Originally Posted by
scozim
I know of a guy in town here who's got a ton of mtb parts. I'm going to call and see if he's got a long cage derailleur he's willing to part with and see if that fixes the problem. The other 3000 I have is in really nice shape and is a medium cage so I think I'll keep it as is.
I'm running a 3000 rear derailleur on my beater/errand bike - the Nishiki. And it actually works pretty good. It's not a quick shifter but it is reliable. This mtb had the entire 3000 set up with derailleurs and shifters. Index mode was really a pain to get dialed in so I ran in friction mode most of the time.
I had an alpha 5000 group on a Bridgestone 550 and it shifted flawlessly in indexed mode. Granted, it's the only indexed downtube system I've used but it seemed like a great group. I had heard that the suntour alpha groups were temperamental and required special housing going from the chainstay stop to the derailleur. Luckily, I didn't have to replace that housing and I'm assuming it was still the stock one on there.