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Smashed a few XT Shadow 11 speed rear mechs over the last year or so. Not sure if they're weaker than rear mechs used to be or what. Can anyone recommend a decent (not mega expensive) alternative that will work fine with my 11 speed Shimano set up? Zee don't seem to do an 11 speed, unless I'm wrong. Would Deore be any stronger (if a little heavier)? Ta v much. And are the cheaper Shimano mechs almost as good as XT in the real world, out on the trail? And yes, I know I should just ride better and not smash mechs...
I think you pretty much nailed in the last sentence...
Any mech is going to get smashed up if you're hitting things with it. I don't think any of them are rock-proof 🙂
SRAM GX.
Apparently they work.
No mech is smash proof. Just learn not to smash stuff up. I can recommend M8000 because they are cheap.
TBH If you're smashing XT mechs you're gonna smash mechs. XT are generally (IME) pretty robust. If you're looking for cheaper alternatives, I'd just go SLX and accept that's the cheapest you're gonna get. I don't think you'll notice much difference between XT and SLX other than a smidge of weight.
From my experience with SRAM they certainly seem a little bit more finicky. And definitely more expensive to replace.
I switched from Sram years back because Shimano seemed more robust and less prone to messy shifting if they did take a knock. I'm not riding any differently to how I've always ridden (although perhaps a bit quicker, as my bikes have got better) but defo damaging more mechs, which makes me wonder if they're getting a bit less robust. Maybe not. I ride a lot of rocky stuff, sometimes very tight rocky stuff, and scrapes are inevitable - just seems like older mechs used to shrug it off a bit better. Again, maybe not. Might give SLX a go just to save £15.
Are you breaking the cage? If you're using a long cage derailleur, could you maybe get away with a shorter cage version. or failing that, just get the cheapest 11-speed Shimano rear mech you can find, at least it'll cost less to replace.
I wonder if wide range rear cassettes and 1x drive trains mean longer cage mechs that are more prone to rock strikes. I've always tried to use shorter cage mechs where possible bearing in mind that Shimano's technical advice is often slightly pessimistic when it comes to range.
If you hit a rock with a derailleur, something has to break. It's unlikely to be the rock, so it will either be the derailleur, the hanger, or the dropout. Either way, you have to pay to fix something, so you either have to accept that and pay up or stop bashing it onto rocks.
"I wonder if wide range rear cassettes and 1x drive trains mean longer cage mechs that are more prone to rock strikes."
Yes. But on the plus side, big 29" tyres raise the mech by about 2" vs 26" tyres from the days of 2x and 3x!
ride a lot of rocky stuff, sometimes very tight rocky stuff, and scrapes are inevitable – just seems like older mechs used to shrug it off a bit better.
Are you on a longer wheelbase bike? A long low slack bike is likely to have greater difference between the path of front and back wheel in a tight corner.
I've been impressed with how tough the high end SRAM ones are. Used to break mechs no end until I ended up using 9speed XO, and they then just shrugged off the abuse.
Currently just about to change a XX1 that's been on my big bike for 5 years. It still sort of works, but one of the parallelogram pivots has about 3mm of slop in it and I ripped the little spring pin doofer that holds the cage forward off a while ago. I like riding proper rocky natural stuff - peaks, lakes, wales etc and there's been plenty of times I've winced as I've not quite got the line through some rocks right and tagged the mech, but it still keeps on trucking (normally strip the hanger bolt if I go too nard). The replacement I got for £52 on ebay last night, so not mega bucks.
My old Zesty had a carbon fin that bolted on by the RD to find off strikes. I seem to recall ancient Raleigh BSO MTB’s having a heavy gauge wire hoop for the same purpose. Tbh, I think done sort of deflection guard is the only solution if hitting rocks is something to be accepted unless occasional mech destruction is.
Avoid SRAM, they just fail before you even hit him on anything !
JonEdwards - cheers for this, useful. That's the sort of thing I'm experiencing. Smashed another yesterday on Nan Bield (the Small Water side - it's a tight bouldery minefield) but luckily my mate did some improvising and the mech got me home, but it's pretty knackered. Ripped my hanger off too but luckily I had spare bolts. I hate the thought of avoiding certain trails just for fear of breaking mechs.
I'm quite impressed by the robustness of the Zee mech I have fitted to my Cotic Rocket.
I've just bent my GX Eagle rear mech too much to fix - SRAM really is more expensive to replace than Shimano 🙁
I find the new sram 12 speed stuff really susceptible to getting hit and bust would have thought you are better on shimano just on cost alone, the older 11 speed sram maybe a bit tougher
I find SLX mech more durable than XT due to the steel side plates on the cage rather than aluminium.
Now I've said that I will obliterate my SLX rear mech tomorrow night somewhere near Ullswater.
XT over SLX for me. The last two SLX mechs I had wore out in no time, developing play in the parallelogram section, whereas the XT last a lot longer.
SRAM GX.
Apparently they work.
They dont, my LBS always tells me to switch to Shimano as there mechs are more rebust than the SRAM ones made of cheese, I'm just a sucker for buying one every couple of months!