Originally Posted by gif4445

I've got a 2018 Specialized Diverge. I modified or replaced about everything on the bike to fit me and my type of riding. On the drivetrain, I replaced the crankset with 165mm cranks. By doing that, I had little choice but to go with a 50/34. Because I do a bunch of climbing, I went with an 11-40 cassette. Of course by adding the 11-40, I needed to replace the derailleur with a long cage and road link. The first thing I discovered was how easily (compared to a medium/short cage) the derailleur got out of adjustment and wouldn't shift into the 40 gear. It has only gotten worse with time. The bike has about 14K miles on it and although at the present it has a new chain and relatively new cassette, derailleur and road link, it will lose adjustment in 50-100 miles. My first thought was to simply blame the fact that the long cage plus road link just stick "out there" too much and succumb to the power put on it through the chain, resulting in bent a derailleur. While this was true some of the time, it wasn't the reason most of the time. Anybody's thoughts and actual experiences are appreciated.