Medium cage MTB RD

[NotSoBigBen]

I know that this has been debated and tables with capacity presented etc. but has anyone actually used a medium cage RD on 22/32/44 * 11-32 gear combination (on an MTB of course!).

 

From what I have read at other sites it seems that medium cage RD's may give 'snappier' better shifts but you have to be careful because it is best not to use the small chainring and the 2-3 smallest gears on the cluster.

 

Anyone have any experience with this combo?

[singletrackmind]

Worked fine for me Ben. I had it on my old softail. Shifted beautifully and never had a problem. My newer Long cage is not as sharp

[NotSoBigBen]

Worked fine for me Ben. I had it on my old softail. Shifted beautifully and never had a problem. My newer Long cage is not as sharp

 

Cool thanks mate, gonna give it a go

[singletrackmind]

its worth is hey. Good luck

[Ox_Wagon]

I bought my Mongoose many moons ago with a XT short cage derailleur.   It originally came with a 46/36/24 non-compact crank and a 12-28 at the back.  The only problem you have is that you can ?ONLY? use the top 2 to 3 sprockets when in granny gear.  <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

I ?upgraded? it to 44/32/22 x 12-28 using the crank I bought from you.  I can now use one or two sprocket more in granny gear. The biggest deference is the 32 chainring.  I can see whey it is feasible to replace it with a 29 and then run a 2x9 system with a 34 big sprocket.  In the Military race of the weekend my front shifter finally packed upped so I was stuck in the middle chain ring and is amazing what you can do with it.  

[NotSoBigBen]

Hey OX I must be honest I spend at least 97.435% of my time in the middle blade, in fact I've only ever replaced middle blades!

 

Will set it up tonight and then do a bit of testing and comment later! Thanks for the info though.

[Ox_Wagon]

BB, I assume we talking sram here or do you get medium cage Shimano derailers?

[Dirtbreath]

I rode Karkloof with a short cage Xt and couldn't use the small chainring at all. This was a low normal derailleur. Got a long cage now with no problems. I also seldom use the small chain ring but up some of those %&^%^%$ hills I really needed the bugger.

 

Got a long cage now and problem sorted.

[NotSoBigBen]

BB' date=' I assume we talking sram here or do you get medium cage Shimano derailers?[/quote']

 

I can like to be talking Shimano fast climb RD!

[Johan Bornman]

I see several comments about short cage RDs making for faster, or as it's put here, snappier, shifts.

 

There is nothing inherent in a long vs short RD that will make the shifting different. The speed of the shift (assuming that all shifters are equal) is determined by a) the length of chain between the top pulley and current sprocket and b) the distance setting of the b-screw.

c) extreme wear in the chain (very unlikely since other things will fail first).

 

How far the chain is extended downwards by the longer or shorter cage is irrelevant.

 

The cage length is purely a function of the total tooth capacity you expect to handle and this is again a function of the differences between largest and smallest sprockets and chainrings.