When road bikes went to 11 speed, Shimano increased the width of the cassette in such a way that it needed a wider freehub. Thankfully these wider freehubs never made it over to the MTB world otherwise we would have ended up with even more dish (and spoke imbalance) on our rear wheels.
Shimano's 11 speed MTB offering has been anything but close ratio. The cassettes available are 11-40t, 11-42t or 11-46t.
The good news is that Shimano are making 11-34t 11 speed "road" cassettes but they are designed to fit on the MTB 11 speed freehubs. Two cassettes are currently available:
- ultegra: CS-HG800-11 ; and
- 105: CS-HG700-11.
| HG-800-11 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 30 | 34 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XTR M9000 11-40t | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 24 | 27 | 31 | 34 | 40 |
| XTR M980 11-34t (10 speed) | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 26 | 30 | 34 |