First Look: OneUp Shark 10-50 11 speed drivetrain conversion

OneUp was one of the first, if not the first, to market wide range adapters for 10 speed drivetrains. It is not surprising to see the same thing for 11 speed.

The Shark is a 10-50 “system,” as it requires a range of components to make it work:

• OneUp 50 tooth cog
• OneUp 18 tooth cog
• OneUp 10,12, 15 tooth mini-cluster
• OneUp derailleur cage
• OneUp Minidriver freehub body
• Shimano 11 speed derailleur and shifter
• Shimano 11 speed 11-42 cassette

Let’s take a look at the pieces:

The 50 tooth aluminum cog is installed behind the cassette.

The 18 tooth steel cog replaces the 17 and 19 tooth cogs in the cassette.

The 10 tooth cluster replaces the final three cogs on a the cassette. (In case you are counting, that is 5 of 11 cogs being replaced, or  about 45 percent of the cassette. Makes me wonder when OneUp will just make an entire cassette.)

Shark Cage (shown installed) replaces the stock cage on Shimano M9000/M8000 derailleurs. The upper pulley has 50 percent more offset to the pivot. When shifting to larger cogs, the cage rotates forward creating enough clearance for that big 50 tooth cog while keeping the pulley close to the smaller cogs as well.

The Minidriver is a shortened standard cassette body which allows the 10 too cog to hang off the end. This is a simple design with no patent issues, so anyone can develop one to fit their hubs. Expect versions to fit DT, Stan’s and Hope hubs to start.

If this sounds like a lot of parts to swap, it is, but many riders will find it worth it for the range.

Notice that you get extra gearing on both ends with the 10-50 cassette and a 34 tooth ring vs the now-standard 10-42 x 30t SRAM system.

You can pick and choose from the pieces, so for $125 you can get a kit with the 50t and 18t cogs and the Shark cage and up your climbing game from 11-42 to 11-50 without messing with the cassette body. Or you can add just the 10 tooth cluster ($45) and minidriver (40) to the other end of the cassette for harder gearing.

If you hurry you’ll be able to snap-up the 50t kit, but the minidriver and 10t cluster will be back in stock in May. This works solely with the 11-42 M8000 XT cassette, 11-40t cassettes can be converted to 45t.

Order yours today at One Up Components.