Do shimano 10 speed derailluers work with microshift barends?

[hawkhero]

Starting to build my new bike.  I am going to use microshift's barend shifters with shimano's 10 speed rear derailleur. Is this going to work ok? I see the rear derailleur design has changed. Looking at the XT M 786 model. I also found a XT T780.

[DaveB]

Shimano's 10-speed ROAD rear derailleurs will work with the Microshift barends.  Shimano's 10-speed MTB rear derailleurs (aka Dyna-Sys) will NOT shift properly with the Microshift barends as the cable pull requirement was changed.  A Shimano 9-speed  MTB rear derailleur will shift properly with the Microshift 10-speed barends.

[paddleboy17]

You might consider a Shimano 105 mid cage rear derailleur.  It will span a 32 tooth cassette.  There are two versions of the 105 derailleur.  The ones Performance bike carries (RD-5700-SS or RD-5700-GS) may not work, the one Nashbar carries (RD-5701-GS) will work.  I think an RD-5700-SS is good for 28 teeth and an RD-5700-GS is good for 30 teeth. 

10 speed shifting is a bit more ornery than 9 speed.  Mountain bike shifters over shift and the settle into position.  Road shifters go directly into position.  So you might want to stay with a road shifter and a road derailleur.  I upgraded one of my bikes from 8 speed to 10 speed and eventually ended up with a Durace bar con shifter and a 105 rear derailleur.  I am generally pleased with where I ended up, and not so please with the intermediate combinations I tried.

Nashbar is selling the Durace shifters for $50 right now, and you should know that the Durace shifters no longer support non indexed mode.

I replace a set of 9 speed Ultegra brifters with Microshift brifters and they have been OK.  The fit and finish is not the same, but the shifting is more positive.