XT Rear Derailleur long or short cage

acac

hi am think of get a XT Rear Derailleur short cage or should i stick to long cage ?
i run a 38t front ring up front and a 9 speed Cassette with a mrp 3.
do short cage rear mechs work just the same as long cage ones?
thanks

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=produ ... egoryId=76

BlackSpur

So you're running a single ring up front?
I would go for the XT Shadow mech over the regular one too - there is less chance of smashing it off plus it looks a bit better IMO.

acac

i have a cannondale prophet dont have the problem with smashing it on my swing arm

jayson

I had a normal triple ring setup on my bike and i used a short cage (its actually medium cage) XT mech with no problems, as long as u dont ride the extreme crossover gears it all works perfectly and slightly quicker with the shorter cage.

supersonic

There is a workshop sticky on mech functions.

Basically, with a single ring, short will always be fine.

.blitz

As above. The longer cage can cope with wider variations in cogs but for practical purposes the short cage is better. Less likely to get snagged on undergrowth as well.