100 are identical
the 5120 and 4120 that are also available in the Deore lineup right now are different
so they wouldn't work on the 11-51T or 10-51T cassettes.
As for the shifters the 6100 is a dedicated 1 x 12 shifter
the SL-M5100, this one works with both 1x and 2 x 11
and again you move down to the 4100 and we're talking about 1 x 10 or 2 x 10 drivetrains.
so the 12 and 11 speed shifters are dedicated for the respective drivetrains
the 5100 is available with or without the optical gear display
or I-spec EV ready with or without the optical gear display.
That means that it will interface nicely with these 12 speed generation brake levers from Shimano.
These shifters are supposed to be used for XC and Trail
as for the features listed here, they're common between the two
and I have a comprehensive video that I'm gonna link up in the corner telling you what each of these mean.
In the box you're going to get 185 cm of this SP41 housing,
you get the OptiSlick inner cable, and here's your 11 speed shifter.
At the back of the shifter you're gonna see the exact model (SL-M5100) both on the 11 speed and 12 speed.
This 12 speed has the display, my 11 speed doesn't,
but otherwise you're gonna see this bar clamp model that I have
and slightly different barrel adjuster on the 11 speed versus the 12 speed.
This M6100 is the more premium looking one that they use on the XT and SLX,
this is definitely a lower grade one but it should do its job just as well.
Shifter levers look identical from the top,
however if you turn them over you're gonna see these grooves on the Deore 12 speed
that just give you more grip to the levers.
In the case of the 11 speed they disappeared, again trying to make this cheaper or to differentiate between the two.
Just like with the Deore 12 speed, when you're shifting down you're pretty much opening the internals of the shifter
you expose the internals so you can get mud or debris in there,
and you can shift 3 gears at once - one, two, three, so that's easier gears
and one harder gear at a time.
And you can do that by either pushing or pulling on the lever.
One undocumented feature of these 11 speed shifter and derailleur
is that they have the same pull ratio with the old 11 speed XT, XTR, SLX,
so even though this is the only shifter available for this M5100 series
you can use one of the older, more refined shifters with the new derailleur
and build an even better drivetrain than the one offered by Shimano.
So shifters compatible with the previous generation more feature-rich XTR, XT and SLX,
derailleurs that are pretty much the same with the other Shimano 12-speed drivetrains
whether that's Deore, SLX, XT or XTR.
Finally, a cassette that gives you a wide enough range 11-51T,
it goes on a freehub body that's widely spread and available in the marketplace today,
with this 51T big cog, put a 30T chainring and you can climb pretty much anything on a mountain bike.
So what do you guys think? Are you considering the 5100 drivetrain from Shimano?
In Part 1 I talked about cranks and chainrings, in Part 2 I talked about the cassette
and in this last Part 3 I talked about the shifting bits and how everything comes together.
Do you have any questions for me?
Let me know in the comments below, hope you found this useful
and if you you did don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment,
and until next time hope to see you guys on the trails.
Cheers guys, cheers!