Mountain Biking - short cage

what are the pros and cons of running a short cage rear derailleur on a freeride bike?

thanks

Less area to hit so less chance of breaking...

as for the second one not sure. I dont notice any shifting problems so....I can't think of any cons.

i was kinda guessing you would be the one to respond, but anyway. are you limited to only running a double, or can i run the triple i have going now until i can aford a bashguard.

Just avoid the big/big combo until you get the bashguard!

Or get a road cassette. A shortcage and a close ratio cassette will shift like butter...plus you may not need a wide range for the type of riding you do?

Originally posted by schnell
Just avoid the big/big combo until you get the bashguard!

Or get a road cassette. A shortcage and a close ratio cassette will shift like butter...plus you may not need a wide range for the type of riding you do?

I will double that. The whole thing :)...

[edit]
One thing to add...even with regular rear deraileur you should never run big big. Line of chain is too strained.

Ned Overend reccomends this combination (big-big) in his book "Mountain Bike Like a Champion" :rolleyes: :crash: :D

Well, if he does, HE'S WRONG! Either that or he doesn't know didly squat about maintenance, or he gets all his parts for FREE! Big-big puts too much lateral stress on the chain as well as small-small. Plus, if you've set chain length correctly, you run the risk of ripping off the rear derailleur in the big-big combo, this is especially true if running a short cage. You can run big-big or short - short for brief durations, but WHY? There are similar ratio's without the strain on your chain and derailleurs.

You can run a short cage, as long as you don't have a wide spread between you small cog and big cog on your cassette. IOW, if you're running a 12-34, stick with long cage, if down to a 12-28 you can get by with a shortie.

L8R

I have always used small cage on my mtn bike. I spend 80% of my time in the middle ring, then I only use half the cassette in the big and small ring. This shifts nice, but you usually have a big shift to get to the big or small ring. I think this trade off is worth the better shifting 80% of the time

Don't most of these freeride bikes only have one or two chainrings? The difference between the chainring ratio is more critical than the cassette ratio for the cage length. If you use only one chain ring, you could definately run a short cage, although a 32 may be a problem. Most rear derailer specs state what the biggest cog they can handle.

Originally posted by Terrago
Ned Overend reccomends this combination (big-big) in his book "Mountain Bike Like a Champion" :rolleyes: :crash: :D

Damn sponsored riders...you would go through a lot of drive trains if you tried to run this consistently...