Difference between Shimano XTR GS and SGS

[Grant Flattery]

Whats the difference between shimano GS and SGS????????

[f40pilot]

It boils down to cage length, GS is the "medium" which works well on a 3x9 drivetrain with a max cassette size of 32T, and the SGS is the long cage, 34T max and is a better bet for full suspension rigs and guys who cross chains often.

[techguy]

GS is the medium length cage and SGS is the long cage on the rear derailleur, if you ride a hardtail (and you don't cross chain) then a GS will do, An SGS is better suited to a full suss as the chain growth needs to be taken up by the RD...

[f40pilot]

P.S. rapid-rise long-cage RD=SGS, top-normal medium/long-cage RD=GS.

[techguy]

P.S. rapid-rise long-cage RD=SGS' date=' top-normal medium/long-cage RD=GS.[/quote']

 

Um thats wrong, the rapid rise is depicted by a 0 at the end of its code ie RD-M970-SGS or RD-M970-GS, whereas a top normal would have the codes RD-M971-SGS or RD-M971-GS. Then to throw in an allen key I could go on to say RD-M972-SGS or RD-M972-GS which are the options for the shadow rear derailleurs...

[f40pilot]

Damn straight! My bad! From now on everyone ignore me and listen to techguy, he's-on. Tech-guy, my RD has RD-M975-SGS on it.

[patches]

GS is the medium length cage and SGS is the long cage on the rear derailleur' date=' if you ride a hardtail (and you don't cross chain) then a GS will do, An SGS is better suited to a full suss as the chain growth needs to be taken up by the RD...[/quote']

 

Are DH and freeride bike an exception to this? I've heard that short and medium cage RD's work best on DH and FR rigs?! If so, what is the reason for this?

[techguy]

DH Bikes use a short cage and can get away with it because they normally use a road cassette which is smaller in diameter, also there is normally a single ring on a DH bike so the RD is not going to have to put up with stretching between a 44t big blade and a 32/34t sproket at the back... its normally a 36/38t ring on front and a 25/27t sprocket...

 

Hope this makes sense

[patches]

yup! thanks

I'm slowly building up a FR/DH bike, and want 2 chainrings on the front (cos sometimes you can't get away from the up hills)...  with a Truvativ shifting guide so I'm guessing a meduim cage RD will work, but I'll have to see what size cassette and rings I choose. Still far from that part though (darn student budget).

 

Thanks again!

[Rudy51]

what is the pulley center to pulley center measurement of the xtr SGS cage