Sram X.9 or Shimano XT rear derailleur?

I am looking to buy a new derailleur. Could anyone recommended which
on of these would be a better choice, a Sram X.9 or a Shimano XT. I
ride a lot of aggressive cross country with some downhill mixed in.
The most important thing is that it's durable and it needs a strong
cage. Weight is no issue. Thanks for the help, John.

wrote in message
ps.com...
I am looking to buy a new derailleur. Could anyone recommended which
on of these would be a better choice, a Sram X.9 or a Shimano XT. I
ride a lot of aggressive cross country with some downhill mixed in.
The most important thing is that it's durable and it needs a strong
cage. Weight is no issue. Thanks for the help, John.


First off: what are your shifters? SRAM derailleurs must be matched with
SRAM shifters. The mechanical advantage of Shimano and SRAM derailleurs is
completely different, and so they are completely incompatible.

Second, as far as weight, here is what my favorite bike shop advises. The
owners/operators in this shop largely service the downhill crowd. In their
store I will see one customer every 15 minutes pushing a $6,000 45-pound
full-suspension downhill rig that has some kind of hideous problem. Busted
frames, broken fork stantions, sheared-off stems and bars, derailleur
hangers torn clean off, seatposts sheared off at the frame, etc. The
derailleur they spec: Deore.

XT and XTR have alu cages, so they are actually more fragile than the
cheaper versions. Deore has steel cages. The expensive derailleurs are
made to be light. They are also made to withstand pivot wear due to their
sealed brass bushing pivots and forged cage plates. Out of the box, a Deore
unit will shift as well as XTR. But barring accidents, after 5 years, the
XTR will still shift great, and the Deore will be sloppy. This is all good
in theory, but some of this shops regular clients destroy on average a
derailleur per month. If you are doing any kind of real mountain biking,
you'll never wear out a derailleur; you'll break 'em.

On May 29, 8:39 pm, "Dave Mayer" wrote:
wrote in message

ps.com...

I am looking to buy a new derailleur. Could anyone recommended which
on of these would be a better choice, aSramX.9or aShimanoXT. I
ride a lot of aggressive cross country with some downhill mixed in.
The most important thing is that it's durable and it needs a strong
cage. Weight is no issue. Thanks for the help, John.

First off: what are your shifters? SRAMderailleurs must be matched withSRAMshifters. The mechanical advantage ofShimanoandSRAMderailleurs is
completely different, and so they are completely incompatible.

Second, as far as weight, here is what my favorite bike shop advises. The
owners/operators in this shop largely service the downhill crowd. In their
store I will see one customer every 15 minutes pushing a $6,000 45-pound
full-suspension downhill rig that has some kind of hideous problem. Busted
frames, broken fork stantions, sheared-off stems and bars, derailleur
hangers torn clean off, seatposts sheared off at the frame, etc. The
derailleur they spec: Deore.

XT and XTR have alu cages, so they are actually more fragile than the
cheaper versions. Deore has steel cages. The expensive derailleurs are
made to be light. They are also made to withstand pivot wear due to their
sealed brass bushing pivots and forged cage plates. Out of the box, a Deore
unit will shift as well as XTR. But barring accidents, after 5 years, the
XTR will still shift great, and the Deore will be sloppy. This is all good
in theory, but some of this shops regular clients destroy on average a
derailleur per month. If you are doing any kind of real mountain biking,
you'll never wear out a derailleur; you'll break 'em.



I currently have a Deore derailleur and the last one I had was a
Deore. The problem is I keep breaking the cages or on my current one
the cage is badly bent. Maybe my hanger isn't working right. Either
way I would not have a problem getting sram shifters if there were a
derailleur that would be more durable. Or should I just deal with
having the replace them more often then I would like. Do you think I
should get a new Deore or is there something better?

wrote:
On May 29, 8:39 pm, "Dave Mayer" wrote:

XT and XTR have alu cages, so they are actually more fragile than the
cheaper versions. Deore has steel cages. The expensive derailleurs are
made to be light. They are also made to withstand pivot wear due to their
sealed brass bushing pivots and forged cage plates. Out of the box, a Deore
unit will shift as well as XTR. But barring accidents, after 5 years, the
XTR will still shift great, and the Deore will be sloppy. This is all good
in theory, but some of this shops regular clients destroy on average a
derailleur per month. If you are doing any kind of real mountain biking,
you'll never wear out a derailleur; you'll break 'em.

I currently have a Deore derailleur and the last one I had was a
Deore. The problem is I keep breaking the cages or on my current one
the cage is badly bent.

If you really want to throw money at the problem, you could get a wheel
built with the Saint hub and get the Saint Derailleur that mounts
directly to the axle.

Maybe my hanger isn't working right.

That's easy enough for a bike shop to check. It's a five minute job.

Either way I would not have a problem getting sram shifters if there
were a derailleur that would be more durable. Or should I just deal
with having the replace them more often then I would like. Do you
think I should get a new Deore or is there something better?

I don't think anything short of the Saint line is going to make an
appreciable difference in durability.

--
Dane Buson -
"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels
in praise of intelligence." -Bertrand Russell

On May 29, 8:39 pm, "Dave Mayer" wrote:
wrote in message

ps.com...

I am looking to buy a new derailleur. Could anyone recommended which
on of these would be a better choice, aSramX.9or aShimanoXT. I
ride a lot of aggressive cross country with some downhill mixed in.
The most important thing is that it's durable and it needs a strong
cage. Weight is no issue. Thanks for the help, John.

First off: what are your shifters? SRAMderailleurs must be matched withSRAMshifters. The mechanical advantage ofShimanoandSRAMderailleurs is
completely different, and so they are completely incompatible.

Second, as far as weight, here is what my favorite bike shop advises. The
owners/operators in this shop largely service the downhill crowd. In their
store I will see one customer every 15 minutes pushing a $6,000 45-pound
full-suspension downhill rig that has some kind of hideous problem. Busted
frames, broken fork stantions, sheared-off stems and bars, derailleur
hangers torn clean off, seatposts sheared off at the frame, etc. The
derailleur they spec: Deore.

XT and XTR have alu cages, so they are actually more fragile than the
cheaper versions. Deore has steel cages. The expensive derailleurs are
made to be light. They are also made to withstand pivot wear due to their
sealed brass bushing pivots and forged cage plates. Out of the box, a Deore
unit will shift as well as XTR. But barring accidents, after 5 years, the
XTR will still shift great, and the Deore will be sloppy. This is all good
in theory, but some of this shops regular clients destroy on average a
derailleur per month. If you are doing any kind of real mountain biking,
you'll never wear out a derailleur; you'll break 'em.



I currently have a Deore derailleur and the last one I had was a
Deore. The problem is I keep breaking the cages or on my current one
the cage is badly bent. Maybe my hanger isn't working right. Either
way I would not have a problem getting sram shifters if there were a
derailleur that would be more durable. Or should I just deal with
having the replace them more often then I would like. Do you think I
should get a new Deore or is there something better?

wrote in message
oups.com...

I currently have a Deore derailleur and the last one I had was a
Deore. The problem is I keep breaking the cages or on my current one
the cage is badly bent. Maybe my hanger isn't working right. Either
way I would not have a problem getting sram shifters if there were a
derailleur that would be more durable. Or should I just deal with
having the replace them more often then I would like. Do you think I
should get a new Deore or is there something better?


The reason you break derailleurs is your riding - you are running into
things. So you should make the reasonable assumption you will continue to
break derailleurs. The reason everyone here is recommending that you buy
cheap Shimano derailleurs is because they work well and are cheap. More
expensive derailleurs are easier to break, because they are made with more
alloy parts and less steel. SRAM derailleurs are no more durable than the
cheap Shimano ones. Based on your question, I assume a bike shop is trying
to sell you something expensive... Ignore them.

Your 'hanger' has nothing to do with you breaking derailleurs. If it is not
straight, then get a shop to align it. If it is not straight, then your
shifting will be crap no matter what derailleur you use.

On 2007-06-01, wrote:

I currently have a Deore derailleur and the last one I had was a
Deore. The problem is I keep breaking the cages or on my current one
the cage is badly bent. Maybe my hanger isn't working right. Either
way I would not have a problem getting sram shifters if there were a
derailleur that would be more durable. Or should I just deal with
having the replace them more often then I would like. Do you think I
should get a new Deore or is there something better?

If you're breaking derailers that often, you might consider doing away
with them altogether. If you ride in rather flat terrain you could try
singlespeed. You could also get a Rohloff gearhub but if you're running
Deore now, that hub probably costs about as much as your whole bike.

If neither of those options work for you, you could try the downhill-
specific stuff or downgrade to something cheap enough that you won't
mind replacing it from time to time.