Diff between medium cage & long cage on rear derailleur?

russboy

Hi all,

Finally about to replace my rear derailleur after around 3500 miles on my bike (spec here: viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=12658217&p=15697885#p15697885 , although new frame replaced under warranty).

Was going to replace like for like with a Shimano Shadow SLX but there are options of long cage or short cage?

See here: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=28033

Of course I may go for something completely different & improve the set up, bearing in mind I’ve replaced the crank & rear cassette to the largest sizes available for an MTB so I get a higher top end speed.

So what’s the difference? Or should I buy something completely different instead?

Cheers,

Russ

The Rookie

The medium/long refers to the distance bewteen the jockey wheels and their capacity for accomodating chain length change between gears (big/big to small/small), the capacity is all in the Shimano (or SRAM) tech docs but as a ROUGH rule of thumb (ONLY) small cage for 1x, medium for 2x and long for a triple front ring.

nicklouse

all covered here viewtopic.php?f=40073&t=12546123

russboy

Cheers all,

Consider me educated!

Now just need to find a suitable replacement

LJ.

The way that diagram reads to me is on the SRAM part is that if you have a 36t cassette then you should be using a long cage regardless??

RevellRider

It reads to me that if you have a short cage rear mech, you can only run it with a single ring