Rapid Rise vs. Front Freewheel (or both?)

[Retrorockit]

Zee M640 is back on. I'm a big fan of this derailleur. SScage and can run an 11-40t cassette (in 1x).
Shimano XT SL- M8000 R. shifter. I'm not sold on this yet. The SRAM NX shifter was great, wxcept for turning the opposite direction of my Ebike.
My thumb isn't around anything anymore. feels like my fingers are resting instead of gripping. Any number of gears up or down were right there already. My index finger is poised for upshifts, my thumb for down shifts. if I want 2x up I have to move the thumb behind the lever, then back up for down. How is this in any way better than a gripshift? Anyway the White ENO Front Freewheel has survived all of this. Multiple up and downshifts are there to be had. I'll have to see what the shifter can provide?

 

[Retrorockit]

The tiny zip tie broke. Probably because the SS derailleur, and 40t cassette doesn't allow an extra link in the chain. So I played around with some rubber O rongs between the cassette, and mavic stright pull hub flange. I didn't get enough firtion for it to work in the 2 lowest gears. So I just stucj a bigger zip tie in there. I used a square rubber ring on the Ebike. Th high flange XT hubs allowed this and it worked great. The round rubber rings- not so much.